LA-Based Musician EBEN Discussed His Recently Released EP, Favorite Artists and Much More!

Meet EBEN!

On August 21st, he released his six-track EP called “Past Hundred Days.”  It was co-written and co-produced by EBEN alongside production collaborations from Grammy award winning producer R8DIO (Solange) and Josh J., guitarist for Miguel. This is a reflection of EBEN’s journey over the past hundred days, as he experienced heartbreak, toured with Why Don’t We (Atlantic), and reminded himself not to take life too seriously. Eben previously released a debut EP called “Finally” which shot to #7 on the Apple Music Chart.

The singer has been featured on Billboard, On Air with Ryan Seacrest, C- Heads Magazine and more

Before joining the Why Don’t We tour as an opening act, he worked as part of the crew on their previous two tours. He’s been through hell and back – his former pop group broke up, his car broken into and stole his clothes and recording equipment, and then on a separate occasion his car got caught on fire.

Connect With Eben Here:

Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube

Learn more about Eben in the following All Access interview:

Thanks for your time today! Where does this interview find you now? What’s on tap for the rest of your day?

Thank you so much for having me! I’m currently in Singapore right now and am on my way to the venue to get ready for the show. Getting this exciting day started!

All Access Music is currently compiling a list of our artist’s favorite songs this summer so what has been your song of the summer? (It can be one of your songs!) 

I would have to say my favorite song of the summer would be my song “That’s Alright.” I don’t wanna be that guy to choose his own song but it honestly is my song of the summer!

Photo Credit – Zack Caspary

Overall, how do you think 2018 has been treating you and your career? What has been one goal that you have had this year and how close are you to reaching it? Or did you already reach it?

2018 has truly been the greatest year of my life to date. I’ve gotten to tour with my best friends, release music, and my EP was in the top 10 all-genre charts on iTunes. It’s been a dream my whole life to do all these things, and this year it’s all coming together.

Growing up, was music always a big part of your life? Can you recall your first ever musical experience? Can you see yourself ever doing anything else? 

Growing up music was always apart of my life. I started doing musical theater at a young age and that is when I truly first fell in love with it. I’d love to get back into it sometime in the future.

What has been the biggest surprise so far about making music your career? What has been an unexpected or welcome challenge to it all? 

I think the biggest surprise so far in my music career was having my EP sitting at #2 on the iTunes Pop Charts right behind Ariana Grande. I’m just a kid from Ohio, so for me that was unreal. The  biggest challenge is getting people to take you seriously when you say you’re pursuing music for a career. A lot of people will just laugh in your face at the fact you are doing something you love.

You just released your six-track EP, “Past Hundred Days.” What does that feel like? How did you celebrate this achievement? Did anything surprise you about putting this collection together? How long did the whole process take? 

It feels so good to drop new music again! It’s been way too long and I’ve been itching to release new records. I think what surprised me about it is how easy the songs came together. It just flowed out of me. It was natural.

What was it like working with your producer, the Grammy-award winning R8DIO and Josh J, the guitarist for Miguel? How did these relationships come to be in the first place?

R8dio and Josh are the homies! I met R8dio a couple years ago and we’ve grown really close over that time. That man is straight up family! Josh is actually my roommate. We’ve been living together for little over a year now. We’ve become really good friends, and we are always playing MarioKart or Fortnite when we aren’t working or making music!

How is this new EP different or similar to your previous release, “Finally”? How have you continued to grow as an artist year after year? 

This new project is for sure a bit more mature. Lyrically I really made an effort to step up my game and hopefully it shows. I think life experiences have helped me grow as an artist and I was able to pull from so many more emotional and trivial times to write about in my music.

Photo Credit – Zack Caspary

I am curious to know how touring with Why Don’t We and being a part of the crew changed the kind of musician that you are now? Why did you learn from those different experiences? 

Touring with the boys and being apart of the crew at the same time has given me so much experience on the road. Also, it’s always been a real dream of mine to tour as an artist. I think one of the biggest things I’ve learned on the road is how one should appreciate sleep! It truly is a gift from above when you get to get 8hrs of sleep!

It sounds like you have endured a lot of hardships in life over the years with your car getting broken into and them stealing your clothes and recording equipment and then having your car catch on fire another time! How do you get up the next day and face the world after things like happen to you? Where do you get your strength? Were you able to use those experiences as inspiration for songs? 

Yeah, a lot has happened to that poor car. I’ll never forget 2017 for that reason alone! I’ve always been a happy go lucky kind of guy, and I’ve learned that if you hold on to things it will eat you alive. If I were to let all that stuff get to me I probably would’ve just given up and accepted the fact that fate did not want me in LA. I always constantly tell myself that other people have it a lot worse than

What has it been like keeping up with your social media accounts and all of the different platforms? Is it hard to stay up to date on it all? What would you say is your favorite way to connect with your fans now? 

Social media has always been a part of my life. It comes naturally to me and I’m always on it so it’s not really hard to keep up with it. My favorite way to connect with fans is Instagram Live, because it’s real-time interaction.

Who are some of your favorite artists or rather, what musicians have continued to inspire you and your music? Who would you absolutely still love to work with in the future? 

I’d say my top 3 favorite artists right now would be Drake, Travis Scott and Post Malone. If I could do a record with any of them, it would be a dream come true. They are the culture right now.

If you were going to be stranded on a deserted island forever, what musical item would you take with you and why? 

If I were stranded on an island I would bring my computer and lil Akai I’d be able to create all the music I want to.

Photo Credit – Zack Caspary

If your music was going to be featured on any TV show that is currently on right now, which would you love it to be on? Or if you prefer, what is a movie that you love that you wish your music was featured in? 

I would love for my music to be featured in any movie Jonah Hill and Seth Rogan are apart of.

At the end of the day, what do you hope your fans take away from your music?

I hope my fans are able to connect with my music on any level. Whatever is going on in their life, I want them to be able to listen to my music and have it help them in some way.

(all photography provided by Crowd Surf)