Ben Weasel

Ben Weasel
Performing in Chicago, Illinois on February 26, 2010.
Background information
Born	1968
Genres	Punk rock, pop punk
Occupation(s)	musician, songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, bass
Years active	1986–present
Associated acts	Screeching Weasel The Riverdales The Vindictives

Ben Weasel (born Benjamin Foster) is a punk rock musician, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the band Screeching Weasel. As a member of Screeching Weasel, he wrote the song "The Girl Next Door", which has been covered by Blink-182. He is also the co-host of Weasel Radio, a weekly radio show formerly on ESPN 1070, which has been relaunched as a podcast.^[1][2]

Personal life

Foster was born in 1968, and was raised in Prospect Heights, Illinois. He attended River Trails Middle School in Mount Prospect, Illinois where he first met future Screeching Weasel co-founder John Pierson.^[3] After middle school, Ben was expelled from John Hersey High School and St. Viator High School.^[4] He was eventually sent to the Élan School in Poland, Maine for his behavior issues.^[5] Today, Ben lives in Madison, Wisconsin and is a practicing Roman Catholic.^[6]

For a number of years, Ben has suffered from panic attacks and bouts of agoraphobia.^[7] On November 30, 2010, he appeared on Last Call with Carson Daly to talk about these issues.^[8]

Musical career

When Ben returned to Illinois from the Élan School, he got a job at a local movie theater, and formed the band Screeching Weasel with co-worker and former junior high classmate John Pierson, aka Jughead.^[7]

After an initial break-up in 1989, Screeching Weasel reformed in 1991 and broke up for a second time in 1994. Following the second breakup, Foster formed a new band, the Riverdales, with Screeching Weasel members Dan Vapid, and Dan Panic.

In the early 1990s, Foster founded The Gore Gore Girls (unrelated to the later band of the same name) with SW guitarist Jughead, Glynis Johnson (also of Red Red Meat) and Russ Forester (founder of Underdog Records). The Gore Gore Girls lasted only three shows and made an appearance on a compilation EP, Mouthful of Monkey Bile (1992). He also played 2nd guitar in The Vindictives, to be replaced by Billy Blastoff. Foster appeared on the first 4 EPs released by the band. In 1996, Lookout! Records released a 7" EP by The Shotdowns which included Ben, Jughead, and rock critic Jim DeRogatis. Ben was credited as "Pappy Le Pew".

Foster reunited with Screeching Weasel again in 1996. The band lasted until 2001 before breaking up again. On March 27, 2009, Foster announced he was reforming Screeching Weasel. He and Danny Vapid were the only returning members.

Foster has also done work as a solo artist. In 2002, he released his first solo album, Fidatevi. His second album, These Ones Are Bitter, was released in June 2007. A live album (featuring all Screeching Weasel songs, including the majority of the album My Brain Hurts), titled "The Brain That Wouldn't Die", appeared in 2009 and featured Screeching Weasel member Danny Vapid. As well as Jon Phillip.

Foster also ran his own Chicago-based record label, Panic Button Records, which he started in 1997 with Pierson. The label was later purchased by Lookout! Records.^[9]

Radio and podcast appearances

In May 2015 Weasel started his own radio interview show/podcast called "Weasel Radio". The show is released more or less on a weekly basis.

Weasel appeared on Ken Reid (comedian)'s TV Guidance Counselor Podcast on September 11, 2015.

SXSW incident

On Friday, March 18, 2011 at Austin, TX's SXSW Festival, Foster was involved in an altercation with two women during a Screeching Weasel performance.^[10][11][12] The first woman threw ice cubes at Foster. Foster initially believed the attacker to be a male. Upon being hit with more ice Foster found an unruly woman was the source of the ice. Foster originally stated he "can't kick a girl's ass" and offered money for another woman to handle the attacker. As the ice and spitting continued Foster threatened to beat the woman up himself. The woman then threw beer at Foster, who responded by confronting the woman face to face where a physical altercation broke out. A club owner, also female, then came on stage and grabbed Foster from behind. Not knowing if this woman was another attacker Foster turned to face her, pushed her, and punched her in the back before being pulled to the other side of the stage by a bouncer.^[13]

On March 20, Foster posted an apology ^[14] on his website BenWeasel.com ^[15] stating

"I want to apologize to both the club owner and audience member involved for my actions during our show at SXSW on Friday night. While their actions were outside of my control, my regretful reaction is wholly my responsibility. Whatever my feelings are about fans crossing the line like that, I wish I could have that moment back and deal with it in the same spirit as I did the preceding 60 minutes. Since I can’t, an apology is all I’ve got and I sincerely hope those people will accept it. Up front, I wish to say that I am sorry to the fan and any others who were involved. As a husband, father, and a musician on the public stage, I understand that it is my duty to always take responsibility for my actions in a socially acceptable way, and most especially in the face of confrontation."

—  Ben Foster.

Following the incident, several bands who were slated to appear at Weasel Fest in Chicago dropped out, including Chinese Telephones, Chixdiggit, The Soviettes, Teenage Bottlerocket and Kepi Ghoulie.^[16] On March 23, 2011 the other four members of Screeching Weasel all resigned from the band citing the SXSW incident as the reason.^[17] On March 31 it was announced that the entire Weasel Fest had been cancelled.^[18] In August, Weasel issued a full article on Screeching Weasel's website describing his whole point of view on the situation.^[19]

Discography

With Screeching Weasel

• Screeching Weasel (1987)
• Boogadaboogadaboogada! (1988)
• My Brain Hurts (1991)
• Ramones (1992)
• Wiggle (1993)
• Anthem for a New Tomorrow (1993)
• How to Make Enemies and Irritate People (1994)
• Bark Like a Dog (1996)
• Television City Dream (1998)
• Emo (1999)
• Teen Punks In Heat (2000)
• First World Manifesto (2011)

With Riverdales

• Riverdales (1995)
• Storm the Streets (1997)
• Phase 3 (2003)
• Invasion U.S.A (2009)
• Tarantula (2010)

Solo

• Fidatevi (2002)
• These Ones Are Bitter (2007)
• The Brain That Wouldn't Die (2009)

Writing

In the early 1990s, Foster published the fanzine Panic Button. He published two chapbooks through Oyster Publications, Brady Bunch Behemoth (1991) and Stab! Stab! Stab! (1992). Weasel also wrote for other various zines, including Razorcake, Non-Stop Banter, Jersey Beat, Hit List and 10 Things Jesus Wants You To Know. He also had a long-running column in MAXIMUM ROCKNROLL, one of the most prominent punk rock fanzines. He wrote a novel in 2001 called Like Hell and put out a collection of his columns and articles in 2002 entitled Punk is a Four Letter Word. Both books were published by Hope and Nonthings, a small publishing house based in Chicago run by former bandmate John Jughead.

References

External links

• Lookout Records at the Wayback Machine (archived 2014-12-23)
• Asian Man Records at Archive.is (archived 2012-12-04)
• Fat Wreck Chords
• Ben Weasel's Weblog