{"id":16503,"date":"2018-10-10T09:00:33","date_gmt":"2018-10-10T16:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=16503"},"modified":"2018-10-05T14:46:19","modified_gmt":"2018-10-05T21:46:19","slug":"toronto-singer-songwriter-ben-kunder-connects-through-carpentry-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2018\/10\/10\/toronto-singer-songwriter-ben-kunder-connects-through-carpentry-music\/","title":{"rendered":"Toronto singer\/songwriter Ben Kunder connects through carpentry, music"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since he was a little kid\u2014stumbling over his dad\u2019s old college guitar in the basement and teaching himself to play it with Bob Dylan songbooks\u2014music has played a vital role in Toronto singer\/songwriter Ben Kunder\u2019s life.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe always had music in the house; we had a pretty expansive record collection, and [my dad] always took me and my brother to a lot of concerts from a really young age,\u201d says Kunder, who has spent time living across the country, including in a cabin on Salt Spring Island. \u201cHe sort of opened the door for me to experience music in a lot of different ways and create my own opinions from an early age.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Toronto-based singer\/songwriter Ben Kunder has lived in various places across Canada, including Salt Spring Island (photo by Megan McIsaac).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That early love of art has followed Kunder through his life, showing itself not only in his music but also in his years as a stage actor and as a carpenter\u2014the work that currently occupies his time when he\u2019s not busy making music. Regardless of what project he\u2019s pouring his considerable talent and passion into, the one thing that never changes is the value Kunder sees in being able to connect with others through his work.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all about building relationships and connecting with people, to sort of create something, or help them, or be a part of their lives in some way. It\u2019s not the prettiest job, but it\u2019s necessary,\u201d says Kunder of his work as a carpenter. \u201cSo yeah, I like it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although he brings many of the same qualities to both his music and carpentry, it\u2019s the contrast between the two that gives his music a particular strength and clarity. It\u2019s partly this, Kunder says, that keeps him\u2014and his music\u2014grounded.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s just sort of kept me honest; it\u2019s kept me somewhat humble. My hands get dirty and I build things,\u201d says Kunder. \u201cI work pretty hard when I\u2019m not on the road and not making music. I\u2019m working full time doing that work. It feels good. It just adds to who I am. It keeps me honest.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s this honesty that makes Kunder\u2019s new album Better Human<\/i> such a profoundly\u2014occasionally bordering on uncomfortably\u2014personal work. With songs that muse nakedly on family, love, and loss, Kunder says he\u2019s striving now more than ever to communicate with his audience on a deeply emotional level.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs personal as it is, it\u2019s meant to be a universal message,\u201d says Kunder. \u201cI feel like, especially right now, we all have a hard time being open and honest because of technology and social media. We\u2019re all sort of hiding behind the facade we put out into the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many artists struggle to tour with such deeply personal work. Spending night after night exposing your fears and doubts to strangers is enough to wear anyone down, but Kunder\u2014currently finishing up the last leg of his Canada-wide tour before heading off to Europe\u2014sees it differently.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy being brutally honest about struggles that I have and then singing about them, and having some of the messages be brutally honest, I can\u2019t fake it on stage. It helps me,\u201d he says. \u201cIt helps me and it connects my music to an audience more. It\u2019s quite freeing. I feel very grounded right now. It was a bit hard at first. My first few shows I would get a little emotional here and there. Now it feels great, and it really feels like I\u2019m connecting with people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben Kunder
\n8 pm Sunday, October 14
\n$12, Copper Owl
\ncopperowl.ca<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since he was a little kid\u2014stumbling over his dad\u2019s old college guitar in the basement and teaching himself to play it with Bob Dylan songbooks\u2014music has played a vital role in Toronto singer\/songwriter Ben Kunder\u2019s life.\u00a0 \u201cWe always had music in the house; we had a pretty expansive record collection, and [my dad] always took […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16504,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,220],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-october-10-2018"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16503"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16503\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16505,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16503\/revisions\/16505"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}