Café Rosé is the long awaited passion project of Calgary songwriter/guitarist/actor Ben Rose and all the beautiful musicians and songwriters around the world he has the privilege of collaborating with.
The Café is a garden where original songs grow and old songs get replanted. When forced to name a genre we say “Country, Soul, Rock & Roll” but there are few genres from which we don’t steal something. “Whatever the song wants” is Ben’s motto.
After years honing his craft as Calgary’s hardest working live entertainer, Ben has finally released his debut Café Rosé EP “We’re Open” with a string of follow ups already in the pipeline.
“We’re Open” means to bring hope to the people who need it now more than ever. The first single “Spark” addresses the hopelessness shutdowns have caused so many (especially musicians),
“1 4 5” relates how music has repeatedly brought Ben back from suicidal despair while “I wait for you” and “Saskatoon Berries” bring the summer sound of the beach/berry picking to anyone who needs some sunshine to brighten their day.
Ben has never opened for anybody famous. Never collaborated with any artist anyone outside of Calgary would recognize. Never nominated himself for an award. Focusing strictly on his craft while being the hardest gigging musician in Cowtown has paid dividends in the form of close to a hundred beautifully crafted original songs and a confident performing presence that wins over every room. The plan was to hide under a rock in Cowtown till the songs were perfect, the stars aligned and some industry heavyweight lifted the rock to bring his music to the world. Recently 3 people’s belief in him has inspired Ben to abandon this “strategy” and finally embrace the self-promotion/branding he’d been religiously avoiding. The result is Café Rosé.
First, Kelsea Forzani-Mannix, an acting agent who helps Ben book voice over work and parts in locally filmed TV shows (Fargo, Tin Star, Heartland,Tribal etc) believed in his songs and voice enough to take on the daunting task of starting from scratch as a music manager. Her decision to tackle the music industry at it’s lowest point (so far) is a testament to how good the songs are.
When Brian Johnstone, his saxophone player who had left Calgary for Edmonton 3 years before offered to begin commuting to Calgary to play shows and record originals this elevated the rootsy guitar based sound of Ben Rose to the jazzy soul experience that is Café Rosé.
The last piece of the puzzle was his childhood friend Dara Schindelka who had abandoned her promising career in Toronto musical theatre 23 years ago to raise 3 children in northern Saskatchewan. When she recruited Ben to be her sideman allowing him to utilize his wide ranging skills as a percussionist, guitar player, arranger and harmony singer he saw a woman overcoming so many more obstacles than he was avoiding.
“If it’s not too late for her to build a brand and a following why am I avoiding writing this press release?” Dara wrote “Spark” for Café Rosé and sings the vocal on their co-write “Saskatoon Berries”.