MM: All musicians remember their first instrument. Tell our readers about your very first guitar.
BC: My first guitar was actually my father’ s old 1979 Ovation Matrix. When I wanted to learn how to play guitar, my parents said they would sign me up for lessons, but told me to use my dad’ s old guitar since they thought I would lose interest after a month or so. I haven’ t lost interest yet, and I still have that guitar!
MM: What’ s the one venue in the world you would play in if you could?
BC: That’ s a tough question. I really want to travel, and I hoping I can someday tour internationally with The Ben Cote Band. I’ ve always wanted to go to Japan and England. But if I had to choose ONE venue, I would have to say the Rathskeller aka“ The Rat” in Boston. Unfortunately, it no longer exists. I believe a luxury hotel is there now. Boston legends, as well as lot of other Rock legends that are not from Boston, played there. From what I’ ve heard, it was basically Boston’ s version of CBGB’ s. CBGB’ s would be another venue I would want to play at if it still existed! I love those really grimy punk venues-- there’ s so much character to them. They ARE Rock N’ Roll!
MM: Who is the one musician, living or passed, that you would want to play with if you could?
BC: That’ s an even tougher question! I would probably have to say Eric Clapton. The way he plays, I mean, that’ s playing with soul! Plus, he’ s a guy who has really been through it all. He was there during the British Invasion era, and is still making music now. I’ d love to meet him and just pick his brain for a while.
MM: Tell us about your projects, including the Ben Cote Band.
BC: The Ben Cote Band is my main focus now. I’ m the guitarist and occasional singer. It’ s an all-Berklee band and made up of some of the best musicians I’ ve ever played with. Dan Whitelock is the lead singer and also plays saxophone. Max Dziewit plays bass, and Taka Nakamura is the drummer. It’ s just straight ahead Rock with some Pop hooks … kind of like Led Zeppelin or Aerosmith. We have an EP and an album on iTunes; both were produced by the Boston legend, David Minehan. We play a lot of shows all over the New England area. We’ ve been starting to get a lot of attention lately, and we have been getting a lot of international radio airplay in places such as London, Italy, and Japan. We are also getting ready to release our new single( also produced by Minehan), along with a music video for it, this summer.
I have worked with a couple other bands. I played guitar with the national rock group Road Dawg, with whom I opened for bands such as Bret Michaels, Warrant, Lita Ford, and Vince Neil, to name a few. I had a lot of great experiences from playing with them. I got to travel to Nashville to play at Farm Rock 2016, and at another show, I got to share a dressing room with Lita Ford! It was all very surreal to me, and I learned a lot.
Through Road Dawg, I met singer Scotty Dunbar, who I formed The Split Ends with. The Split Ends is a side project that is still in the making. Scotty Dunbar is a really good friend and a really cool guy. We haven’ t played any shows yet, but we are hitting the road later this summer. We have a couple shows in New Jersey and New York at the end of July. We have been writing some new music, so we are planning on heading into the studio soon. We are also going to be heading out west this Fall, to play at the Whisky A Go Go in Hollywood. I’ m really looking forward to it!
Check out Ben Cote on iTunes, YouTube, and all the social media platforms. Better yet, if you’ re in Boston – go seem him live!
The Ben Cote Band is: Lead Vocals – Dan Whitelock Lead Guitar and Vocals – Ben Cote Bass Guitar – Max Dziewit Drums – Taka Nakamura