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T-town native Benjamin Rice reflects on 'Star is Born' and work with Gaga, Cooper

For Texarkana native and music producer Benjamin Rice, the third cinematic recycling of the "A Star is Born" story has become the project of a lifetime. (Submitted photo)
For Texarkana native and music producer Benjamin Rice, the third cinematic recycling of the "A Star is Born" story has become the project of a lifetime. (Submitted photo)

For Texarkana native and hard-working music producer Benjamin Rice, the third cinematic recycling of the "A Star is Born" story has become the project of a lifetime.

 

Starring actor Bradley Cooper in his directorial debut and pop superstar Lady Gaga, "A Star is Born" explores the personal and musical relationship between a troubled songwriter-crooner named Jackson Maine (Cooper) and the young, talented singer (Gaga) he shepherds on her road to fame.

"A Star is Born" has received dozens of glowing reviews since its Venice Film Festival premiere. It's out in wide release Friday.

The soundtrack comes out out the same day, and Cooper and Gaga both have plenty of songs on it. Their heartfelt performances are featured on the trailers, which promote what's now the fourth telling of this story. Barbara Streisand and Kris Kristofferson last starred in "A Star is Born" for a 1976 movie musical.

Along with other producers, it fell to Rice to make the music work both for the film and for the soundtrack. He got his start here in Texarkana as a member of indie rock band Pilotdrift and as a recording engineer intern at SMART Productions.

Rice, whose sister is singer-songwriter and former "The Voice" contestant Stephanie Rice, landed co-production credits on four songs from the soundtrack: "Shallow," "Maybe It's Time" and both the film and extended versions of "I'll Never Love Again." Both "Shallow" and "Maybe It's Time" have received exposure through the trailers.

This past Monday night was the movie premiere in Los Angeles, where Rice now calls home, most assuredly a satisfying event in his life.

"It's pretty surreal to be honest. I've been working on this for almost a year-and-a-half," Rice said about his feelings attending a star-studded premiere. There have been other projects come his way over that time, too, but this is the big one. He dedicated a lot of emotional time to it.

"To see it all come together and see it on a big screen in front of everyone as an audience, to experience it for the first time, is a pretty special thing for it to be shared and to hear everyone's excitement and hear people's reactions, not only after the movie but while they're watching it," Rice said. He heard others laugh, cry, respond in their own way.

He'd seen snippets of the movie already, Cooper showing him scenes from it as they worked on vocals, for example. He was on set several times, too, so he was always in the middle of it. Then he watched the whole thing with Gaga, with whom he'd worked for years.

"The first time I watched the movie in its final, full-length state that it's in now was actually something that was very special to me, too," Rice recalled. "There was a private screening set up for me and for Gaga to watch it together."

This was prep for the soundtrack process, which is separate than shaping the music for the film. Of course, moviegoers don't necessarily hear full songs during the film itself, so the music is shaped differently.

"In the soundtrack we had more liberty to finish songs and add more things to them, and there's a few bonuses in there," Rice said.

It was Gaga's idea, he said, a way to get the proper inspiration, to sit down and watch it all together.

"We just sat in the middle of the theater and watched it, and had food and some wine," Rice said. Not a bad way to see yourself on the big screen for the first time, because he actually appears in "A Star is Born" in a bit role.

In a way, it was the realization of a dream for Rice, to be enmeshed in music in this professional way, which he's wanted for a long time.

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AP

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"Hopefully in an enlarged scale to where I'm working on things alongside artists and creators that people look up to, people listen to and artists that have something to say and how it affects people and music that makes you feel something," Rice said. That's been his longtime goal as a producer-engineer, helping people who create do just that.

"It's a long process to get wherever you're going," Rice said about the circuitous route that brought him to where he is now. "It just kind of happens on its own, very naturally, and that's what makes it all the more special to me now."

Watching the film with Gaga, he was immediately blown away. "To see it as a full body of work from start to finish as a final piece, it was just gorgeous because Bradley is such a brilliant director, such a brilliant actor, and has such beautiful point of view and such a specific vision." Rice found "A Star is Born" to be more emotional, more interesting and darker than what he anticipated.

"It really pulls you in, and everything's real," Rice said, adding of Gaga and Cooper, "Both of them just absolutely crushed it." Knowing Gaga and having worked with her since her "Artpop" album, he was in an interesting position seeing her on screen this different way, acting.

He remembers leaning over to tell her during the screening, "You truly are that character." She's an amazing actress, he said, but given how her concert performances command thousands it's no surprise. "It makes sense her acting would be the same thing."

Having worked with Gaga for about five years on projects like "Artpop" and "Joanne," Rice being pulled into "A Star is Born" is an extension of the trust they've built between each other, he explains.

"There's been a long relationship of building trust and building camaraderie and spending a lot of personal time together in the studio making music and recording her vocals," Rice said. He feels fortunate to be her first call to work on some projects.

It's a vulnerable thing, writing lyrics and singing vocals, and the artist is coming at it from a real place, no matter the fame, he says.

"I feel a deep connection to her and respect and a deep loyalty to her," Rice said. "The first time I ever worked with her I was like, holy shit, she really is unbelievable."

He didn't know much about LG, as he calls her, when he was growing up. Her passion and work ethic in the studio impressed him, however. And over time working together, they forged a real-time artistic relationship with a strong rapport and easy communication.

"I'm very grateful that we've been able to build that together," Rice said.

When she tapped Rice for the job, he didn't know all it would entail. Four days of work he was asked to do turned into a project exponentially larger-"the most memorable project of my life." That's how the industry works.

His credits for this "most memorable project" include being the engineer for all songs and music, vocal production, mixing on one song and then producer credit on those four aforementioned songs, "which are the biggest songs in the movie," Rice said.

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AP

Anna, center, a survivor of sexual assault, with her mother Susan, right, joins Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., left, during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, July 30, 2014, to discuss "Campus Accountability and Safety Act" that is before the Senate. Anna was an 18 year old student at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in central New York when she was sexually assaulted by fellow students at a fraternity party, just three weeks into her freshman year. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Overall, Rice shares album producer credit with Gaga and Cooper. Gaga and Cooper, among others, wrote songs for the movie. Lukas Nelson, Willie Nelson's son, worked on the project, too. Many talented people pooled their talents to make it happen, the music that both Cooper and Gaga's characters perform in the movie.

"It was a big team effort of everyone. I feel like my role was just kind of in the captain's chair helping steer the ship with her, steer the ship with Bradley, helping them create the vision with everyone," Rice said.

Cooper was hands-on with the recording process, Rice explained, noting Cooper as a director had a clear vision of what his character Maine should be and they worked together to make that sound right. The work on these songs is portrayed faithfully in the movie.

"I think that's what makes the movie so touching and compelling, is that everything actually is real. Everyone is cast as themselves. Everyone that made this is in the movie portraying exactly how they did it," Rice said. Hence, he portrays an engineer in the movie, but it's him acting naturally.

"It's cool to be in that position, it's cool to be under that pressure. And honestly all I had to do is what I always do," Rice said.

For Rice, the journey to this wonderful, fortunate moment in time started right here in Texarkana, where he found helpful mentors in the music biz, namely Frank Pryor (now with Artistry Recordings) and Greg White (now at Fort Worth-based SG Studios), two professionals who helped get Rice on the right road.

"They really took me under their wing and showed me from 17 years old as an intern, getting coffee and not knowing anything about recording but loving being a drummer and loving being a performer," Rice recalled. Once they introduced him to the studio work, he was hooked.

"Being in the studio showed me something totally different, where you could be equal parts technical and equal parts creative," Rice said. Making something out of nothing like that, it's what he wanted.

After working with them and serving as the Pilotdrift drummer, Rice joined the Army and put music aside for a spell. And after a stint there, he studied at Full Sail University, hoping it would lead to the commercial space of music. Did it ever.

Rice landed a job in Los Angeles as he was graduating, the only job lead he'd ever had while in school. He started working at Record Plant right off as an assistant engineer. "Right place, right time," he said.

After only nine or 10 months, he was tapped by the company president to work with Gaga. He was seen a good fit for her because of his attention to detail and, believes Rice, his empathy for artists.

"The cool part of this story is once I knew I was going to be assisting her on her record and working with her engineer and her producers and her team, I told myself, I was like when we finish this record I want her to hire me," Rice recalled. "And that's exactly what happened."

That was Gaga's "Artpop," and the musical friendship grew from there.

For Rice, the flip side of all this is the success his sister has found. Of Stephanie, he says, he's "so f****** proud," to put it bluntly. He's humbled that she's attributed some of her inspiration to him.

"That's something that really means the world to me to know that there's that connection between the two of us, to chase something similar and to chase something together," Rice said. They've always talked about making music together, and now it's happening.

He had a session to work with her earlier this past week. He wants to nurture her career, too. They've recorded records together already and aim to do more. It's exciting to work with Gaga, but also to work with Stephanie.

"The difference would be that since it's my family, it's my sister, there's something already in our blood, we're already on the same page," Rice said.

He puts it this way, so simply, "I'm just doing the best I can and take it one day at a time."

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