Today we’d like to introduce you to C.J. Benoit.
Hi C.J., thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
First of all, I’d like to thank you for taking the time to talk to me.
I’ve been practically singing since I was born. However, it was 16 (July 7th, 2007) that I joined my first semi-professional band. While I’d done solo shows, musical theatre, and formed a few garage bands that went precisely nowhere before, I count 7/7/07 as the start of my music career in earnest. I was a part of that band as it went from Rumble ’49, Primitive Mind, and Stranded Travelers all the way up to 2014.
During that time frame, I also was a part of several bands. Danny Kay and the Nightlifers, the McDaniel College Big Band, Cletus Snow Mother Truckers for two gigs, The Rockin’ Bones, Mr. Kanish (who later became 33rd and finally Beyond Parallel), a Blues duo called Mississippi Blue, a punk band called the Golden Sombreros, as well as the band that would become Los Swamp Monsters was formed during that time, starting off as a band called The Firebirds, then The Chemical Project, then Los Swamp Monsters.
There were also a lot of shows and almost-joined bands, ranging from a near miss with Australian Country act Eight Ball Aitken (who caught me making dinner when he came through Maryland), King Sickabilly and the Full Moon Boys (college put the kibosh on that), Chico McCarthy and the Midnight Circus, Blues-Rock band 1 West, and one wonderful jam session with Joe Keyes and the Late Bloomer Band, who I consider Maryland’s equivalent to George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic. As well as almost joined a hard rock band called the Euphorics, because the bassist (who later formed LSM with me) and I worked well, so Marshall and his mom suggested I try out for the Euphorics. The lead guitar vetoed that since I looked more like I belong in a Southern Rock band than I do in a hard rock/glam band. (He’s right.)
After the Stranded Travelers broke up, I still pushed LSM as well as the other bands I worked in. I also would join a country band called the Delmarva Railroaders, played harmonica with Beach Country artist Randy Lee Ashcraft and worked in a Rockabilly band called the Pop-Up Trailers during various moves and travels.
2017 turned out to be a big year of change for me. I was spinning my wheels in Maryland and things needed to be done. At the suggestion of my girlfriend (now my wife of five years), I moved to Tennessee where I live now. I kept the band going as well as going up to Maryland, PA, and Virginia to play shows. However, the Trailers ended over a pay dispute between me and the drummer. Working on reviving LSM and doing solo shows, I would also join The Muscadine Fives playing New Orleans Jazz versions of songs ranging from the 30s to the present day (almost like Postmodern Jukebox), as well as side work in Trapped on Earth, Regular of the Obscene, and Amanda Pruitt. I was also in a Jug band that later got brought into LSM. I would also join the Tennessee Troubadour Rabblers (Folk Punk), Catfish Seminar (Americana), Killbilly Quartet (Variety), Nashville’s Eastside Horns (Dixieland Jazz) and Andi Jane’s Honky-Tonk Cabaret.
Nowadays, my main focuses are Los Swamp Monsters, solo gigs, and a blues-rock band called the Regulators here in Tennessee, as well as playing saxophones and vocals in Ruben Ramos and the Mexican Revolution out of Austin, TX when I come down. At the time of writing this, I had done my second gig with Mr. Ruben and his fantastic band a few days prior and I hope I get to do many, MANY more.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Find me an artist without struggles and I’ll show you an industry plant.
The music industry is an EXTREMELY difficult industry to really get into. You have to want it with every fiber of your being. I can’t even begin to tell you the long nights, the countless emails, lowballing promoters and talent buyers, the travels to shows, hotel stops, the constant battle against the clock to book, travel to, and perform the gigs, then on to the next one.
The opening monologue of the 1952 film The Greatest Show On Earth (the Cecil B. Demille classic filmed on location with Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus) describes it best: a touring band is a machine whose very life depends on discipline and motion and speed. A mechanized army on wheels, that rolls over any obstacle in its path, that meets calamity again and again, but always comes up smiling. Bandmates argue. Some drop the ball, weather becomes unpredictable, might show up late and miss soundcheck, logistics can make a person’s head spin and personal issues can make it difficult, but the show must go on. The show has to go on, otherwise that reputation is hell to shake. You can play 1000 successful gigs, but that one or two missed can really put a dent on your good name.
It’s pretty hard when you’re neurodivergent, too. A lot of people underestimate me or try and undercut because they find out I’m on the spectrum and assume that means I’m stupid. (Wired funny, maybe. That does explain learning fifty musical instruments!) I’ve even had one guy attempt a mutiny in the band and tried to use my autism as a way to undermine me or a booking agent gaslight me to shirk out of getting work done. Needless to say, they’re the ones I try to weed out of the outfit quick.
The egos can be an issue, too. And yeah, I get it, the entertainment industry is rife with egos, but I’d rather have a band of mediocre musicians who are team players than egotistical virtuosos. Talent can be honed. The willingness to work in a team and drive to be there you have bring to the table. (An old college mentor of mine used to thank musicians for their time, not their talent. The talent gave them the invitation to join.) Being there and being willing to do the work is 75-80% of this job. The ones who don’t do the work are the ones who get thrown in this business. It’s exhausting, thankless work, but it’s the work that gets the gigs and gets money in your pocket. (And keep record of your expenses. Tax write-offs are big. Even if it’s a stick of gum bought on the way to the gig.)
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a musician. A multi-instrumentalist who knows about 50 instruments:
Vocals, Guitar (Rhythm, Lead, 12-string, Bottleneck, Cigar Box, Requinto AND Baritone), Bajo Sexto/Quinto, Accordion (Piano, Cajun single and Triple-row), Alto and Tenor Sax, Bass (Electric, Upright, and Washtub), Percussion (congas, guiro, Zydeco rubboard, Agogo bells, Maracas, Timbales, Triangle, Vibraslap), Drum set, Lap and Pedal steel, Mandolin, Piano, Organ, Irish and Greek Bouzouki, Synth, Banjo (4 and 5-string scruggs and clawhammer), Ocarina, Chromatic and Diatonic harmonicas, Guitarrón, Vihuela, Shamisen, Mountain Dulcimer, Ukulele, Tiple, Jug, Stumpf Fiddle, Recorder, Box cajon, Steel Pan, and Jaw Harp.
I do solo work, as well as perform with Los Swamp Monsters (Americana/Rock), The Regulators (Blues-Rock/Southern Rock), The Cow Punx (Cowpunk), and Ruben Ramos and the Mexican Revolution (Tejano).
Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
Like I mentioned in one of your other questions, talent is only a small part of the road to success.
It’s determination, hard work, and the willingness to be there. You have to put in the work to get the rewards. I know some that just want to coast or take the easy way in life. Don’t be like those people. Earn your success. Take the gigs, slug it out in the trenches and earn your name the right way. It’s a pain in the neck, sure. But I promise you, it’s worth it because they’re gonna see your name and say “that dude’s got guts!” That’s a hell of a lot more than I can say about some people.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.losswampmonsters.com
- Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/losswampmonstersofficial
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/losswampmonsters
