The Benja Men // Ukulele Pop
Ben Arntz grew up in cities and suburbs in the American South-, Mid-, and Northwest. He began playing the piano as a little kid and took up guitar in his mid-teens. After moving to Berlin in 2007, he spent six years teaching English and cacophonous, somewhat atonal music to German kindergarten kids. After noticing a great number of children struggling with the emotional ups-and-downs of moving, he wrote the story and songs for “Goodbye, Smile Mile” with the hope that it would eventually become something kids and adults could enjoy together.
Later, he doubled everyone's workload by deciding it would serve a wider audience if it were in both English and German! After a successful crowdfunding campaign, Ben fired up the bat-signal, which attracted an extremely enthusiastic and international team of producers, musicians, arrangers, artists, photographers, translators, and multi-talents. Everyone involved put in an insane amount of time and effort to make the album. Ben thinks it’s wonderful, and he hopes you will too!
Ben Arntz – Ukulele und Gitarre
Elisabeth King – Akkordeon
Karen Kramatschek – Bass
Ethan Schaffner – Banjo und Lapsteel Gitarre
Tim Corbridge – E-Gitarre
Sebastian Arnold – Percussion
www.thebenjamen.com
