Katelyn Benton - Music and L.S.D.
Welcome to KatelynBenton.com / Music and L.S.D.! Browse around to see recent adventures in my world of pursuing music as a career in Los Angeles and running stupidly long distances. Follow the tabs at the top to jump around to specific subjects, or to check out videos, upcoming tour dates, and listen to music.
Latest
Pictures from NAMM!
I originally was planning to do this whole long update describing each day of NAMM, but truly, it’s all a giant blur of performing, playing instruments, and walking around with TONS of people. Also, my Twitter pretty much covered it and by this point most of you are probably sick of hearing about it 
Anyway, this past weekend at NAMM is probably best described by some of the photos below. Enjoy!
Katelyn Benton + Band performing at the Sennheiser NAMM booth, 2012
Katelyn Benton + Band performing at the Sennheiser NAMM booth, 2012
Sound check!
Toby's setlist
Scott Nickoley and Toby Karlin
Katelyn Benton + Band at the Sennheiser NAMM booth, 2012
Katelyn Benton at the PreSonus NAMM booth, 2012
Want!
I could have spent an entire day with the pianos.
Getting some love from the PreSonus crowd.
NAMM 2012 Begins – An inspired backward glance
Today is the first day of the 2012 NAMM trade show. It’s the largest of it’s kind in the world. Musicians and vendors come from everywhere to scope out and present all the newest gadgets and gear in the music world. It’s pretty much the best if you’re a visiting musician. You get to check out endless (and I mean endless) rows of cool stuff – instruments, microphones, pedals, interfaces, software, accessories, and you can touch and sample almost anything! The show lasts for 4 days, and you need 4 days to cover everything. It’s that big.
4 years ago I had just graduated from Berklee, was working for PreSonus Audio and was attending NAMM for the first time. I loved my time with PreSonus, although from day one on the job, I knew I couldn’t last in a situation where I wasn’t actively involved in pursuing my own music career. The jobs that have followed taught me that I don’t like having a boss in general – and not in the “well, duh, no one wants a boss” kind of way. I am just not nearly as efficient, productive or creative when I’m in a situation with a boss. I’m too worried about making mistakes when someone is “accountable” for me and it prevents me from taking risks.
21-year-old me (right) during NAMM, working for PreSonus.
I moved to Los Angeles 10 months after taking the PreSonus job. I spent the next few years not having a place to live, being on food stamps, working several jobs, but being completely dedicated to nurturing my own ideas and letting myself have adventures. I upgraded my living situation to the dining room of a 1 bedroom apartment that I shared with 4 other people, started running ultra-marathons, and started working on my new record with Scott Nickoley.
Today I’ve been holding down the fort in an apartment of my own for the past 8 months, 4 of which were paid for by my brand new company. I still have no idea how I’m going to pay rent most months up until the days before it’s due, but that’s a lot of people.
This year at NAMM I’ll be performing in the PreSonus booth and the Sennheiser booth. Me from 2008 is high-fiving the present me SO HARD right now.
Have you ever quit your job(s) to work for yourself? Any insight to offer?
Big News: ShmediaMedia.com is UP!
Back in June, when progress temporarily halted on my album, Max Goldberg and I started Shmedia, a Social Media Marketing company that develops strategy and runs the social accounts for brands, non-profits, and artists. Max and I both have knowledge and passion for Social Media and the Internet thanks in part to it’s importance within our artistic endeavors. We have both been working professionally with social media for the past several years, though until recently we had not realized that we could make this into a functioning business of our own, and help other people grow their business’s online communities. We got the chance to work on some great brands right off the bat and we have been able to grow our experience, our skill set, and our resume over these past 8 months.
I’d like to invite you to see what we’ve been working so hard on, since we haven’t shared this information in any public way before and this is probably the only time I will dedicate a post on this blog to Shmedia. Please take a look around and let me know what you think! Thanks for your support!
Oh, and just a heads up, look into SOPA if you haven’t already, and be prepared for blackouts on some major websites tomorrow.
2011 Wrap-Up + Photos & Videos that prove it was great!
I could write a novel about this year, but instead, I’ll limit it to some of my favorite highlights via pictures and videos! Thanks for ALL of the support this year! I can’t wait to see what 2012 holds. It’s going to be a big year and I’ll be worth watching for it. I promise
Recording Album with Scott Nickoley (Release Date scheduled for Spring 2012)
So many fun shows! (Here some pictures from a few)
I moved out of the 1 bedroom I was sharing with 4 other people into my own apartment!
My old "room" - the dining room transformed with shelves, blinds, and a curtain for a door.
Still Managed to Squeeze in some Ultra-Marathon Fun!
Crewing out at AC100
Pacing a runner through the night leg of Nanny Goat's 24-hour Run
Feet post-Leona Divide 50. No blisters!
My 3rd niece, Marley Skye Benton, born!
Denali Sol Benton meeting her baby sister Marley Skye for the first time.
Photoshoot with Me in my Place! (Yowza!!)
Click for the whole shoot! (nsfw)
Max Goldberg and I launch our Social Media business, SHMEDIA, and have somehow managed to scrape by with it!
Click to check out our site! Still under construction, but coming along!
Thanks to everyone who played a part in this fantastic year!
Want to support my music? Here’s how:
Friends,
As many of you know, I am currently fundraising in order to finish my album. I’m working with film composer/producer Scott Nickoley (best known for South Park) on a collection of all new Katelyn Benton songs. This is my first full length album in 10 years and I am very excited about it! Once the record is finished, our goal is immediate and widespread television, movie and commercial placement, and we have the resources and energy to do this. However, we cannot complete this record without the help of donations. We are committed to doing this project right. We believe in what we are doing, we’re excited about it, and we want you to get excited about it too!
Thank you for keeping the arts alive! YOU are the reason we are here!
$15+ FREE copy of the new CD, before it is officially released
$100+ Receive liner note credit on the album
$500+ 5 copies of the new CD before it is officially released, your name or logo on www.KatelynBenton.com, plus all of the above
$1000+ 10 copies of the new CD before it is officially released, “Guest list” priority to all Katelyn Benton shows plus all of the above
Please e-mail Katelyn.Benton@gmail.com if you would like to receive more information on our fundraising efforts.
To Whom it May Inspire
I absolutely love this – Open letter to artists of any kind from Pixar animator Austin Madison.
Enjoy
The Story Behind the Most Hated Video of Me on the Internet
The clip below is from the filming of my music video for Impossible Love. We shot the video in 2009 and that Summer we won Best Music Video at the Just Plain Folks Awards in Nashville. We shot it on a $250 budget, which included gas for my car (which was also our power generator), and food for my volunteer cast/crew.
I have played the piano since I was a toddler. I’ve been taking lessons since I was 5. I’ve treated the piano like it was an extension of my own body since I was a kid. I studied music on scholarship from Berklee College of Music and to this day, I have never had my own piano. The piano in this video is the first and only piano I have ever owned, and it was immediately donated to this art project. I got it for free from a church. They said it was “un-playable”, although they certainly have no idea what un-playable means.
Regardless, the music video is the artwork of director, Brandon Nicholas and cinematographer, James Mann. Destroying a piano was not my idea, although, in the finished product, it looks amazing. The piano then went on to be in the movie Desert Son, another Nicholas/Mann project which you can watch instantly on netflix!
Anyway, that is the story of this piano. I think it got a lot more love from us than it did sitting and collecting dust in the church basement we rescued it from, but the video still pisses people off. I hope you hate this video of me smashing it as much as everyone else on the internet does! By the way, when we really start beating it up, it’s not for fun. It’s for close-up shots of the pieces flying everywhere. This is extremely dangerous. Do not try this at home.
Below is also the official “Making Of” video as well as the award-winning finished product! Also included is a preview for Desert Son. See if you can spot the piano! Enjoy!
