Default’s bassist Dave Benedict reflects on resurgence of rock and reunion tour

Photo credit: Karen Cottrell/RedTie Productions

Dave signed with the band Default in the year 2000. They’ve released four albums and have sold over four million records worldwide.  Dave, along with his wife Cynthia, also own their own photography and styling business called Square Egg Visions in Vancouver.

Tell us about the day you got the call that Default was getting back together and touring with Stone Temple Pilots

Dallas asked us all to go for dinner and in the back of my mind I’d been hoping for this for a long time. He finally popped the question and I said yes! We all jumped on it without hesitation. The tour was supposed to be Bush, Seether and us and we were very stoked about that, as our very first American tour was with Bush. They treated us so well on that tour and were very excited to play with them again. However they had to pull off the tour so that’s where STP came into the picture and we were really happy with that! Back in the day before we signed, the first song Dallas played with the band was an STP song, so it was kind of cool see it come full circle.

What was the reason for the tour? What made Dallas decide this was the right time with how massive his solo career is?

I really think to start, it was who we were touring with for sure. We’ve all stayed in touch and are all good friends still. It was just time, maybe nostalgia fueled it, I don’t know. I’m just glad Dallas made the decision to do it.

How has the tour been? Was it like riding a bike or did you take awhile to shake off the rust?

When we first started rehearsals it was just Jeremy, Danny and I. We played a couple of the old ones and it felt great, just like old times. Then we wanted to incorporate some of the other songs for the set, dig a little deeper into the catalogue. And….that’s when we realized how much we sucked! It was not like riding a bike. It’s been six years since we’ve played a show together, and its felt like an eternity waiting for something like this new tour to happen. We had never broken up, we’ve been on an extended break. One of the best things has been how much Dallas has changed and grown, how he is just the full package. His swagger is undeniable. I couldn’t wait to play that first show and see how much we could turn up the energy notch with this new chemistry on stage.

Is there anything in the works for the band beyond this tour?

There have been no talks about anything really aside from maybe a summer festival. No plans for a record of any sort. We may look at releasing a single, but again, there is nothing in the works. We’ll talk about it, maybe something will happen in the new year. Also, Dallas gets back to his solo career as soon as we are done this tour. It’s exciting though, it’s all wide open and we are making our own rules at this point. I’m hoping for the best obviously, I hope the train keeps rolling, it’s been fun.

Tell me about your feelings about the resurgence of Rock.

Rock always comes in waves. It gets watered down, like any genre does. You get too much of it and people move on to something else. For me, I’m a rock guy, rock never goes away. I love all kinds of genres but of course I notice the trends and patterns, but I try not to follow them. I still rock Motley Crue and wave that flag proud! Rock is the dirty little secret that will never go away. It will rear its head and all it needs is that one band to turn it upside down just like what Nirvana did, rock shifted, but it was still rock. The Sex Pistols took down disco. It will happen again. Rock n roll is meant to piss parents off and make them squirm.  One of my kids came to me recently and said, “Dad, all my friends are listening to Justin Bieber and all this pop stuff at school, they don’t even know who the Beatles are!?" That was when I knew I had it made!

Visit www.squareeggvisions.com to see more about what he is doing now.