The humble backyard shed is responsible for housing so many wonderful creations, like the new solo album from Brisbane legend Ben Ely, 'The Golden Path'.
When white ants destroyed his old shed, Ben enlisted the services of his good friend Andrew 'Millsy' Mills – who also happens to work as a set builder for another Brisbane icon, La Boite Theatre – to build him a new one.Fitting out the new shed as a private studio and workspace, Ben set about writing and recording a new solo album under the cloud of a pandemic-induced work shortage. "Given the nature of the circumstances, it was cool," Ben says.
"I went in there to work every day for at least maybe four months or something, and it was fun to piece together. When I started doing it, I felt like I might need help from someone but then I started to push through it. It was a fun record to make."
However, the initial stages of writing 'The Golden Path' were marred by residual ennui and despair, a flow-on effect from the difficulties of the previous year in which live music and the earning potential of musicians was brought to its knees.
"Thematically when I started doing the record, I had this artwork that I really liked and I felt like basing a record around that," he says, "but it was quite a dark imagery and [the album] started getting pretty heavy.
"I was feeling down, and I think I was having some kind of mental health issues," he laughs, "I don't know."
It was the darkness before the dawn, from which Ben emerged into glimmering sunlight guided by 'The Golden Path'. "Then it got really dark, and I went: 'I think I need to make something that's a bit brighter to cheer myself up'," Ben says.
"Then I wrote [the song] 'The Golden Path' and it was a cool subject matter – the idea of making art and [that] the riches are in the creation and the things that you make and being happy with that. That's the payback. Then it opened up from there."
'The Golden Path' is Ben's third solo effort, following 'Goodbye Machine' (2015) and 'Tales Of Drugs & Lost Love' (2017).
Compared to his work with Regurgitator, Ben says his solo material reflects a much more personal form of his songwriting. "It's a bit scary to put it out to be honest," he admits.
"I feel like with the solo stuff it's more personal, but with Regurgitator it's external observations or imaginations; it's a very different kind of thing.
"When most people make music, they do make it personal, but I've never really done it much, so it feels a bit new to me in some ways."
Ben has recruited a cohort of colleagues and contemporaries to accompany him as Ben Ely Band. With live performances caught in an indefinite holding pattern, Ben finds solace in having assembled a band that shares a chemical bond.
"The main thing is with this band I got together for my solo stuff, we just get on really well and when we play music together, we have a really cool time," he says.
"We have such a good time together that it's the highlight of my week hanging out with these guys and playing music. It's the glass-half-full side of the story."
'The Golden Path' is available now. The album launch takes place at The Zoo (Brisbane) 10 September.
