[ WM ] Do you know Kathryn ( Scott )?
[ Benjamin ] No , I don ’ t . I ’ ve actually never met her . But now I would love to .
[ WM ] It ’ s only an hour away from you now to go meet her . She ’ s in Anaheim . She and Alan , her husband , who is Scottish , are the pastors of what was the Anaheim Vineyard . Now it has a different name called the Dwelling Place .
[ Benjamin ] Okay . We ’ ve just never properly connected . But yeah , I would love that . That was definitely a shaping record . I remember my Mom just playing it in the car and me falling in love with it . I remember actually once at a talent show I got up and sang one of the songs from that record . That ’ s a funny flashback moment . Then the other one actually was when I was 16 , maybe 15 or 16 , we were on holiday in America actually .
We went into a bookstore . I don ’ t even think it was a Christian bookstore . It probably was like a CD shop back when that was the thing . I remember picking up this record because I thought it had a really cool cover . I picked it up and I was like , this is cool . I ’ m going to buy this . It turns out it was the Hillsong United record . I really fell in love with the United stuff right then as a kid . I was thinking , “ This is really cool ”. It ’ s a really funny full circle thing . I spent my life with those same guys . It ’ s cool . It ’ s cool that it ’ s a part of the story .
[ WM ] Yeah . Well , let me give you quick , slight diversion . I was Managing Director of Vineyard Music when Hungry came out . I ran the North American operations . We were in Anaheim , and part of the Anaheim Vineyard . So , I ’ m in Anaheim and my boss , a British man , called me and said , “ Alex , as you know , we ’ ve been working on a project and I don ’ t know what to think of it . I think I ’ m too close to it . May I ’ ll send it to you to listen to ? It ’ s going to be called Hungry ”. I said , “ Sure .” He sent it to me , FedEx . Two days later , I got it , closed my office door , and put it on , and at that first moment
I fell on the floor weeping . I called him , I said , “ Jeremy , you don ’ t know what you have here . This is unlike anything ever .” I started importing Hungry albums because this is all pre digital downloads and streaming and all of that . It was just CDs . Selling them at $ 30 UD for a CD for this album from the UK . It ’ s a landmark album . It ’ s funny you should say that , because I asked that same question a while ago to Phil Wickham and Phil said , “ Hungry ”. That was the one that leveled him .
[ Benjamin ] That ’ s amazing .
[ WM ] Let ’ s talk about your new self-titled project . WOW ! 25 songs ! Nobody does that ! I love it . What can you tell us about the project overall and the song titled , “ Eden ( Isn ’ t It Just Like You )”?
[ Benjamin ] Well I ’ ll probably need to give you two separate answers for that . The album as a whole , is a journey that I went on over a number of years . I think it would ’ ve been pre