Benmont Tench on life with Tom Petty

Broken Record with Rick Rubin, Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam and Justin Richmond

Pushkin Industries

Music, Society & Culture

4.5 • 4.2K Ratings

🗓️ 16 October 2020

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

To celebrate the release of Tom Petty's Wildflowers & All The Rest box set, Rick Rubin connected with Heartbreakers keyboardist, Benmont Tench for a conversation. Benmont started playing with Tom back in Florida with a band called Mudcrutch. He stayed with Tom as they became the Heartbreakers, moved to LA, created some of the most memorable music of all time and was ultimately with him all the way until the last Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers performance at the Hollywood Bowl in 2017. Benmont is a massive talent who's also done plenty of work as a sideman for Bob Dylan, Stevie Nicks, U2, Johnny Cash and a ton of others. Rick and Benmont talk about all of this and share memories of their time in the studio together.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Just like a treasured mixtape from your favorite crush, the Prince mixtape from CNN audio
0:06.6	is a reflection of all the care and passion, the big moments and small that made up a life,
0:12.2	Prince's life, and it starts at the beginning.
0:15.0	You walk into the studio, you can hardly hear, he's singing quieter than a mouse.
0:20.3	I said, Prince, you're singing so quiet I can't even record it.
0:23.9	Listen to the Prince mixtape on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, or your favorite podcast app.
0:39.5	Pushkin.
0:43.2	Just a quick note here.
0:44.8	You can listen to all of the music mentioned in this episode on our playlist, which you can find a link to in the show notes.
0:51.6	For licensing reasons, each time a song is referenced in this episode, you'll hear this sound effect.
0:58.6	Alright, enjoy the episode.
1:02.2	Ben Montench has been playing keyboard with Tom Petty since before the heartbreakers.
1:07.2	When they were playing around Gainesville, Florida in the early 70s as Mudcrutch, with Tom Petty on bass.
1:13.8	By the time the band moved to LA and changed their name to Tom Petty in the heartbreakers,
1:17.8	Ben Mont's keyboard playing had become integral to the band's sound.
1:22.6	His playing is big and resonant, just like the lyrics of so many Tom Petty songs.
1:29.6	Ben Mont blends so well with the band that you might actually forget he's even there.
1:35.0	Like in the song you're hearing now, time to move on from wild flowers.
1:39.8	Figure out exactly the best way to compliment a song is what makes Rick Rubin love working with Ben Mont so much.
1:46.2	In addition to being a founding member of Tom Petty in the heartbreakers, Ben Mont has been an in-demand session player since the 80s.
1:52.8	He's played on records by U2, Fiona Apple, the Urythmix, and Johnny Cash.
1:58.6	Rick and Ben Mont got together over Zoom to commemorate the release of the wild flowers box set.
	...

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