Describe the formation of the group The High Plains Drifters, and the significance behind the group’s name?
Christina Benedetto: This is more a question for Larry. But for my part, Larry and I have been friends and drinking buddies for ages. When he asked me to join the group I was over the moon. I love all the guys in the band. Just to give you a rundown, in case Larry doesn’t:
Kyle is the cool one
Doc is the pro
John is the handsome one
Greg is the musical genius
And Larry is our fearless leader
Larry Studnicky: The group was founded in a Tex-Mex joint in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood one evening, over too much liquor and not enough grub to absorb it, when I revealed to two music industry buddies – John Macom and Charles Czarnecki – that I had been writing songs for ages. This was news to them. I didn’t tell most people about it. I asked them to help me finish and then record what became our first radio single, “Get Me Home By Christmas Eve”. The radio airplay convinced me that we should keep recording. So, we started work on our debut album.
I immediately asked Mike DoCampo to join – I knew Mike from a long-ago album project where Mike’s band recorded 5 of my songs (and 6 of their own), and (shockingly) on that project we all got hang out and record with Cher, ex-Rolling Stone Mick Taylor, and legendary rock keyboardist Nicky Hopkins (who recorded with The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, John Lennon, and too many others to count).
Kyle Cassel started out as our recording engineer, but I asked him to take over drumming duties on what became our debut album’s first single, “Virginia”. Kyle brought in bassist Dave Richards. They’ve played together on a ton of projects and are as rock-solid a rhythm section as any band out there.
We needed backup singers and some younger blood in the group. Yes, I did a bit of after-work drinking with Christina (and my work colleagues), but I had also seen her fronting a jazz trio in a bar near my midtown office, and I loved her voice. So, I asked her to join. Soon thereafter, I met Sabrina Curry when she played the “Frozen” role of Elsa at my daughter’s birthday party, and she just nailed “Let It Go”. So, I asked her to join.
We’d not be the band we’ve become without our current producer, Greg Cohen. He and I have been friends since he was about 20 and just starting out as a record producer. But I didn’t even te ll Greg for the longest time that I was a closet songwriter. Greg found that out when we were about halfway through recording our debut album, when producer Charles Czarnecki got married and moved to Europe to be with his bride. At least I think he went there to be with her . . . Anyway, I asked Greg to step into the producer’s chair, and he has been leading us ever since.
As to the significance of the name, leaving the gals aside, we’re a band of well-seasoned dudes, and I felt that “The High Plains Drifters” conveyed the sense of guys who’ve seen more than a little bit of life – and who write and perform accordingly.
Was there a specific moment that sparked the concept for “He Reminds Me of You”? Did the ideas for the song and music video occur simultaneously or at separate times?
CB: When I was single, I went on a lot of dates. My attitude for a while was, “I’ll try anything twice (because it could have gone wrong by accident the first time, right?)”. This song was born out of one of my more interesting Tinder dates. It was as wild as the song suggests.
LS: The song idea came before the video idea. I first had the sketchiest concept in my head for a song (called “She Reminds Me Of You”) being sung by a guy who’s dispirited over how bland his current girlfriend is in comparison to another, more adventuresome girl who got away. I would often give Christina a lift from Manhattan to the band’s recording sessions in Union City NJ, and she’d sometimes tell me that craziest stories about dates she’d had. I decided to flip the song’s lyrics, so that she could be the lead singer, and we could work into the song some of her more “interesting” experiences. Now, I am not saying that everything in the song really happened to her, but neither am I saying the opposite.
When I first talked to our awesome video team about producing something for this song, all that I conveyed was that we should find a playful way to explore the song’s BDSM themes while keeping it basically “safe-for-work”. As usual, Lars Skaland, the director, and our marketing guru Jonathan Chang delivered the goods. I think this is our coolest video by miles.
What was the process of coming up with the music video’s concept? How was it decided that the risqué scenes would be included?
CB: We couldn’t shy away from what makes this song powerful, and that is a dominating woman. And who doesn’t like seeing a lady in leather?
LS: What risqué scenes are you talking about? We’re a band from New York City – here, this stuff is real life. But to your point – nobody gets naked, and nobody gets bloodied. It’s a truthful picture of people who, for very different and equally valid reasons, seek to explore some of life’s more fringe experiences.
Lars and Jonathan wanted the heart of the video to be about the great German philosopher Hegel’s idea about dialectics – that contradictions can be resolved in a synthesis (not destruction), and that the relationships between such contradictions are necessary. Hegel used to say that a Master is nothing without the Slave; that a Teacher requires the Student for their existence. The video cleverly plays with this philosophy and makes a compelling narrative from it.
I wish that I could take credit for the fully fleshed-out concept, but the nod on that goes to Lars Skaland and Jonathan Chang.
How would The High Plains Drifters describe their musical sound and style?
CB: With this album we’ve really gotten into a New Wave groove (which we all really love). It isn’t exactly 80’s new wave, but it’s our own take on it.
LS: Most of us are, musically speaking, children of the Eighties. That was the era for a lot of the guys’ first bands, or their first attempts at songwriting, or when they spent an unhealthy portion of their lives listening to tons of different kinds of music in Manhattan’s nightclubs and live performance venues. Most of the songs we’ve recorded in the last 2 years – like our Summer 2021 EP “Songs Of Love And Loss” (which includes current single “He Reminds Me Of You”) – and the stuff we’ve recorded but haven’t released, are our efforts to explore our favorite sounds of the Eighties. Especially the New Wave music.
What impact would the group like their music to have on fans listening?
CB: This song is very different from the other songs we’ve produced. This is 100% a chick power ballad. It’s a song that when you hear it, or sing along, you feel empowered and sexy all at the same time.
LS: We’d like our music to ameliorate world hunger, avoid world war, and usher in a new era of lasting peace. Oh, wait, this isn’t a beauty contest . . . So, in that case, we just hope that our tunes will make the listeners turn up the volume when they hear it, bounce and sing along, and find something they can relate to in the stories we’re telling.
Are there any upcoming projects or plans for the future of The High Plains Drifters that the group would like to share?
CB: I don’t know if I’m allowed to say. But we have some exciting stuff in the pipeline. Maybe I’ll even get to do some guest lead vocals again.
LS: We have the first half of our second album in the can; and Christina and I are doing a duet on one of those tunes. We are about to go back into the studio to knock out the rest of that record. Separate from that, Christina recently floated an idea for another duet which we’ll likely release in the Fall of 2023. So please stay tuned to The High Plains Drifters on your favorite streaming service and YouTube, and we’ll do our best to keep delivering visually stunning music videos that are fun to watch. In which I swear you will never see a single one of us hogging the spotlight.
