Woke Up Down

About

Artist Woke Up Down is musician Benjamin Bergenstein. 

Benjamin resides in Mid-Western United States and records under the independant label Turtle Productions. He has a discography that continues to grow along with his success in the music industry with his ever-growing fan base. While Benjamin considers himself to be primarily a guitarist, his ability to play drums, bass, keys, and vocals in his albums would leave many to believe otherwise.

In a recent interview, Benjamin was asked about his shifts in genres and how that impacted his following where he replied:

“My music is all relevant to me and where I’m at in the moment. I write music for me and anyone who wants to come along for the journey. It’s not unheard of to cross music genres, and by doing so it keeps things fresh for me. I feel I would be burnt out if I only played rock, or metal, that’s why we have hard rock to bridge the gap, which ultimately can be traced back to blues; So again, it’s all relevant. If my fans don’t care for a particular style, that’s okay, maybe they will be back for the next album.”

 Question 2, knowing what you know now, is there anything you would change about your approach to music or anything you would have done different along the way?  

“Yes, there are probably a few things I would have changed. For starters, if you are a self-producer, do not rush to production! I regret rushing some of my earlier albums to production without peer review or receiving a bit of critiquing beforehand. I’m not talking about the press release articles that charge you to write a fluffy article about you or your band, I’m talking about real hard-hitting truth from friends that don’t mind telling you something is off in a song. That way, you can evaluate if that was what you were trying to achieve, or if something is wrong.

My biggest issue is with my busy life outside of music, I don’t often get the chance to maintain my vocals, so that when it’s time to lay tracks and my vocals are off, rather than putting the album on pause until I get my vocals back, I would just keep pushing forward. The downside is, you just ruined a decent song, and when it’s out there, there’s no going back. Take your time!

Lastly, I would change my artist name… I used the name Woke Up Down a long time ago to keep my personal recordings separate from the current bands I was in at the time. Because I played hard rock and metal, the Woke Up Down songs were primarily melancholy slower songs at 60 BPM that my band members would not entertain.

A few albums later I realized I had a fan base and people were starting to follow me, so I decided it was too late to change it.”