Baby Copperhead
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Baby Copperhead

Band Folk EDM

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This band has not uploaded any videos

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Press


"Up & Coming in the Stranger"

"The banjo is an underrated instrument. Don't get me wrong, lots of bands do all kinds of great bluegrass-infused stuff with it, but that's pretty much the only place you'll find a banjo these days. The banjo has a bigger reach than just nostalgia, and its spidery sound hasn't fully been explored. Enter Baby Copperhead, who pairs the banjo with synthesizer and weird vocal tricks to create a haunted atmosphere that is completely unlike, say, Yonder Mountain String Band. In Baby Copperhead's hands, the banjo sounds otherworldly, like an instrument from a science-fiction movie. After a couple tracks, you'll forget all about the riff from Deliverance and wake up to the possibilities that Baby Copperhead has just begun to harness. " - PAUL CONSTANT - The Stranger


"Review in All Music"

"Benjamin B. Lee is known for adding an edge that is strictly rock & roll, as in post-Black Flag, but also has an extremely gentle side expressed wherever possible in his multi-chapter presentations." - Eugene Chadbourne

-Eugene Chadbourne, All Music - All Music


"Baby Copperhead in Timeout NY"

"Local experimental folkie Baby Copperhead's songs are skewed and oddly textured but they still evidence a sturdy sense of structure." - Timeout NY - Timeout NY


"Baby Copperhead, Webelos, and Biography or Ferns featured in Yelp"

New York City-based performer and composer, Baby Copperhead (a.k.a. Benjamin B. Lee), was transplanted as a youth from Switzerland to rural North Carolina, and grew up on the sounds of American roots music. His pseudonym was chosen after he was bitten by two baby copperhead snakes at age 18. He picked up the banjo after playing the guitar for several years and went on to study with the banjo wizard, Tony Trishka, who was one of Bela Fleck's mentors. Baby Copperhead's previous bands include A.C. Unit (experimental jazz trio) and Big Cream (progressive folk), with whom he's performed throughout NYC and on tour across the US. http://www.babycopperh.../

Lately, Baby Copperhead has integrated an electronic sampler into his performances, adding a lo-fi science fiction component to his dissonant banjo compositions. He has also composes music for film, dance, theater, and interactive visual art. Some notable works include the art installation, Vanishing Ridges, for the City Sol Festival in NYC, and Four Short Plays by Steve Martin (New Actors Workshop). - Yelp


"Baby Copperhead featured on WNYC.ORG"

Harmonium song featured in the Podcast ArtCult

- WNYC


"Baby Copperhead- WNYC- Culture: "The banjo visionary performs at an art show Sunday night at Vaudeville Park"."

Don't get the wrong idea about Benjamin Lee, the New York City-based performer and composer who performs as Baby Copperhead. Yeah, he plays the banjo, but he's not churning out bluegrass. Lee's specialty is taking the banjo and treating it with a sci-fi glaze, via an electronic sampler, trippy melodies and haunted vocals. This track, with its tumbling banjo line and otherworldly electronics, sounds like some cool avant-garde marriage of Devo and the music of Appalachian mountain folk. Sunday night he teams up with artists Caleb Nussear and Naomi Reis for a music and installation show at the art space Vaudeville Park. - WNYC/NPR by Alana Harper


"Baby Copperhead in der Kulturbeiz"

"Der in New York verankerte Folk-/Electronickünstler zog als Jugendlicher von Wohlen in die USA. Jetzt ist er a.k.a. Benjamin B. Lee zurück. Seine dissonanten Banjokompositionen gibt es am 28. Mai live in der Kulturbeiz" - Wohler Anzeiger


"Northside Festival Presents Baby Copperhead"

'Northside Festival Presents Baby Copperhead+Bebe Fang+Jason Loughlin' - Village Voice


"Arty Party part three"

"Two hours of raucous dancing ensued accompanied by music from DJ Baby Copperhead, after which my sweaty self proceeded out into the cold with a newly won drawing by Leigh Ruple"


- Timeout NY


Discography

New Baby Copperhead EP(2010)--expected for release in early 2010

Baby Copperhead (Self-Titled debut 2009)--featured on WXYC, KEXP, WNYC.ORG, WUAG

New Hopeville Comics: Rock Opera(2009)

Big Cream: Four-Legged Fingers(2007)

A.C. Unit: Sensual Polyphony(2005)

Paul Duncan: Be Careful What You Call Home(2004)

Eugene Chadbourne: And his Evil Minions(2004)

The Scarf(2004)

A.C. Unit: Lost Property(2003)

Andrew Hendryx: Sill Life and Mandolin(2002)
Benjamin B. Lee: Frozen Madness(2001)

Photos

Bio

"The banjo has a bigger reach than just nostalgia, and its spidery sound hasn't fully been explored. Enter Baby Copperhead, who pairs the banjo with synthesizer and weird vocal tricks to create a haunted atmosphere..." - The Stranger

New York City-based performer and composer, Baby Copperhead (a.k.a. Benjamin B. Lee), was transplanted as a youth from Europe to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where he grew up playing cello and guitar. Having been immersed in Chapel Hill's respected and independent music scene gave him a strong backbone in all kinds of music. There he was drawn into the sound of the banjo and its profound influence in American roots music. After playing the banjo for several years he went on to study with banjo wizard, Tony Trischka, who was one of Bela Fleck's mentors. Baby Copperhead's fascination with electronics such as circuit bending, synthesizers, and samplers has also added an electro-sonic component to his dissonant banjo compositions. He has had the opportunity to tour throughout the U.S., Japan, and Europe.

People have compared Baby Copperhead's music to the Silver Apples, and early David Bowie. He does not deny their influence but adds to it, synth-pioneers Wendy Carlos, and Isao Tomita, banjo hero Gus Cannon, new wave innovators Devo, free-jazz pioneer Ornette Coleman, and composers Erik Satie, Dimitri Shostakovich, and Morton Feldman.

Baby Copperhead has worked with Eugene Chadbourne, Balts Nill (Stiller Has), Dead Brothers, Brent Arnold(Modest Mouse/Sleater-Kinney/Built to Spill), Chris Taylor(Grizzly Bear), Emily Manzo (Christy& Emily), Anthony Johnson(STOMP and Bonnie Pink), Mike Pride(Anthony Braxton/MDC), and shared the stage with T.V. on the Radio, Grizzly Bear, Christy & Emily, Karl Blau, William Parker, Stumblebum Brass Band and many other fantastic musicians.

His previous bands include A.C. Unit (experimental jazz trio) and Big Cream (chamber folk group)with whom he has toured with extensively throughout the U.S. He also composes music for film, dance, theater, and interactive visual art. Some notable works include the art installation, Vanishing Ridges by Brian Zegeer, for the City Sol Festival in NYC, and Four Short Plays by Steve Martin (New Actors Workshop), and Off-Broadway Rock Opera, The New Hopeville Comics by Nate Weida. In February of 2010, Baby Copperhead had a weekly residency at Pete's Candy Store; one of Brooklyn's most revered and intimate venues.

Baby Copperhead just returned from his European tour and continues to perform in the New York City area.