Los Angeles-based garage rock/punk/blues-rock artist Ben Conley just released a brand-new single/music video – “Thanks For Something,” the caustic antithesis to ‘thanks for nothing,’ as well as serving as an appetizer for Conley’s forthcoming debut EP, Things to Do In Williams, AZ.
Explaining the song, Conley shares, “This song was written a few days after a breakup. A sarcastic flip on saying, ‘Thanks for nothing,’ this song details the hard and fast nature of the relationship and acknowledges the idealization the writer had towards his former partner.”
Innovative, timely, and stripped-down to only the barest of essentials, Conley likens his sound to “raw elements leaving only skin on the bone.
Over at Alternative Nation, Dustin Schumacher wrote, “The video for this track is straight to the point. Ben is in a shower and going psychotic. Ben is washing off the ex. He’s cleaning himself of all the pain that he once held onto as he has a breakdown and his voice distorts rasping out ‘I don’t miss you…just the idea of you.’ Dark, thoughtful, and witty lyrics.”
Coming in at 73 seconds, Conley displays his knack for interpreting the handwriting on the wall, where songs, especially on TikTok, which right now is the new, next big thing, need to be short and hard-hitting.
“Thanks For Something” opens on a sneering blues-flavored guitar, followed by a double-tap snare leading into muddy, snarling, grinding punk guitars full of angst, pain, regret, and revolt. Ben’s grimacing, rasping voice surges with lashing vitriol, as he narrates the tale of his failed relationship and its subsequent emotional impact on his life.
With “Thanks For Something,” Ben Conley captures the defining essence of punk rock: rage against everything and anything. This track simmers with ferocity, indignation, and wrath, along with confirming David Gerrold’s observation “Life is hard. Then you die. Then they throw dirt in your face. Then the worms eat you. Be grateful it happens in that order.”
Ben Conley has it going on!
