Ben Lee has lived a life filled with fame, music, and plenty of memorable moments, but not all of them have been smooth sailing.
In a recent interview with The Guardian, the ARIA Award-winning singer-songwriter shared two of his most cringeworthy celebrity encounters, involving none other than comedy legend Jerry Seinfeld and Britpop icon Jarvis Cocker.
The first run-in came when he was just 18 years old and happened to meet Seinfeld in New York. “I’d been obsessed with Seinfeld,” Lee admitted, recalling how excited he was to meet one of his idols. However, the encounter wasn’t what he’d hoped for.
“Everyone knows Seinfeld is sort of a jerk now, but I met him when I was 18. I was completely shocked at the stone-faced, judgmental vibe that was coming from him. Now he’s famous for that, but I was just young and drunk in New York,” Lee said.
Lee, who first burst onto the scene in the 1990s with his band Noise Addict, also recalled another cringeworthy moment involving Britpop icon Jarvis Cocker.
The “Catch My Disease” hitmaker, alongside fellow actor and director Jake Fogelnest and actress Natasha Lyonne, was backstage at a Tibetan music festival watching R.E.M. perform when they spotted Cocker. As Lee explained, “We were like, ‘Jarvis, Jarvis, come over here, come over here!’ No one in America knew him then, and we were all such mega fans.”
However, when the moment came to finally speak to Cocker, Lee’s nerves got the best of him.
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“I couldn’t think of anything to say, so I said: ‘Jarvis 14-inch Cocker!’” Lee cringed. “As if he never heard that before,” he said. Unsurprisingly, Cocker wasn’t amused. “He just looked at me like, ‘As if,’ and I was humiliated.”
Despite the awkwardness, Lee has come to see these embarrassing moments as positive in hindsight. “I think the ability to take a swing in life and fall flat on your face and embarrass yourself is a positive quality,” he reflected.
“So even those experiences, I look at them in myself as kind of endearing now.”
The revelations come ahead of Ben dropping his album This One’s for the Old Headz in September.
“This One’s for the Old Headz is a spirited, energetic exploration of getting older while staying true to your punk spirit,” he said of the forthcoming tunes.
“With an album cover shot by legendary indie party photographer Cobrasnake, This One’s for the Old Headz is a blistering, loud guitar and harmony-filled classic Ben Lee album that is sure to capture the hearts and imaginations of old heads and young heads alike.”
This One’s for the Old Headz is out Friday, September 20th via Weirder Together.
