Ben Kweller, the beloved Texas-based indie rocker, will bring his deeply personal “Cover The Mirrors Tour” to the Grog Shop in Cleveland Heights on Thursday, April 24.
The show promises an intimate and emotionally charged experience, showcasing his resilience and artistic evolution. Fans can anticipate a night of poignant storytelling and soulful melodies as Kweller shares his latest work.
This tour precedes the release of Kweller’s seventh studio album, ‘Cover The Mirrors,’ which Kweller describes as his “most personal, emotionally raw project.” It will be released on May 30, 2025, coinciding with what would have been his late son, Dorian Zev’s 19th birthday. The album delves into his journey through grief and healing following Dorian’s tragic passing in 2023.
‘Cover The Mirrors’ features collaborations with artists such as Waxahatchee, MJ Lenderman, The Flaming Lips, and Jason Schwartzman’s Coconut Records. The album’s first single, “Optimystic,” offers a glimpse into the heartfelt themes explored throughout the record.
Checking in with CleveRock via Zoom from his Texas residence, Kweller gave the scoop on his upcoming tour and album release.
“I’m really excited to come back to the Grog. That’s going to be cool,” Kweller said. “It’s been a while since I’ve played in Cleveland, and with a new album on the horizon, it’s always interesting to put together the set list because I think when I’m in Cleveland, the album won’t be out yet, so I’ll probably play the singles that have already been released and maybe two or three of the other tracks. It’s going to be really fun!”
After the short delay of our interview, during which Kweller had to straighten things out with his credit card company due to excessive charges for tour expenses, this writer informed Kweller that I was first exposed to his music when he opened for Dave Matthews Band at the then-named Gund Arena in 2002. Later that year, I caught Kweller (with opening act My Morning Jacket) at the Beachland Ballroom to a modest audience (even by Beachland standards).
23 years later, Kweller is still going strong. He was the first signing to ATO Records, a label that was influenced by Dave Matthews.
“Dave was such a big supporter of mine early on because he had just started ATO Records. His tour manager came to one of my gigs when I was first starting out in New York City and came up to me after the show and said, ‘Dude, I’m starting this record company with Dave, and we want you to be our first worldwide signing,” Kweller recalled. “We just love what you’re doing and we want to sign you for the world and just really help bring you to the people. I was like, ‘Hell yeah! Let’s go!’ That’s when I went into the studio and started recording. When I was in the studio, Dave would stop by the studio a bunch and hang out and listen to music. And then when the album was coming out, he invited me on tour, which was so kind.”
The resulting album is titled ‘Sha Sha.’ This interviewer still streams the record from time to time. Not just for nostalgia, either. The album holds up on the strength of tracks including “Wasted & Ready, “Lizzy,” and “Walk on Me.” In 2022, a 20th Anniversary Edition was released on various formats, including the full album on a…wait for it….toothbrush! (I lost it somewhere over the past 20+ years, but I once owned a red Ben Kweller toothbrush (sans .WAV files); the cheapest memorabilia at the merch table at the time.)
When asked about the unique release format, Kweller disappeared from my screen and returned holding one of the music-bearing toothbrushes, giving us both a good laugh.
Fast-forward to 2025, and Ben’s aforementioned upcoming release, ‘Cover The Mirrors,’ will undoubtedly have a more somber vibe. The record was written during a period of mourning an unthinkable tragedy.
“My son, Dorian, was 16 years old and died in a car crash. It was the worst night of my life. He was a great musician. He released music under the name Zev, and he was so talented and such a shining spirit. To lose him was losing everything,” Kweller reflects. “Music’s always been the one constant in my life to sort of keep me on track and help me get through life. And so a month or so after Dorian died, I luckily was able to start playing music again, and the songs just started pouring out of me. So this album ‘Cover the Mirrors,’ came to life, really. And I would even talk to Dorian after he was gone, and I would be sitting there with my guitar and I would just look up to the sky and say, ‘Dorian, send me some songs, Man. Let’s write a song together.’ And so we did.“
Words always fail me in these situations. It’s always hard to sound sincere from my interview chair. “My condolences” and “sorry for your loss” aren’t sufficient in these scenarios. Knowing that this album was a healing process for Kweller, the discussion moved to details about ‘Cover The Mirrors.’
“This album is all about losing Dorian and losing the ones you love and trying to continue on in life without them. And in order to do that, I’ve found that community and the ones that are left here living with us, those are the ones that help you make it through. And so, instead of dwelling on everything I’ve lost, I’ve been trying to just recognize the things that I still have. Otherwise, if I only focused on my loss of Dorian, I think I would go insane or end my own life or something. I mean, it wouldn’t be good,” Kweller said. “And so, in a lot of ways, this album’s all about community because our local community was here for us when Dorian died: my closest friends. And now, through the music process, working with other artists that I’ve known over the years has really just culminated in this really cool album. Instead of it just being one expression coming straight from me, it’s like a group effort. And everyone was affected by Dorian’s death, including people that I don’t even know. It’s something that everyone can sort of relate with, and we’ve all suffered loss and tragedies in our own ways.”
Kweller collaborated with some awesome artists on this record, including The Flaming Lips and one of this writer’s new favorite artists, MJ Lenderman.
“He’s great. He’s such a talented artist and guitar player,” Kweller complimented Lenderman. “We were hanging out in New York City. He was doing a gig, and I was doing a gig. We were both in town at the same time. I was telling him about my new album, and I knew that I had that song, “Dorian,” which was actually the last song that I wrote for the album. I knew it would be the last track of the album, and I just could hear this sort of Jerry Garcia flowing guitar line. I just instantly thought of him, and I’m like, ‘Bro, you got to check out this song.’ So I played it for him just acoustically in his hotel room, and he was like, ‘Oh, man, I would love to get on this track.’ So when we both got back to our homes, he was back in North Carolina, I was back in Austin, and we set up a Zoom, and he just recorded all the guitar parts. It was really cool.”
As for The Flaming Lips?
“[Frontman] Wayne [Coyne] would just text me all these random sound clips and synth parts and weird guitar things, and the guys in the band would just send them to him, and then Wayne would send them to me,” Kweller said. “I put together a collage of different sounds. That was really fun. I mean, all these collabs were done remotely. I think that one of the interesting holdovers from COVID is the fact that we all got used to Zoom and FaceTime. I do a lot of co-writes for other artists, and publishers would try to set up Zoom songwriting sessions. It was kind of lame, but we all got used to it. And now, in a lot of ways, it makes life a lot easier because we don’t have to buy plane tickets and fly and travel, and we can see each other. It made it pretty easy to come together and build these tracks with my friends.”
When Kweller started his solo career at the turn of the Millennium, ZOOM was science fiction, as were SPOTIFY and streaming services. The king of social media was MySpace. (For those under 18 years old, ask your parents to explain that to you!) Kweller was asked if he would rather have released his solo debut back in the simpler times of yesteryear or preferred to have all of the current technology at his disposal.
“Philosophically, to start off, I don’t really think about, ‘Oh, I wish things had gone this way or that way,’ because I really do believe that things are meant to be. I would say that I’m a believer in fate and that there is a lot of things beyond our comprehension when it comes to things being predestined,” he answered. “Obviously, I believe that we have ultimate control over our lives and our actions, but the decisions we make with our own capabilities were actually already going to happen anyway. I don’t know. It’s a strange thing. You know what I mean? It’s like I can buy a plane ticket and fly to Cleveland today. I’m probably not going to do that, but if I did, it would’ve been totally on my own accord. But then that is what was supposed to have happened. So anyway, I don’t know. That’s my analogy.”
“I’m grateful that I started when I did because, in some ways, it was easier because I do feel like it’s strange. I’m grateful that I still have my fan base. I really was able to build a fan base, and it was very old school,” Kweller continued. “It was like you would staple flyers to lamp posts in Dallas, and that’s how you promoted the show. We didn’t even have an email list. We had a mailing list, but it was snail mail, and we’d send little fanzines and stuff. Nowadays, the barrier to entry is non-existent. Anyone can put music up on Spotify and Apple Music, but the trade-off is that there’s so much noise. How do you rise above that? The normal way that people try to go is social media, but then social media is built for clicks and virality. To achieve that, you have to usually do something that’s probably not what you’re aligned with as an artist. You know what I mean? It’s like doing stupid meme videos and stuff. It is hard just sitting and playing guitar on TikTok. It’s hard to break through. I am grateful, but I also love technology. I’m grateful that I started when I did, and I built a fan base when I did. But at the same time, I love technology and I embrace it, and it is fun to see people discover my music for the first time on TikTok or Instagram. Everyone’s a new artist to somebody.”
As for Kweller’s plans for the near future after his Spring tour concludes?
“We’re going to hit the West Coast in the summer. I’m doing a festival with Bleachers in New Jersey, and then we’re talking about international dates,” Kweller announced. “I’m already thinking ahead about what the next album for me will be like. I have no idea what it’ll be, but little ideas are coming to me here and there.”
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