Keith Wallen Balances New Solo Music With Breaking Benjamin, Says 'Awaken' Exceeded Band's Expectations

"Obviously, people are pretty anxious to hear some new stuff."

Breaking Benjamin guitarist Keith Wallen joined Loudwire Nights on Thursday (May 22). Listen to the full conversation in the player near the end of this article.

Wallen dove into his latest solo song, "Us Against the World," but also shared some details about the future of new music for Breaking Benjamin.

"We speak in code and smoke and mirrors," Wallen jokingly told host Chuck Armstrong about the band's next full-length album.

"It really comes down to — we've taken a while to make this music because we really want to make it right and we just love our fans. We really want them to love what we make and we don't want to phone anything in."

He acknowledged how patient fans have been and said they won't be disappointed once they hear more new music from Breaking Benjamin following last year's song, "Awaken."

"Yes, it's taking awhile, but sometimes you've got to wait for some good stuff," he said.

"'Awaken' exceeded our expectations. We were so grateful and just so thrilled with the response to our first new track."

As he shared that, Wallen also wanted to clarify something that he sees fans discuss online sometimes.

READ MORE: Avatar's Johannes Eckerström Says New Album Will Be Out This Year

"I want to mention that in no way does my solo stuff interfere with Breaking Benjamin's process," he said, matter of factly.

"Sometimes I'll put out a song and people are like, 'You're wasting time with this, we want Breaking Ben,' which is so damn rude...but I get what they're saying. But it has nothing to do with it."

What Else Did Keith Wallen Discuss on Loudwire Nights?

• Why "Us Against the World" is so important to him: "I've had the song a little while. It's one of those ones where I'm kind of like, it wasn't quite right for the Infinity Now album and it was something that I really loved. I'm really proud of it. I actually wrote it during COVID. We're all kind of trapped in our house, hating the state of the world, so I was just kind of like, you know what? Let's just go."
• What is one of the most difficult things about releasing solo music: "I've kind of just got to keep putting music out to stay relevant and stay in front of people's eyeballs and faces. There's so much stuff coming out every second, every day. It's easy to kind of get forgotten about and passed. You've got to remind people, 'Hey, I'm still here. Here's a new song.'"
• Why he wants to create music as a solo artist and as the guitarist for Breaking Benjamin: "I know that I'm going to be old someday and I'm not going to be able to play music or play guitar or sing. Right now, I can do all of those things okay enough to get out there and play. So I'm just getting it while the getting is good."

Listen to the Full Interview in the Podcast Player Below

Keith Wallen joined Loudwire Nights on Thursday, May 22; the show replays online here, and you can tune in live every weeknight at 7PM ET or on the Loudwire app; you can also see if the show is available on your local radio station and listen to interviews on-demand.