When I sat down with Lord Huron’s Ben Schneider, a thoughtful and well spoken individual with an uncanny aura of passion and intelligence, I sat in reverence of his talent. A traveled individual with a degree in painting and an eye for nature, Schneider is a mindful individual. It would make sense then, that Lord Huron, this years breakout band, began as a mere solo project and has turned into an international listening pleasure. 

Brought to you during Bonnaroo, Schneider and I dived into the lyricism of Lord Huron, overseas travels, the rest of this years tour and those dense themes of death that string their way throughout LH’s body of work. 

Kristen Blanton: Ben, how did this blessed union of Lord Huron begin?

Ben Schneider : It actually began as a solo project for me. I was recording a bunch of songs in my bedroom basically, and my sister encouraged me to put it out there. We went to a few music festivals and handed out CDs. She was my first manager I guess – then I started being offered shows. I couldn’t do the music justice by myself, but I wasn’t really in the music scene in L.A. which is where I was living and I didn’t know what to do. So I just called the only guys I knew who played music, my friends from high school. They were all gracious enough to come to L.A. and play some shows, and we’ve been on the road ever since.

KB: What year was that?

BS: That was 2010.

KB: So pretty quick road.

BS: It’s been three years of just grinding as hard as we can. It feels pretty good to be here now.

KB: Are you currently on the festival circuit?

BS: We’re playing a few. We did Coachella a couple of months ago, we’re doing Firefly in a couple of weeks, Newport Folk the next month and it should be great.

KB: Lyrically, what is your writing process?

BS: It really depends on the song. I’ve got a strong background in visual arts, that’s what I was doing before, so for some songs I start with more of an image in mind and try to describe that. Which I think is where the more scenery sort of lyrics comes from. In terms of the inner-personal relationships you’ll find in there, that’s just from my life or from people who are close to me. But ultimately it really depends on the song. Sometimes it will start more with the lyrics or an image, or melody.

KB: In your music, I hear signs of a well-traveled person. There is fully an image; fully a feeling and often times there are themes of immortality yet listening you’re not sad, more so rather, inspired. Was that a conscious decision?

BS: That’s my attitude towards life in general. There is the good and the bad and you just have to accept it and keep on rolling. The alternative is nothing and in my opinion that sounds a lot worse than bad times. You take it all in and you keep moving on with your life – you celebrate the good, celebrate the bad.

I’ve tried to get out there as much as I can. I’ve been able to go to Asia and Europe and have gone to Mexico a few times. And now that I’m on the road I’ve seen quite a few new places. It’s great. It’s been the perfect way to fulfill that side of my personality.

KB: Do you write on the road?

BS: I always write on the road whether it’s recording observations or lyrics. It’s definitely easier to really dig into when I’m home but I try to collect the pieces of what will be a song when I’m on the road.

KB: So much of what I hear in your music is nature driven and atmospheric – do you write outdoors?

BS: Oh yeah, I write outside when I can. I like to go up to Michigan when I can.

KB: And what’s in Michigan?

BS: My family, that’s where I’m from, they have a place up on Lake Huron and that’s where I like to go. There’s where I did the first couple of EPs. We kind of figured out really early I wasn’t going to do the traditional thing so my family has been really supportive with me.

KB: When did you move to L.A?

BS: I grew up in Michigan and went to The University of Michigan Ann Arbor and studied painting.

KB: It all makes sense now.

BS: Yeah, I was still doing music a lot and most of my projects included musical elements. After school I moved overseas to France for a year and when I ran out of money I came back to the states and moved to New York for about six months and then followed a girl to L.A. and have been there ever sense.

KB: Do you feel you were influenced by French culture?

BS: Oh definitely, I was in the south so there is a lot of North African influence there, a lot of cool music. I guess I probably was really affected by that.

KB: What track has generated an impressionable response that you didn’t realize would originally?

BS: “She Lit A Fire” for us has just been just great – it’s like a high point of the night.

KB: That’s the track that attacked me most.

BS: It’s definitely the one that means so much to me too; so to see it has attracted other people has been really nice.

KB: There’s definitely something to be said for a musician who can reach those different audiences.

BS: That’s really great. We’ve noticed at our shows the clientele is very varied. We’ll have some people in their 60s who are very excited and come talk to us after the show and people telling us that their two-year old can’t get enough of our videos.

KB: What does the rest of your summer look like?

BS: We’re on the road until the end of August. We’re going back to the UK for a few shows, but mostly just crisscrossing the states a few times.