Benny Benassi returns to GLOW this Saturday and I had a chance to catch up with him after his wonderful dinner at Il Matto in New York. Benny expresses that he is in love with the food there and how authentic the Italian ristorante’s cuisine is. Before we spoke about what he had been doing, he raved of how the desserts hit his sweet tooth even though he couldn’t remember the name. “It was a mixture of different desserts. One was amazing, made of sweet aubergine. Incredible and hard to find!”
Benassi gets a free pass to splurge since he just got off his recent bicycle tour starting in San Francisco, the beginning part of the fall. For Benny, cycling has been his preferred means of transportation in Italy and now he decided to incorporate this to one of his tours in one of his favorite states, California. He pit stopped through Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, LA and finales in one of my favorite cities as well, San Diego.
Benny wanted to have some fun with close friends and shoot a documentary about California and the bicycle culture. The solution came in the answer of a month long bike tour. Benny travelled with a team of about 7-10 people but Benny told me that he prefers to ride alone. The most memorable things that happened on the tour as Benassi explains , ‘The police stopped us on the freeway and on seeing our van with all our logos on it, said, ‘“Even if you’re Benny Benassi you can’t go on the freeway on a bicycle, it’s dangerous!”’
As for productions, “Spaceship” has been taking off to new heights. Benny recalls when they first started on this project, “It was great to get to work with Kelis. Apl and Jean Baptiste, of course. Alle and I met them for the first time at the video shoot and there was a great vibe. It all started when we sent a beat to JB and he top lined “Spaceship” studio. Then we said, “Hey maybe we need a rap part!” And Apl popped by…. It was incredible!”
What’s next for Benassi? Well he lets us in a little bit, “A new track with T-Pain, stuff with Gary Go, a great English guy and another album.” For the techies, I asked Benny what his favorite piece in the studio was, here’s what he said, “I should get Alle, my producer to answer this one [laughs]. I love it when he uses a compressor called…What’s it called? Ahh I can’t remember! [laughs]
What does Benny do when he isn’t a rockstar? “I like to relax in the country, take care of the garden and pedal, pedal…”
There’s no question that Benny will blow CLUB GLOW into another atmosphere but let me leave you with how Benny’s CLUB GLOW experience has been, “I love GLOW. It has the best sound system. I like the people and the vibe. I am always happy to come back!”