Benson Highway Band-Queen B Vinyl Cafe Cottonwood, AZ 9/16/26

 

Benson Highway Band had to slog through some serious storm-age on the way to Cottonwood, as well as on the way home from that sweet little Arizona town, but while we were at Queen B Vinyl Cafe the rain stopped and the vibes were high. A real cool time playing for some people and meeting the wonderful staff of a very cool establishment! 

Below: the backline at Queen B Vinyl Cafe, top notch gear.

Above: such a bunch of cuties! 

Below: live still from Instagram feed.

Below: vinyl mat on the wall at the barber shop located within Queen B Vinyl Cafe. Listen to Black Sabbath, always! 

A bunch of shows coming up next week! Like, a lot! 

Benson Highway Band play this Wednesday evening in Cottonwood AZ!

 

9/16/26

Queen B Vinyl Cafe

102 Pima St.

Cottonwood AZ 86326

Pentagram String Band

Swamp Rats

Sean Whalen & the Benson Highway Band

7:30 PM 

What will it be like to be the Special Guest? 

2020-21 demos of start up project.

 

https://archive.org/details/weecreatures1

Demos here, of a duo that formed in 2020 and practiced at my house until June of 2021. No shows played for obvious reasons. It was stranger times. After this project collapsed I quit playing drums until Summer of 2022. It was kind of a bummer, the whole thing. Graphic by me. 

Benson Highway Band-Che's Lounge Tucson, 8/29/26

 

This show almost didn't get completed. Raven and the Acolytes had to truncate their set that opened the night's musical portion at Che's Lounge. After about thirty five minutes they were told by the stage manager that a large storm cell was getting ready to pass right overhead and that all of the equipment was to be placed under tarp. Bummer too because they were sounding good and their drummer, John, told me that they had saved their most impactful material for the latter parts of the set. 

The tarp situation lasted about thirty five minutes before it was decided that the storm cell had passed without going over 4th Ave. and that the live music could continue. Benson Highway Band played last and we had a fun time. Nathan Smith sat in on tenor saxophone for a cover of Hungry Heart and that was cool. It was also nice to Evan back on guitar. Very grateful for having had some people digging on our sounds. 

Below are some photos of Sean Whalen & the Benson Highway Band, taken by Nathan. Thanks dude. 

Benson Highway Band plays this Saturday night at Che's Lounge!

 

Sat. 8/29/26

9PM

Che's Lounge

350 N 4th Ave.

Tucson 85705

Sean Whalen & the Benson Highway Band

Alex Wilkerson & Them

Raven and the Acolytes

Free! 

Random artifact

 

Found this graphic the other day. It's labeled "Ear Spray Stroma". This marks it as being related to a release by Ear Spray that Andrew Palmer had considered releasing on his Stroma label. Recall Andrew being really stoked on the idea. He was really into doing CDr's with potato cut printing on their covers. I'm not sure if Stroma ever got off of the ground, and Andrew no longer resides on this plane so other details will remain mysterious. This collage was hand assembled by yours truly. I was very excited by using vinyl lettering to get real clarity within the textual aspect of the work. The comic book graphics are from a Hindu devotional comic book that I found next to a dumpster at a San Francisco music rehearsal studio complex, the one near Army St. And yes I'm calling it Army St. now. The image is also a comment upon the treatment that Ear Spray generally got from the Brahmins of the Bay Area Noise scene so often. Take that, Brahmins! 

Benson Highway Band Hotel Congress Plaza Tucson, 8/21/26

 

Sean Whalen (pictured above) & the Benson Highway Band had to configure as a trio to play this show. That was fine, we've done it that way many times and I like the trio format for band playing. It was a good time despite the whole thing being threatened by a big monsoon storm that passed through pretty much all of Tucson on the evening of 8/21/26. We were the opening act and as such assembled a very short and concise set. In total we only played for about twenty four minutes! It's like doing a Noise or Grindcore set! 

Benson Highway Band will play next Saturday. Sean please send me the flyer. 

Below: Lucas and I laughing at some kind of absurdity. 

Above: Benson Highway Band live shot by Tim P. Thanks Tim!