“Last Flight” is the latest, and perhaps the clearest example that the songwriting and production talents of Ben DeHan continue to evolve beyond his pop-punk influences and experiences as a Vans Warped Tour alumni with American Diary.
Co-produced with Bryan Czap of The Dangerous Summer, “Last Flight” was written during a brief break in Ben’s 2022 Summer tour schedule and is the first publicly released collaboration since the release of “Woke Up” in March 2022. Matt Malpass (Blink-182 / Rookie Of The Year) mixed and mastered “Last Flight” and has produced the next six tracks Ben will be releasing every eight weeks in 2023.
“Lauren and I had just finished watching the last season of Stranger Things and I really wanted to capture that 80’s Alt / Synth Pop vibe in something new,” says Ben. “I’ve been transparent in the past about experiencing suicidal thoughts stemming from pain, numbness, and hopelessness, but with ‘Last Flight’ I wanted to emphasize that I don’t really want my life to end, I just want the pain (ie lifelong pattern, outcome, behavior, belief) to go away or change into something beautiful rather than malignant.”
“‘Last Flight’ is about being able to make that escape from my misaligned bias between who I perceive myself to be and who I am still becoming,” continues Ben. “To escape the voice in my head that says I’ll never be enough. To fly away. I hope that the vulnerability in my lyrics might give someone the courage to speak up and talk about how they feel rather than making a permanent decision grounded in temporary circumstances.”
The music of “Last Flight” feels like the natural evolution of Ben’s sound; Succeeding “Broken Bones,” the final single from Ben’s Blank Check EP, produced by Sam Pura (State Champs, The Story So Far) and released in January 2023. The driving uptempo beats and synth tones in “Last Flight” merge with authentic lyrics illustrating the inner struggle against our human nature while shining a light on the potential and the promise at the end of the tunnel.
I do my best to keep my head up / While my world is crashing down around my feet / I do my best to just forget em / When I’m crashing into everyone I meet
And I’ll fly / I’ll fly away from here / And I’ll fly /I’ll fly away from here
“I want to continue to talk and write openly about my struggle, pitfalls, victories, and lessons in anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts,” says Ben, “because it helps me get it off my chest and maybe it will help someone else do the same.”
Find “Last Flight” and more excellent music on the Alchemical Records Multigenre Mixture playlist on Spotify.
Daniel Warren Hill is an American musician, writer, and motivational speaker. He is best known as the frontman for Washington DC area Alternative Rock band YellowTieGuy, as co-founder of Capitol Groove Collective, and increasing the exposure of artists on a global scale through his work with Alchemical Records.
Subscribe to Alchemical Records today to support our efforts online and in print.
Join the Alchemical Records Street Team to promote these and other artists, live music, and music community organizations & events while receiving cool perks from artists throughout the region.
Recent Articles The genre-bending act, Shadowkasters, spearheaded by versatile multi-instrumentalist Bryce Avary, returns with an eighth studio album. SHADOWKASTERS self titled album artwork Shadowkasters, which
More to Watch Santa Barbara-based post-punk band, Versus The World, work on picking up the pieces with their latest single “Goin’ Out For Smokes.” Versus
As a producer bringing some major events to Capital Pride this year, Zach Renovátes admits that he was keen to get Betty Who on the lineup. After having seen several of her live performances already, Renovátes knew the Australian would make a fine marquee addition to the “Kinetic Presents Candyland” event at Echostage June 10.
Fortunately, she was both available and interested.
“Something that I personally saw was that [Betty Who] is one of the most pro-LGBT singer-songwriters I’ve ever ever seen perform live,” Renovátes said, adding that the D.C. audiences at her concerts come largely from within the gay community. “So she absolutely knows that we as queer people make up a huge percentage of her fan base.”
The June 10 event is the main draw of a weekend of collaborations between Kinetic Presents and the Capital Pride Alliance in celebration of D.C. Pride 2023. Other big names who will play at various venues around the District include DJs Abel and Cindel, Dan Slater, as well as Jerac and Paulo Fragoso. It’ll be a pride-filled musical weekend indeed, with Echostage, Sax, Bunker and Bliss Nightclub hosting the pulsing sounds of revelry. And there’s also the big parade on June 10.
Alchemical Records is a Washington, D.C. based music publication. We cover the Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Richmond, VA metro area music scenes, including band interviews, articles about your favorite musicians, new music and concert dates.
