Ben Folds Five

Led by frontman Ben Folds, the Chapel Hill trio Ben Folds Five erased doubts about a guitar-free rock outfit’s viability. Labeling their sound “punk rock for sissies,” the North Carolina natives drew frequent association with the mid-’90s nerd-rock wave, yet their grounding in jazz and Folds’ sharp-edged take on the pianist-songwriter lineage secured the group an enduring place even after the October 2000 breakup. That same platform later propelled Folds’ own stream of piano-centered pop releases for years afterward.

The ensemble’s history largely mirrors that of its central figure and namesake. Born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to a carpenter father, Folds finished high school in the mid-’80s and then wandered through a series of cities in search of fertile ground for his musical ideas. While hair-metal acts dominated radio, he logged unsatisfying stretches in Miami, Chapel Hill, New York, and Europe before settling in Nashville in the early ’90s. Despite—or perhaps because of—the city’s reputation as a songwriter’s haven, Folds found its hit-driven methods confining and at odds with his own unpredictable creative impulses.

Returning to Chapel Hill in 1994, he assembled a piano-driven trio alongside bassist Robert Sledge and drummer Darren Jessee. Within weeks the group recorded an independent single that caught Caroline’s attention. Their 1995 self-titled debut moved sufficient units to trigger the major-label bidding war many young acts dream of; Sony ultimately signed them. The band maintained its demanding tour regimen while issuing Whatever and Ever Amen, sending “Battle of Who Could Care Less” and “Brick” into a marketplace crowded with interchangeable guitar acts. The trio’s witty, off-kilter, keyboard-based approach stood out, earning both critical praise and commercial success.

Critics inevitably linked the music to earlier piano-based songwriters such as Todd Rundgren, Billy Joel, and Joe Jackson, yet the group worked steadily to preserve its distinct identity. Over the following two years Ben Folds Five stayed visible by placing tracks on film soundtracks and by releasing the odds-and-ends collection Naked Baby Photos. Early in 1999 they delivered their third studio album, The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner. In November 2000 the band suddenly declared its dissolution, catching fans and press off guard; shortly afterward the members confirmed plans to pursue separate endeavors. Bassist Robert Sledge began assembling his own project while also touring with former Squirrel Nut Zippers multi-instrumentalist Tom Maxwell’s outfit the Minor Drag. Drummer Darren Jessee likewise performed solo club dates across New York City. Ben Folds contributed “Lonely Christmas Eve” to the Grinch soundtrack and “Wandering” to the 2000 independent film 100 Girls, then issued a series of well-received solo albums. The original lineup reconvened in 2011 to record a new song for Folds’ 18-track retrospective The Best Imitation of Myself. They formalized the reunion the next year with The Sound of the Life of the Mind, the band’s fourth studio album and first since 1999.