A couple of years ago I began my phone acquaintance with Scott Riggan of the nobodys as he called to post numerous concert dates in the Christian Activities Concert Calendar. After a few months of publishing their dates, I became intrigued. They obviously were doing something right and getting booked regularly around town and in other states.
When I had the opportunity to book some bands in the local Bellevue Station in 1999 during its one-year run as a showcase venue, I decided to check out the nobodys. I was not disappointed. Not only were they two genuinely nice guys with a desire to serve both onstage and off, but they brought legitimate talent to the coffeehouse and had the acoustic guitar thing down!
The nobodys are Ben Bauman and Scott Riggan (also known as Scotto). If you have caught them live within the last several months, you know that their sound is louder and more electric than it was during the coffeehouse days, and the guys now boast a more high-energy show. “Hollow really reflected what we were doing at the time — you could almost smell the coffee and see the candles burning,” says Scotto. “The new stuff really takes us in a very different direction.”
With Ben’s driving acoustic guitar and Scotto’s distinctive voice at the center of their unique, high-energy pop sound, the nobodys are now (finally) releasing their new, self-titled project. “We’ve been eager to let people hear this thing for awhile now,” explains Ben. “We’ve had most of the record done for months, but our schedule and other circumstances (like the birth of Ben’s son Dylan Michael in July) kept pushing the release date farther off.”
“We tried to capture that energy and passion in the 14 tracks on the project. Songs like “Love Called My Name”, “Curious” and “All I Know Of Love” have been “road tested” as part of our set for awhile and have become concert favorites,” says Scott.
“On the new project, we really decided to just crank it up a bit more,” adds Ben. “We went after a bigger sound – more electric, and more fun, really.” The first single, “Ordinary Day,” has already been a thumbs up from radio stations nationwide. Other standout cuts on the CD include “Don’t Cry (Goodnight Emily)”, “Curious”, and concert favorites like “Love Called My Name”, “All I Know Of Love” and a cover of the Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby.”
“We’ll probably release a second single in January, but it looks like there are a couple of songs on the project that could show up on other artists’ records, so we’re holding off,” Scott reveals, pointing out that they can’t very well release a single another artists might also want to release. One noteworthy artists planning to release a nobody’s tune is Michael English.
Spend a few minutes with Ben and Scott and you’ll find a couple of guys who are passionate about about many things; just get them talking about coffee, books, music, God, good food – and don’t get Ben started on his collection of 60’s comic books . . .
“Our songs are about life – the gritty, tragic stuff as much as the good,” explains Scotto. “You can’t be honest and only write about one or the other, because life just isn’t like that.” Ben adds, “Music can be escapist — and that’s fine — but we want to draw people in and make ’em think.”
“That’s what art does, really,” continues Scotto. “It holds a mirror up to life and we go, ‘yeah, that’s how it is!’ It helps us make sense of the world we live in and sort of forces us to look deeper at our own beliefs.”
That honest perspective has been winning the nobodys fans nationwide, with their hit song “Even If” finding its way onto the CCM Update AC radio charts. At the same time, “Start A Fire” was heating up CHR stations around the country. Such radio acceptance is a rare feat for an independent act.
Ben grew up on a farm in McMinnville, Oregon. His training was as a jazz guitarist, although his first real gig was with, of all things, a Hawaiian band. In addition to his guitar prowess, Ben is an Alpha-geek (he has even worked as a computer systems analyst).
Scott grew up in Northern California where he began playing piano at age five, almost immedietely turning out his first songs. Several years later, Scott drifted in and out of several bands, writing and singing and playing
keyboards. While in college, his path crossed with Ben Bauman’s, and before long they began touring
coffeehouses in the Pacific Northwest, and the nobodys were born. Eventually the guys relocated to Nashville, Tennessee.
Right now the duo is enjoying a break from heavy touring, spending time writing new songs and being with their families during the holidays after a pretty incredible 12 months touring coast to coast, playing nearly 150 shows.
If the guys keep this up, they won’t be, well, nobodies, much longer!
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