(born on March 12, 1977 in Brielle, NJ United States)
Ben Kenney played guitar for the hip-hop group The Roots before he joined Incubus in 2003 after the departure of bassist and founding member Alex Katunich aka Dirk Lance. He had previously played with Incubus members Mike Einziger and Jose Pasillas in Time Lapse Consortium.
The introduction of Kenney into the group marked a shift in the band's sound. His tight grooves and hip hop influenced sound replaced previous bass player Dirk Lance's funky bass lines. Apart from changing the groove and the style of Incubus' work, he also added backing vocals to their songs (Mike Einziger used to do them), adding extra harmonies to each song, examples of which can be heard in the songs Agoraphobia, Pendulous Threads and Diamonds and Coal.
Ben is known to play 6 different instruments and sometimes plays drum solos with Incubus' drummer Jose Pasillas live on-stage.
He has also done studio work for artists including: Justin Timberlake, Faith Evans, Erykah Badu, Blackalicious, and producers Timbaland and DJ Jazzy Jeff.
Ben has three solo albums, 26 released on December 1, 2004, Maduro released on March 1, 2006 and Distance And Comfort released on January 15, 2008. Ben plays guitar, bass, and drums while singing and writing every part on the solo records. When touring to support his solo records he plays guitar and sings, along with Ashley Mendel on bass and vocals and Sekou Lumumba on drums.
Ben's website, benkenney.com, allows you to download three tracks from his solo work; Hoopdie from 26, Wrong from Maduro and Eulogy from Distance & Comfort. Towards the end of 2007 Ben added a link to a video of him playing each part of, Eulogy, a track from Distance And Comfort. In this video he also spoke about the tour he is doing with Chris Kilmore in early 2008.
His bass equipment includes Lakland basses, Line 6 effects "(interview)". http://www.bassplayer.com/article/ben-kenney-on/Apr-04/650. and Mesa Boogie amplifiers. His collection of basses includes a seafoam-green USA Joe Osborne, sunburst USA Joe Osborne with a fretless fingerboard, sunburst Skyline Joe Osborne, red Skyline Bob Glaub, shoreline gold Skyline Hollowbody, and a Hofner 500/1 "Beatle Bass". All of his basses have rosewood fingerboards and are strung with GHS flatwounds, with the exception of the Skyline Bob Glaub which is strung with roundwounds. His live Mesa/Boogie rig consists of a pair of Big Block 750 heads and a Roadready 8x10 cabinet. In the studio and for solo gigs and small live gigs with Incubus, he uses Mesa Walkabout 1x12 combos and extension cabs.
Ben's Myspace