Ben Rice returns for another high-energy performance

Photo by Lance Masterson

Ben Rice and The Portland Hustle perform Wednesday as part of the Music in the Park summer concert series.

The concert begins at 6:30 p.m., Main Street Park, Monmouth. Admission is free

Before Ben and his bandmates take to the amphitheater stage, we asked him a few questions:

You’re back! What can fans expect from this year’s show?

A whole lot of fun. The band has been on the road the last couple weeks and turned a whole lot of heads up and down the west coast, playing festivals and other venues from Phoenix, San Diego to Tacoma. We are glad to be home and playing around the area for the next couple of weeks.

What’s changed over the past year? New band members? CD or album release? Awards or other honors?

We have pretty much a similar lineup from last year, except, notably, in our percussion chair. In April, our percussionist whom was with us last year, Chandler Bowman, passed away suddenly and unexpectedly.

Chandler was a more recent transplant from Des Moines, Iowa, where he was a big part of the music scene there. He had just become one of the go-to guys in the Portland area and a large pillar in the PDX Hustle’s sound, feel and in driving the band. He is sorely missed by all of us in the band and thought of all the time.

The band and I are in the studio and he played on about six of the songs that we are currently working on, so I’m very excited to capture Chandler playing our tunes in a way that we’ll be able to share in the near future.

After the loss of Chandler, I asked another friend to step in to play in his stead. Adam Carlson, who I had met at the end of 2020. We toured together coming out of Covid. He’s from Bend, but attended the University of Oregon.

Adam is a high-demand drummer in the Portland area playing pop, jazz, blues, funk and salsa. Last year, he played the Cathedral Park Jazz Festival with the Cuban music ambassador, Chuchito Valdes. He can also be seen playing around Portland with Dan Balmer, Patrick Lamb and other staples of the area.

Photo by Lance Masterson

What is it about performing live that keeps you going?

I love playing live. It’s been a large part of my life in music from an early age. I first began playing in public in middle school with my family band, but even before that. When I was first discovering the guitar and music on my own, I’d ask my elementary school music teacher, Mrs. Hagen, if I could play a song on the guitar at the end of class. She’d often oblige and encourage any interest we had in music.

I think having visual feedback is also a driver. The band and I spend a lot of time working on our craft and honing our skills. Sometimes we can get in the weeds on deals and things that only seem important to us. Maybe a lick, a phrase, a lyric. How do I play this passage? How do I sing this syllable to sound more natural? All of these things can feel tedious and pointless, but the exhilaration of a great show is a great answer to why we are so intensely focused on this.

What is the secret to putting on a great show?

This is an interesting question because I think for everyone it is different. For me, I think this would have been answered, or at least thought differently, just a couple of years ago, and probably will sit differently in a couple of years. Right now, it is preparation and attention to details.

Practicing and rehearsing as a group and also tuning the finer details. Having the music down is the first step. Once you get beyond learning the song and are able to express yourself through the song, you can begin focusing on the elements of executing it.

The band and I got to tour with ZZ Top a couple summers back. One of my takeaways from this was the care and attention that the band and crew had each and every show. The music was outstanding, but each night there were small tweaks and adjustments they’d make which wasn’t obvious to the crowd, which was different each night. But I was able to catch all the really small things that would change throughout the tour. Lighting, sound, between song banter, etcetera.