It’s 1996 at Williamsville North High, and like most freshmen, Jeff Mayne is trying to find his place. One fateful day, he crossed paths with sophomore Nick Heim in the hallway. In true teenage fashion, Jeff cracks what he later describes as a “stupid joke a 14-year-old would say,” striking a bond. While it may have just been a moment of banter between peers, it would lay the groundwork for the formation of Bensin.
Bensin was a Buffalonian pop-punk quintet that was formed in 2003 from the ashes of their high school ska origins as Dinkus 9. They released two LPs — “Leave Your Mark” and “Control! We’re Headed for The Ground” — before quietly fading into obscurity following their dissolution in 2007.
Although it's been nearly two decades since Bensin’s run as an active band, their music made a mark on Buffalo’s local scene.
Their discography continues to resonate among internet nerds and local enthusiasts. Though their influence has remained fairly niche, it has endured through scattered reuploads of their music, a memorable soundtrack feature in the PlayStation 2 game “Motocross Mania 3” and recorded live performances — including one at the Center for the Arts.
Even as the scene evolved past their synth-heavy take on pop-punk, their blend of catchy hooks coupled with their extensive touring and palpable on-stage presence made their brief existence one that deserved more recognition.
Like many bands, performing live was the cornerstone of their identity. With each set, their lightning-in-a-bottle energy would electrify crowds. From their tours of summer camps to a reunion show at Mohawk Place, Bensin would go as hard as they could every time they took the stage.
Despite their intoxicating on-stage presence, performing live wasn’t always an easy task for the group. Heim, the vocalist and rhythm guitarist, says he was not a natural fit from the start.
“I had to get over pretty severe stage fright early on,” Heim said. “It helped a lot to just have like, five or six idiots on stage behind me that were shouldering the load.”
With time, that nervous anxiety transformed to confidence.
“Eventually, we [were] touring a lot and I could look people in the eye and fully embody singing in front of people. That’s when I started paying attention to the energy.”
That energy would turn into a signature aspect of Bensin’s identity. They turned their shows into more than just a presentation of their music — they became a spectacle.
“We reached a point where we wanted to be the craziest people on stage,” Mayne said, recalling the evolution. “That was kind of a shtick in some ways, sometimes I wanted to be trying to do a handstand on a downbeat, and this person would want to be jumping off a wall — which Nick did for a minute — and Matt would want to be jumping off the riser. We just always wanted to be visually going nuts. Probably missing a few notes here and there in the name of looking a little kooky.”
On-stage zeal and spirit would be what carried Bensin across the country, as the quintet would eventually embark on tours in support of their music.
The group initially toured the East Coast as Dinkus 9 prior to rebranding. It was during this time that they caught “the touring bug” as Heim aptly describes it, cultivating an early fanbase.
“We [played] the local Warped Tours,” Mayne said. “Any really big ska band or punk band that came in, we opened for.”
Once the group began touring as Bensin, they never looked back. What started as a handful of regional shows quickly evolved into full-fledged domestic tours. Spending years on the road, the band would crisscross the country and support themselves just enough to make it to the next location on the bill. Their schedule filled to the brim with shows, with little time to rest. “We did like 150 shows in one year,” Heim said.
The group’s relentless touring became a celebration of their collective spirit alongside their performances. Even as a band with limited resources outside of their deal with the now-defunct indie label “Search & Rescue Records.” They never lost sight of their roots. Priding themselves on being their own roadies and fully embracing the chaos and life lessons that came with being a traveling band. From their bus catching fire in the middle of the Mojave Desert, to their brakes failing on the Los Angeles freeway, Bensin took each obstacle they faced while on tour in stride.
“It made for a really interesting adventure, [...] we almost hit like 17 cars [in LA],” Heim said. “There was a weird masochistic side effect of touring that I secretly loved.”
“It was chaos,” Mayne said smiling, “[We] just kind of figured it out as it happened, just to get to each stage each day.”
Ultimately, the touring that originally brought the band together began to take its toll, eventually becoming the catalyst for their break up. Following eight full U.S. tours throughout their existence, Bensin decided to call it quits not long after the release of their sophomore album, citing burnout and a sense of stagnation in their musical momentum.
Despite their discography not seeing any releases since then, the band had plans for a third album. In fact, the instrument recordings had begun, but the exhaustion from travelling in support of their previous releases prevented the unreleased project from coming to fruition.
“I really wish we had the energy to finish the third album,” Heim said. “I feel like it would have completed our evolution from a music standpoint.”
The ending of the band would also signal a period of self-reflection among the members of Bensin.
“Our individual identities were tied up in being in Dinkus 9 and Bensin,” Mayne said. “So we kind of went through a period of ‘What am I? Who am I?’ That was a real thing that I assume everyone [in the band] went through.”
Though their paths have diverged since then, each former member of Bensin has continued to pursue their passions. Each of them finding new ways to express their creativity, and navigating life after the band's dissolution.
Heim says he now resides in Chicago and no longer performs. He now expresses himself through carpentry, sound design and gardening while also working for various tech startups.
Although Mayne says he hasn’t participated in organized music since, he has had plans to pick up his saxophone again and learn guitar. He says he also returned to his studies, earning degrees in biology and journalism. He now works in communications and public relations “to craft strategic content and messaging for businesses and organizations.”
Their bassist Matt Castronova worked as a studio sound engineer before moving to the Fintech industry where he designs payment automation products. He also plays bass for local Buffalo funk/R&B group Vin DeRosa and Vitamin D.
Lead guitarist Neal Brodfuehrer went on to be a tour manager for a number of high-profile bands, including Senses Fail and Buffalo hardcore legends Snapcase. He also worked as a front-of-house sound engineer and is currently the production manager at the Riviera Theatre in North Tonawanda.
Drummer Ryan Martin now lives in Las Vegas and works at the Punk Rock Museum and plays for their house band “P.T.A.”
While the group currently has no plans to reunite as Bensin, the spirit of their journey lives on through the paths they’ve paved for themselves—proof that the music never truly stops.
Rodrigo Feijão is the senior sports editor and can be reached at rodrigo.feijao@ubspectrum.com
