Donny Benet

Tue 12th Jul, 2011 in Features

Sydney-based synth demon Donny Benet has been generating whispers of hushed buzz recently, never more so than when he was announced to be playing the Sydney leg of Parklife festival in October. An enigmatic and soft-spoken chap, his Facebook bio is shrouded in a sense of ironic and playful mystery – you can’t be sure if he genuinely is the son of a famous Italian disco accordionist from the 70s, or if these stories belong to the same brand of publicity-savvy mystery-spinning that we’ve seen recently from bands such as WU LYF and The Weeknd.

In any event, a quick listen to Donny Benet’s debut album Don’t Hold Back with its flashes of early Prince and Rick James confirms that if nothing else, his talent is certainly authentic.

You’ve just been announced as playing at the Sydney leg of Parklife in October. How stoked are you?
I’m pretty excited about it, I’ve got a really good team at Rice is Nice [Donny’s record label] and I’m just lucky to have such a good team supporting me. It’s definitely a really exciting thing for me. It was announced the other day on triple j, and I think there’s not much known about the Donny stuff yet, so it’s really good for people to be hearing about it.

As you just said, not a lot is known about Donny Benet yet. For those of our readers who might be unfamiliar with you, can you tell us a little bit about Donny?
Well, I’m a one-man-band at the moment, so it’s almost karaoke-style entertainment right now, there’s quite a lot of bass and a lot of synthesisers in a lot the songs, so that’s one thing that people will hear when they listen to the music. I’ve done a lot of gigs in hotels and stuff, and those experiences have coloured the songs, I think.

The album Don’t Hold Back is definitely coloured by personal experiences. My father’s agent booked some gigs for me in Vegas to play some shows and kind of cut my teeth on the live circuit over there, and playing over there, it was really hard to find love, and money, so a lot of the songs are about trying to meet someone. I was there just 2 or 3 months before I came back here but it was an experience that shaped me, definitely.

Lonely town, Vegas.
Yeah, it definitely bled me dry after a while, at a lot of the gigs there wouldn’t be many people there or it was hard to get their attention. They’re not there to listen to your music; they’re in Vegas to gamble, among other things, it got a bit trying sometimes, and I think that comes through in some of the songs. That feeling of being alone is… I’m quite a positive person, I try and put a positive spin on life, but that city definitely took its toll after a while.

On your bio on your Facebook page, there’s a lot of mention of you being the son of a famous Italian disco accordionist. I confess that my knowledge of the Italian disco accordion genre is shaky at best – can you tell us a bit about your father?
Don’t worry about it, it’s definitely a niche genre. Well, he was a famous Italian accordionist, he came over here in the ‘70s when he met my mother, and he’s done the typical gigs, he’s done weddings, parties, and general concerts, he released a few tracks in the ‘70s, and he’s been a really positive influence on me, he’s taught me what things go well together musically, he’s been very influential in that respect. There was always music throughout the house, growing up.

Who else would you list as being musically influential on your sound?
I’ve got a great affinity for late ‘70s and very early ‘80s R&B music. All the early ‘80s Prince stuff is definitely high up the list of influences. It’s difficult to narrow it down, there’s so much great music out there, especially at that time. In terms of modern stuff, I really like Ariel Pink.

Your Facebook page also mentions that the upcoming album was recorded at the ‘Famous Donnyland Studios’. Where are they at?
They’re actually in my father’s house, in his back shed. He’s had a little home recording studio set up there for the last 30 years or so, and he kind of gave me free reign and helped me record and produce all the tracks.

We can also see on your Facebook page that you’re ‘focussing on becoming a top bassist with a view to one day becoming a television personality’. Fancy yourself as a star of the small screen?
It’s just about becoming a successful entertainer, I guess. You’ve got to aim high, and I’d love to have a musical variety show, or something like that.