Ben Bridwell (Band of Horses)
Broken Record with Rick Rubin, Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam and Justin Richmond
Pushkin Industries
4.5 • 4.3K Ratings
🗓️ 17 February 2026
⏱️ 67 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Ben Bridwell has led Band of Horses for over two decades. He describes the band's sound as "y'all-ternative," a genre that tips its hat to Southern rock's deep myriad of musical influences.
Next month, Band of Horses is celebrating the 20th anniversary of their debut album, Everything All the Time, with an expanded reissue featuring previously unreleased demos and live recordings. The album, recorded in 2005 with producer Phil Ek, who's known for producing albums by Built to Spill, Modest Mouse, and The Shins.
When Band of Horses started working with Phil, Ben had only been writing songs for a couple of years. He was also new to Seattle, where he'd relocated from Tucson, a city he moved to at 16 after dropping out of high school in his native Irmo, South Carolina.
On today's episode, Leah Rose talks to Ben Bridwell about recording Everything All the Time. He opens up about hitting rock bottom in South Carolina before moving to Seattle. He also talks about recently breaking the generational curse of alcoholism in his family, getting his life together post-divorce, and he explains why the upcoming Band of Horses album may sound aggressive despite the fact that he's in such a happy place.
You can hear a playlist of some of our favorite songs from Ben Bridwell & Band of Horses HERE.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Pushkin. |
| 0:10.8 | Ben Bridwell is a frontman of Band of Horses, a group whose sound he describes as |
| 0:15.7 | Y'Alternative, a genre that tips its hat to Southern Rock's deep myriad of musical influences. |
| 0:22.1 | Next month, the group is celebrating the 20th anniversary of their debut album, |
| 0:26.0 | Everything All the Time, with an expanded reissue featuring previously on released demos and live recordings. |
| 0:31.5 | The album was reported in 2005 with producer Phil Eck, |
| 0:34.9 | who's known for producing albums by Bill to Spill, Modus Mouse, |
| 0:38.0 | and The Shins. |
| 0:39.3 | When Band of Horses started working on the project with Phil, |
| 0:42.1 | Ben had only been writing songs for a couple of years. |
| 0:44.7 | He was also new to Seattle, where he relocated from Tucson, |
| 0:48.2 | a city he'd moved to at 16 after dropping out of high school in his native Irmo, South Carolina. |
| 0:54.0 | On today's episode, Leah Rose talks to Ben Bridwell about recording everything all the time. |
| 0:58.3 | He opens up about hitting rock bottom in South Carolina before moving to Seattle, |
| 1:02.3 | including setting his mattress on fire, getting hit by a car, and getting arrested all |
| 1:06.4 | within the span of one week. |
| 1:08.4 | He also talks about recently breaking the generational curse of alcoholism |
| 1:11.4 | and his family, getting his life together post-divorce, and explains why the upcoming band of |
| 1:16.0 | Horses album may sound aggressive despite the fact that he's in such a happy place. |
| 1:22.9 | This is Broken Record. Real musicians, real conversations. |
| 1:30.8 | This isn't This is Broken Record. Real musicians, real conversations. This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. |
| 1:36.5 | Here's Leah Rose with Ben Bridwell. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Pushkin Industries, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Pushkin Industries and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.