Bodega: Concrete, Caffeinated and Concise Music

Bodega/ photo by Mert Gafuroglu / courtesy of Pitch Perfect PR

Bodega, a hit at 2018’s Northside festival, is often categorized as a “post-punk” band, but lead singer/guitarist Ben Hozie, aka Bodega Ben, sums up their sound as “Concrete. Caffeinated. Concise.”

Bodega Band Close Up/ photo by Mert Gafuroglu / courtesy of Pitch Perfect PR

“The first pop rock music I ever fell in love with was nu-metal — particularly Korn — when I was in grade school,” he tells Brooklyn Roads. “Our approach to talk-singing … and odd lead guitar phrasing may have come from that era.” The first band he ever loved with “total devotion” was Jane’s Addiction. “They led me into many directions that have shaped our current music,” Ben says, citing the Velvets, Joy Division and Pink Floyd among his subsequent influences.

Living in Brooklyn has also shaped the band’s style and creativity “quite a bit,” he says. “Interacting with the many music scenes in this borough throughout the past decade has forever changed the way I will think about song and performance.”

Ben cites Brooklyn’s large population and wide variety of cultures as factors that make it a crucible for nurturing talented musical artists of all genres. “It’s also close to the center of urban America (Manhattan), but slightly cheaper and thus more attractive to artists,” he adds.

Our borough also symbolizes something to people around the world, he tells us: “When I grew up in the suburbs of South Carolina, I read about Brooklyn as a mythological place where huge personalities were created and amazing art was created. It’s also very tough; you have to bring your A-game when you perform on a stage in Brooklyn or nobody will be impressed — including yourself.”

Bodega Escalated / photo by Mert Gafuroglu / courtesy of Pitch Perfect PR

Ben has been impressed by many rock groups that are based in Brooklyn or frequently perform here. “All of these are worth investing in: Milk Dick, Juan Wauters, Parquet Courts, Parlor Walls, Palberta, Pill, Guerrilla Toss, Gustaf, Public Practice, Veda Rays, Operator Music Band, Shilpa Ray, Future Punx [and] Video Daughters,” he tells Brooklyn Roads.

Endless Scroll album cover

Ben’s current favorite Brooklyn music venues are a pair of Bushwick clubs, Alphaville and Elsewhere. “Alphaville is prime for being intimate and accessible with a quality bar (good veggie burgers) and most important: great programming,” he says. “Elsewhere is fun because there’s two good sound stages and also a labyrinth of various rooms and hallways where you can hang out.” The latter point is important, because, Ben tells us, “Scenes can’t happen without lots of chitchat in between performances.”

Ben, Bodega co-founder Nikki Belfiglio, and bandmates Heather Elle, Madison Velding-Vandam and Montana Simone have a new EP coming out soon, a follow-up to 2018’s well-received album, Endless Scroll. You can catch them on January 31 at Rough Trade NYC in Williamsburg and on March 9 at Alphaville in Bushwick.