DAVID BENDETH IN THE HOUSE

The London-born, Canadian-bred Bendeth was a charting artist, virtuoso guitarist and songwriter with major credits (Joe Cocker, Jeff Beck) before becoming an A&R exec at CBS International, then transitioning to BMG Canada and eventually to an SVP of A&R/Staff Producer perch at RCA Records. In the latter post he signed artists like Vertical Horizon and SR-71, and served as producer-mixer-engineer to Bruce Hornsby and the smash Elvis Presley 30 #1Hits package, which was a #1 in countless international markets and second domestically only to Eminem.

After departing the label, Bendeth continued to ply his talents as an independent—offering artists one-stop shopping from development of material to recording to final mixes, shaping the sounds of such acts as Paramore and Breaking Benjamin. But nothing could prepare him for the stultifying experience of talking to us.

It seems like your experience of moving between countries has informed your musical sensibility.
Growing up in England and then going to Canada and then coming to America 20 years ago has given me an overall musical diversity. I never ruled out anything that was great. I tried to be as indigenous as possible, between England, Canada and America, having a sense of what people liked.

Was there a project where you feel you found your style as a producer?
Yes. Coming out of RCA, I worked on some great records—Crash Test Dummies, Cowboy Junkies, that Canadian sound. I was an A&R person and very involved in making those. After I left the label, the first record I made was the first Breaking Benjamin record. They were basically unknown. It was the first record I made that I felt I really put a stamp on. And it was the first record I’d made in 17 years where I wasn’t affiliated with a label—I was a freelancer.

It was a platinum-plus record, which was great. But I didn’t realize at the time I was getting myself in a bit of a corner with rock music. Bands like Paramore, The Red Jumpsuit and Hawthorne Heights were leading the charts. It was Modern Rock but also connecting at Top 40. I found myself with Top 10 singles at Z100.

Creatively, the guys who hired me to do these records allowed me to do what I do because they trusted me as an A&R person as well as a producer. The Breaking Benjamin record gave me the confidence, and I did a flurry of records within about three years. In 2006 it was something like five platinum records in a row. And it gave me a lot of steam. And it was a soup-to-nuts thing, from pre-production to basic recording to mixing.

Your facility as a musician must have given you a connection with artists that not every producer can bring.
I was mentored by people like Arif Mardin and Bob Ezrin, some of the best producers of their era; they passed the torch on. As an A&R person I had access to Andy Wallace and Chris Lord-Alge and people like that, so I got to see how the big guys did it, and I learned a lot. I feel I was constantly in training until I was on my own.

What about your most recent projects?
Bring Me the Horizon was made with Terry Date, who’s a fantastic producer. They came to me to mix it. I knew it was a really important record for the band. I was really surprised when I heard it, because the songs are so good and different. I felt they’d turned a corner. I was really left alone with the band to do this, and it was fantastic. I’ve been in my own studio, my own environment, for about eight years and I got to experiment a lot with it—the results were what the band wanted, and I got to explore things I hadn’t done before.

I knew the band was poised to go to an international level. They were on RCA worldwide outside of America, where they were on Epitaph. I knew this record was set up and I had to get it right. I think it’s a milestone for this kind of music.

We’re in a time when a lot of people feel rock is dead, but I don’t think that at all. Every summer we see all the kids come out; there are festivals all over the world. I feel it’s very much alive and coming back.

What other kinds of projects are you seeking to do?
I just signed up as a writer with Tim Blacksmith and Danny Poku, the Stargate guys. I’m really excited about getting back to making commercial pop records. I’m also into making organic-sounding records, which don’t need a lot of hype.

And you’ve been developing some artists yourself.
There’s a kid from Hamilton, Ontario, named Justin Toito. He’s just graduated from high school, and he’s like a John Mayer meets Jason Mraz. He’s in L.A. writing with Bill Bell, Jason Mraz’s guitar player. He’s a great vocalist and songwriter and I’m really excited about him.

I’m also excited about Karli Bartoletto, who’s also from Canada and also a teen; She’s like a young Taylor Swift. She’s doing a lot of writing now. And artists Palaye Royale from Los Angeles, who are getting a lot of attention. It’s a cross between Jet and Palma Violets.

My job as an A&R guy never stopped. I have a lot of traffic with artists all the time, and they tell me about things. That’s still a lot of fun—finding and developing artists and working with them.

And when I’m doing something like mixing Bring Me The Horizon or the new Asking Alexandria this screaming rock record, spending two days mixing one song, I feel like I’m 18 years old. My next projects writing and producing bands Of Mice & Men, Heartest and The Vamps is the most exciting thing imaginable. I still have that feeling when I make music. I know the business has changed, but it hasn’t deterred me for one minute from making great music.