Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Bret and Maddie Bender and Miller. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Bret and Maddie, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
There have been so many musical projects over the years that have delivered us great fulfillment and development, but we’d like to take a slight departure from music to answer this question. We are huge advocates for animals and it is a great passion of ours. When we decided to move back to Phoenix from our 7 year stint in Los Angeles, it opened up an opportunity for us to lean even deeper into our activism. In Los Angeles, we began fostering dogs and working adoption events for a wonderful non profit called, Adopt Me Rescue. It was rewarding work, but challenging in a tiny one bedroom apartment, in the middle of bustling Hollywood.
Upon moving back to Phoenix, we found an adorable townhouse, and were excited about the newfound space and all its possibilities. To our surprise, it wasn’t dogs we would soon be housing, instead we were flooded with feral cats within our community. We dove right into learning how to help these creatures; discovering TNR ( a Trap and Release spay and neuter method to aid in cat population). Since then, we are so happy to share we have TNR’d many of our community ferals and offer them a safe haven on our porch with amenities to keep them cool during the wicked, summer heat, and warm in the low, Winter temperatures.
We’ve been so fortunate in receiving help from amazing organizations like Arizona Humane Society and Hartt, but it was a surprising place I found some of the most valuable connections…a Facebook Group devoted to aiding Feral Cats! One woman, in particular, has been so instrumental in our work with these animals. From her openness in sharing knowledge, we gained the confidence to start rehabbing cats independently! Even my mother and sister jumped on the foster train!
Many animals have now passed through our home, some healthy in need of a short stay, some sick, seeking rehabilitation for nearly a year! It is not easy work, I will say, sometimes they are not strong enough, no matter how much love you throw at them, and those losses are so great no words can explain. But the successes are some of our proudest moments.
We have fallen so deeply in love with these cats and feel it’s so important to talk about caring for our feral furry friends, as they can be oftentimes misunderstood in our communities.
-Maddie
Bret and Maddie, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Bret and I are the indie synth band Bogan Via.
Bret found his love of music at an early age, learning piano, then eventually picking up guitar. He began writing songs in high school and his sound began to evolve into something super unique, utilizing his first learned production platform, GarageBand.
I was always in choir in my early schooling and high school, but I never really thrived in those environments, to be honest. I found love in performance through acting, which is where I immediately started to blossom. I did many musicals but I always felt my voice was too soft to carry a principle role, so I usually hung back in the chorus; but I loved it just the same.
Once I got into high school, I was listening to a lot of Ben Folds and my dad had recently brought home a piano from a garage sale. I remember my mom gawking at him, as no one in my family played. So I began watching Youtube tutorials for some of my favorite songs and posting my covers on my channel. It was small outlet but very fulfilling to me. My parents were always very supportive of my artistry. Next Christmas I received a guitar, then a ukulele followed and that was that! I am novice at my instruments but I love playing them.
I really love Folk music and at the time I met Bret I was listening to a lot of it…First Aid Kit and Tallest Man on Earth. I put out an ad on Craigslist looking to start an all female folk band. Right after I posted that ad I received a Facebook message from a guy, Bret Bender. He said he saw one of my Youtube videos and wanted to see if I’d be up for a collaboration. He played Electronic music, which scared me, but we met up at the ASU practice rooms and the chemistry was instantaneous. Bogan Via was born! We recorded a home sewn EP and got the attention of a wonderful creative, Chuckie Duff, who signed us to his local label where we worked with Bob Hoag to produce our first album, Wait Up. It was all pretty unexpected. We were so fortunate to then work with Electric Legend Pictures on a music video for our song, Kanye. The video was really well received and the song kind of took off.
Promoter and now bar owner (Thunderbird Lounge, ThunderCat), Jeremiah Gratza, has also been a large part of our story; he took us under his wing as our momentum was building. He helped us open for amazing acts all over the world, we toured Europe, have played many incredible festivals and everything in between!
Shortly after Bret and I began Bogan Via, we moved to Los Angeles so I could pursue acting. It was a challenging time but we met wonderful people and found lots of inspiration that eventually propelled our albums, BOGANVIALAND and Tough to Kill. Bret was able to work for a Licensing company by day, where he wrote songs to pitch for TV and Film. We even got to score a Hulu show once!
I think something that sets us apart is something that also feels a hinderance times. It’s really defining the musical style…
We dabble in different genres..folk, indie, electro pop, hip hop, industrial- gothic core..and sometimes it feels hard to pin down exactly what you’re listening to. But when you hear it, it’s cool, it’s just Bogan Via! Our sound is constantly evolving; it’s growing and changing as we are changing as people. And it’s so indicative of our environments at the time. I think that’s pretty neat.
Our latest album, Everything’s Ok, dropped in October and it’s definitely the sweetest work we’ve released so far. And I think it really represents who we were and how we felt in those moments of creation. It’s like an auditory time capsule.
We are proud of all our work, of course. Collaborations with other artists are always really exciting and can tease such potential magic. It’s nearly impossible to end up with something outside of your comfort zone when you bring minds together that are normally creating alone. It’s just such a special meld, a partnership that also opens you up to your community! There is no shortage of talent; I always say talent is not rare, you know, it’s everywhere. And it’s fun to work together. Our latest collab with local producer, DAZA is a glowing example of just that!
We began this journey together in 2012, playing at open mic nights at Long Wong’s on Apache in the heart of Tempe. It’s so surreal to look back at all the opportunities we’ve been given and the experiences we’ve had. When we recall these things, we both agree how kind of wild it is that it all transpired so early on, when we both remember feeling too green to even be there. It’s so easy for us to say, man I wish we could do it all again because we are so much better now! We are so much more confident now, more comfortable now. But that’s ok. At the end of the day, we are so grateful for this community. We are so grateful that people connect to the music we make, and feel a comfort or healed by it in any small way. And that’s really what we want anyone listening to know, is that we are sending our love out, and that everything’s gonna be ok.
Getting to be creative and share our passion with the world is a gift and we are thankful and excited for what’s to come!
-Maddie
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
This topic has been an important one for us in the last few years, especially when it comes to defining our own self worth. It is very easy for an artist to look around at a world filled with other creatives and say, “They’re just as good if not better than me, nobody needs/finds value in what I’m making”. But as I reflected on that belief system it doesn’t sit well with me. For one, I love art, I think it’s incredible. Art and artists are the ones providing new perspectives on the world, they challenge us to self reflect and give us outlets to feel our emotions. So why would I question the value of my own art in any way? In my opinion society has done a poor job at giving the arts its own just due. Music and art programs are always the first to go when school budgets get cut. As you get older you are meant to keep your passions on the side as hobbies to fit in between what happens during ‘real life’. Somebody can make an incredible fortune moving stocks from one place to the next while the artist who shares a piece of their soul so that you can better understand yourself and your own experiences struggles to get by. But these ideas are slowly changing! I see everyday a new and reinvigorated respect for the arts and the value it adds to society. People are starting to show up and share their time and money with those things that truly enrich their lives. It may not be easy to quantify or categorize but having art in your life drastically improves ones happiness. So please support art or start making some of your own for everybody’s benefit.
-Bret
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
I think going through the school system along with growing up a sports kid I had this mentality that it was okay to beat yourself up. If I wanted to get better and stay disciplined I needed to have strong will power which meant feeding this internal dialog that would be self deprecating and always doubting my own intuitive voice. Even in the working world self love and compassion are barely talked about or heaven forbid celebrated. It’s always been about working harder, smarter, faster to get more more more. I’m not sure if this is taught directly, or it is surmised through varieties of life experiences but at some point I had to unlearn that beating myself up was going to get the best productive results. When you begin to become wise to this you’ll start to catch yourself in all sorts of tiny ways. Outwardly I would talk about big ideas and put on a brave face while on the inside I would be critiquing every little thing and showing zero self compassion. So today I do my best to love myself exactly where I’m at. If my voice is a little tired or that bass line just isn’t working for that particular song, its okay! I can move on and trust that my voice and that part will come together when they are ready. The more I have put this into practice the more I have fun working on music and being in the creative zone. As this concept has sunken in further I also realize that I am less critical of others art and get to enjoy all sorts of works that in the past I would have over analyzed to bits.
-Bret
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/boganvia
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/boganvia/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheBoganVia/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=bogan+via
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3SGrh0j4TdyKv2OKzrFLoz?si=Yj8tlz0YSW6RrPTCvXpsVA
Image Credits
pic 1 by- David Blakeman pic 2 by- Bogan Via pic 3 by- Bogan Via pic 4 by- Bogan Via pic 5 by- Bogan Via pic 6 by- Harald Nagal pic 7 by- Harald Nagal