Wake Up Every Day With A Dream

I woke up in Paris. That is a great feeling, in and of itself... but I was waking up to go and meet Ben Harper in Bourges... that is just bananas!

Julie and I got up and went to the world famous Arc de Triumph. It was there that we met up with Laurent- a really great guy from Paris and a huge Ben Harper fan. He also had tickets to see Relentless7 at Le Printemps de Bourges music festival so the three of us arranged to road-trip it together. We jumped into his Ford two-door and hit the road, passing right below the Tour d'Eiffel on our way out of town. Such a beautiful sight.

The three hour drive from Paris to Bourges was basically a three hour Ben Harper sing-along. We belted out tunes spanning his whole career; from Welcome to the Cruel World all the way to the yet to be released Relentless7 debut, White Lies for Dark Times. Our enthusiasm was unmatched... our harmonizing was unbearable.

We arrived in Bourges and located Cécile- my CouchSurfing hostess. After dropping off my things at her place we parked the car and Cécile took us on a little walking tour of Bourges. It was the first day of the annual festival and Bourges was slowly evolving from a quiet, provincial town into a massive street party. Gig posters were plastered everywhere, venues were being set-up, people were drinking in the streets and there were dreadlocks as far as the eye could see.

R7 was playing at Le Phénix- a 6,000 person capacity tent set up in the middle of a huge parking lot. When we arrived there, Julie and I had to part with Laurent, Cécile, and her friend Aurélie to go pick up our backstage passes. We slapped the adhesive patches onto our clothes, entered the monstrous tent and found our way to the backstage area.

Just as Ben had promised, this was WAY better than Paris! We were right back in the dressing room area in the middle of all the action. The first person we saw that we recognized was bassist Jesse Ingalls. He was sitting out on the patio with Sam, one of the road technicians. They told us to pull up a couple of chairs and to help ourselves to the buffet of food and the two refrigerators fully stocked with Kronenbourg 1664. Naturally, I grabbed a beer and then sat down and shot the shit with the guys for a while. Piers Faccini was the supporting act again, so when he took the stage we wished Jesse a good show and went back to the stage area to listen. Again, Ben was there too, enjoying every note. And this time, when the capacity crowd demanded an encore they got it! Piers returned to the stage and left everyone in awe as he sang acapella. His voice is absolutely haunting. I got chills.

Then, it was time for Relentless7 to rock the fuckin' house! Just as they had the last couple of nights, they played all 11 tracks off of the debut album as well as a couple of retooled Ben Harper classics- a harder sounding "Better Way" and a dark and melancholic "Another Lonely Day"- as well as their cover of "Under Pressure". The only thing that had been missing from the past couple of nights was "Serve Your Soul"; the very first song these guys collaborated on for Ben's 2006 release Both Sides of the Gun... the song that started it all. When I was talking to Jason after the Paris show I mentioned that fact to him and asked if they might break it out in Bourges. He had a sly look in his eye when he said, "We'll see." Sure enough, they closed the night with an epic, 15 minute rendition of "Serve Your Soul"!!!

After the gig, Julie and I went back to the dressing room area. The band was in a private room, presumably changing out of their sweaty clothes and winding down a little. We grabbed a couple of drinks and took a seat in two director's chairs. For a moment we just sat there and took it all in. A look of pure satisfaction was on both of our faces. Smiles from ear to ear.

Ben was the first to emerge from the private room. His eyes scanned the communal area and the instant he saw Julie and I sitting there he grabbed another director's chair and pulled it up right in between us. He ran his hands over his face, let out a DEEP exhale and then sat there for a moment with the same satisfied look that we had. It was amazing to see him like that. We waited for Ben to make the first move and finally he asked us in a very mellow, serene tone, "How was your night?" I told him that it was one of the greatest nights of my life. That there were no words to describe how I was feeling. That I will remember those three days for the rest of my life and I couldn't thank him enough. We got to talking about what the new band means to him at this point in his life and career and he talked about it like it was a rebirth. He's overflowing with energy and passion and he's loving every single minute of it.

Then Ben started asking me questions about myself and my life. And he was really listening to my answers. Ben Harper was taking a serious interest in my life- how cool is that? I told him about the traveling I've been doing and how I'm trying to shape my lifestyle and personal philosophy. Then I asked him for a very special, personal favour:

I explained that over the years his lyrics have been there to help me through the tough times and celebrate the good times. No matter how I'm feeling or what I'm going through, good or bad, there always seems to be a perfect Ben Harper song for the moment. And during this time in my life there are two particular lines that I find inspiration in every single day. I asked if he could maybe write one of them down for me and being the incredibly caring and gracious guy that he is, he said he'd be happy to write them both down.

"Wake up every day with a dream."

"The only one you've got to serve... is your soul."

Before Ben got up to go mingle with some of the other people in the room, he stunned me one more time by asking, "So, when are we going to see you next?" I didn't know what to say! Then I remembered that Relentless7 was going to be back in London in June to co-headline a massive concert with Neil Young.

"Ummm...? You guys are back in London this summer for Hard Rock Calling. Hopefully, then?"

"You'll be in London this summer?" Ben said, "Cool, that's perfect! You gotta come hang out again."

Then he told me how to get in touch with him and his manager before Hard Rock Calling so that I'd be able to go backstage and chill with the guys again. Is he an unbelievable guy or what?!

I got to spend a little more time chatting with Jason, Jesse and Jordan before they had to get going. The boys were jumping on a jet to Rome to play a free Earth Day concert for over 100,000 people at the Piazza del Popolo the next day. As a final gesture, they all signed a copy of the night's set-list for me and Ben wrote, "Jozef- Thank you for you!" As I was saying goodbye to Jason and Jesse I thanked them for everything and said I would hopefully see them in the summer at HRC. They thanked me for all the support, said it was great hanging out and that we should exchange information so that we can keep in touch. These guys are quickly ascending to rock-stardom so it's really cool to see that they are keeping both feet on the ground. They're just really cool, really humble guys that love to play music.

When you meet someone famous that you really admire you hope they turn out to be nice and down to earth, but I never could have expected this. Ben has always been an absolute legend to me and now that I've had the chance to get to know him, even just a little, he's even more of a legend. I'm going to remember those three days for the rest of my life. It was like a dream come true and even more inspiration to...

Wake up every day with a dream.......