Patrick Fergus
@Fergus5Fergus
The hollering of the crowd and thrill of performing live is nothing new to the thousands of musicians who frequent the historic clubs of Beale Street in Memphis, Tenn.. For Cameron Bencivenga, it was the honor of a lifetime.
“It was a pretty beautiful experience,” Bencivenga said. “The whole thing was surreal.”
Bencivenga, a sophomore at Springfield College majoring in psychology and minoring in philosophy and music, showed off his sublime guitar skills as a part of the group, The Diego Mongue Band. “The latest face of the blues” as described by the website, the band consists of Bencivenga on lead guitar, namesake member and songwriter Diego Mongue on the drums, Chase Bradshaw on the bass and Chantell McFarland providing the passionate vocals.
Bencivenga first joined the band during COVID, but has been in love with the guitar and music since middle school.
“The first day my teacher showed me the chords……it was just so interesting,” said Bencivenga. “It was everything about the instrument, from the tone to the different sounds you can produce out of it.”
A big metalhead, Bencivenga drew inspiration from bands like Metallica, System of a Down and Avenged Sevenfold. Metallica’s classic “Master of Puppets” was the very first song he learnt in full, but songs like “Consumed” by Polaris opened his mind to a plethora of musical possibilities.
“It’s one of those songs that completely captivates the listener, like I was fully consumed by it,” said Bencivenga.
Metal was just the start and soon the burgeoning guitarist sought even more melodic complexities. The cleaner instrumentation of Jazz appealed to Bencivenga, a genre that also shared the fast-paced tempos and intricate musical structure he was familiar with in metal.
However, Jazz and ultimately later Blues provided the ultimate gateway to musical exploration and creativity, improvisation. The ability to improvise is essential to the two genres, and Bencivenga was more than willing to take up the challenge.
“The idea is just total freedom, and it’s the coolest feeling ever,” said Bencivenga. “Especially when the crowds actually into what you’re playing, and you can just push out all your ideas.”
Playing with Diego Mounge since high school, the two’s starkly dissimilar music tastes have molded together into a unique style of blues. When the idea of forming a band came around, Bencivenga was an obvious choice for the lead guitar position.
Mounge, now a junior at Williams College, has been playing the drums for over 12 years now but is a talented multi-instrumentalist that has performed with numerous bands over the years, opening for the likes of Lucinda Williams and Albert Cummings.
Mounge is responsible for writing all the songs and mixing them in post-production. He wanted to have a good mix of originals and some covers of the oldest songs in the genre.
“I wanted a big spread of where my interest lies,” Mounge said. “The whole recording process is one of my favorite things as a music lover.”
Moving from the jam sessions to the studio, Studio 9 in North Adams, Mass., was an entirely different animal. The band has released two studio albums, with the most recent While You Were Gone dropping this past December.
Essentially a live album, Bencivenga had to grapple with the absence of any crowd to engage with. When performing live, he’s able to feed off the energy of the crowd, heavily influencing the direction he would go in his improvisation.
“You had to play whatever you’re thinking and what felt right,” said Bencivenga. “Getting it all together at once was really difficult.”
It was a long day at the studio, but the marathon session that lasted over six hours resulted in a great modern blues record.
“It was great the sound we got out of our instruments,” said Mounge. “Cam’s guitar tone is nasty in the best way; the keys are smooth like butter and the vocals glide across the top of that blend.”
Featuring eight songs and just surpassing half an hour, every member brings something special to the table. Some notable highlights include the closing track “Blues All Day”, a vintage and lively blues tune with spirited vocals from McFarland and stirring guitar solo that sends the album out on a good note; literally.
The title track “While You Were Gone” and “Sleepless Night Blues” provide the iconic melancholy aura, while “Find My Way Again” starts off an incredibly strong bass line and just continually adds earworm guitar parts and full instrumentation, and McFarland’s climactic vocal runs are marvelous.
It’s the gem of the project for Bencivenga, who’s especially proud of how his solo turned out.
“It’s definitely my favorite on the album……the solo that I recorded turned out great and the riffs are strong as well,” he said.
His bandmates resoundingly agree, with Mounge saying “Cam sounds like he’s been playing 10-15 years longer than he has.”
The album also sounds tremendous, which isn’t something typical of a smaller band with nothing but their instruments and personal mixing, and the genuine live atmosphere is attributed to skillful playing of the members.
The judges at the International Blues Challenge certainly recognized their prowess, as out of the 250 bands from across the globe that performed in Memphis, The Diego Mongue Band finished in 15th place.
With talks progressing with festival promoters and a record label, the troupe has an exciting future ahead, and if you’re looking for a new addition to rejuvenate your playlist, their distinctive sound might just be the answer.
Photo courtesy of Cameron Bencivenga