I think we can all agree that Survivor 46 is off to a great start, thanks in part to the back-to-back two-hour episodes. The extended runtimes mean that viewers have really gotten to know every player in the game. We know their hopes, dreams, fears, and which Metallica albums they hate. Seriously — do not put on the notorious Lou Reed and Metallica collaboration Lulu in Ben’s presence.
I’m talking about Ben Katzman, member of the Siga tribe and the dude that coined the term “Survibing.” We got to see him test his encyclopedic Metallica knowledge against Charlie’s love of Taylor Swift in Episode 2. I mean, Ben is so into music that his occupation, the one that appears under his name every time he pops up for a confessional, is simply “musician.”
As is so often the case on reality shows, Survivor always takes a vague approach when describing someone’s career. I mean, look at the mystifying job titles seen on Love Is Blind. What does it really mean to say that Ben is a “musician”? Well, if you have questions about Ben Katzman’s music career, we have answers.
When he’s not survibing, Katzman is a Miami-based musician who records and performs with his band, Ben Katzman’s DeGreaser. As if it wasn’t obvious from his love of Metallica, DeGreaser is all about the riffs, licks, and shredding. And for the Gen Zers out there who haven’t discovered Wayne’s World or Bill & Ted, those terms describe guitar music — metal, to be exact.
A Miami New Times profile of Katzman from just a few months before he was announced as a Survivor castaway recounted his origin story. Katzman dropped out of college and focused on launching his own record label, BUFU Records, in 2012. Katzman, then based in Boston, scouted out DIY indie artists in the New England area, signing them to BUFU and releasing their music. BUFU’s artists found quite a bit of success, getting written up in Stereogum, SPIN, and even Rolling Stone. Katzman’s own music career leveled up when he performed with acclaimed dance-punk band Guerilla Toss in 2015. But Katzman ultimately wanted more than to just promote other people’s work and play in someone else’s band. He wanted a purpose!
Katzman found that purpose when he started to teach at Miami’s Wynwood School of Music. Katzman, who was bullied as a child and never felt encouraged to pursue his passion for music, was able to — as he described it — to “heal the inner child and become the music teacher I never had.”
As for his own musical endeavor, self-trained guitarist Katzman formed Ben Katzman’s DeGreaser in Boston in 2014 with his childhood friend Jonathan Rusten on guitar #2, bassist Lucas Viana, drummer Harry Schwarz, and Deo Budnevich rounding out the ensemble as guitarist #3. Budnevich, who was 15 when he first performed with DeGreaser, was one of Katzman’s students. The two bonded when Budnevich showed up to their winter recital wearing a Mötley Crüe T-shirt. Katzman showed his student his Mötley Crüe wallet, and a musical mentorship was born.
The band has released a number of albums, including 2018’s Quarter Life Crisis and 2021’s Astrology 101. For the latter album, which devoted one song per astrological sign, Katzman worked with Starburns Industries, the production company behind Rick & Morty. In discussing the album’s conceit, Katzman said that his energy “is a blessing and a curse. It allows me to navigate through life realizing instantly who’s down to clown and who isn’t. I just want to put it to good use because if I’m not being creative, doing what I love, negative thoughts transpire. I get hypercritical with self-doubt.”
And that’s a topic that Katzman explores on his latest album, Transcendental Shreditation, which he has described as sounding “lush like Oasis, crisp like Metallica, but as if it were written by a pissed-off teenager.” The album plays with the idea that music can be used to improve mental health. Katzman wrote about this very topic, about how traveling to Knebwoth to see Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher perform was like a self-help pilgrimage.
Personal note: Ben, if you ever want to talk about the cathartic qualities of “Cigarettes & Alcohol” B-side and Masterplan standout track “Listen Up,” I’m here.
What’s interesting is that Katzman noted in that profile piece that he let go of his need to be famous and instead chose to refocus his energy on making music for fun. Now Katzman has found some fame via Survivor, so who knows how that will influence the work he does with Ben Katzman’s DeGreaser. “We’re just grateful to shred,” Katzman told Miami New Times in December. “I just always want to keep doing bigger and better. 2024, I just hope, is 2023 on steroids.”
You can follow Katzman and his band on Instagram at @bkdegreaser69 and on Facebook. You can visit Katzman’s website and YouTube, and check out his music on Spotify or Apple Music. Katman also has merch — including a Surviber sticker pack inspired by his time in Fiji. And if you want a greeting from the man himself, Ben Katzman is on Cameo. And on top of all that, you can watch Ben Katzman on Survivor 46 on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.