Grandson (Jordan Benjamin) performs at Slim’s in San Francisco on April 3, 2019. Joaquin Cabello/STAFF.

Jordan Benjamin, better known to his fans as grandson, is feeling relaxed in the hours before he’ll open for pop-punk queen Avril Lavigne at a packed arena in Ontario, Canada.

“I’m across the street from an arena of Avril fans while I eat a chicken Caesar salad, unbeknownst to many of the unsuspecting fellow patrons,” Benjamin said.

The run with Lavigne is the Canadian-American’s first in three years in the country where he grew up.

“I was beginning to think my booking agent was cursed; we were just having this slew of cancelations, then unlucky bounces,” Benjamin said. “When COVID broke in March 2020, I was actually one day from flying my whole band and crew out to Canada for a headline run.”

It’s been a busy year for Jordan Benjamin, who’s also playing with Deftones, Bring Me the Horizon and Imagine Dragons. Grandson finished a run of headlining shows earlier this year.

He said he had to weigh how to handle the specter of pandemic concert realities, but decided the effectiveness of vaccines has prevented the worst outcomes from COVID-19.

“It’s a lot of hurdles to jump through, but finally, when all of that gets settled, you’re on stage with people who love your music who have been waiting patiently to have this sort of experience,” Benjamin said.

Benjamin’s tour was a delayed coronation, of sorts. After a string of EPs, he finally released Death of an Optimist in December 2021. He also ha one of his songs featured in summer blockbuster The Suicide Squad. Videos posted to social media each night showed a raucous and unpredictable atmosphere, with Benjamin stage-diving from high railings and stirring crowds into a frenzy.

He’s always had a knack for collaboration. In mid-2021, he worked with one of his heroes, Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello, on “Hold the Line.”

“[Morello] was somebody I could rely on when I had questions about using music to impact social change, navigating rock and roll and its various traps along the way,” Benjamin said. “The timing of the song couldn’t have come at a better time because there were mass strikes happening—many workers across America were protesting and fighting for better working conditions.”

Some of those activists and labor leaders were able to tell their stories at shows during the grandson tour. Those are the types of interactions that made being a songwriter worthwhile, he said. It certainly isn’t the only issue the politically minded singer is keeping a close eye on. He voiced frustration over a leaked memo suggesting the Supreme Court would likely be striking down Roe v. Wade.

Grandson performs at Aftershock Fest in Sacramento on Oct. 10, 2021. Courtesy Lexie Alley.

“All of it just makes your blood boil and leaves you feeling helpless; when these people are the ones that we look to be above partisanship,” he said. “They’re supposed to be the people we seek to stabilize our increasing political divisions. All we can do is continue to fight and hope that we can make the sort change necessary; whether that’s expanding the court or helping these justices understand how far their opinions on these policies are from what the vast majority of Americans want.”

Jordan Benjamin said he never expected that he or his music would shift so far in the direction of political activism, but once he was on the road and talking with fans night after night, it quickly became the natural evolution.

“I had no idea the depth of my privilege growing up in a progressive family in a middle-class Canadian neighborhood,” he said. “I had no idea just how much the basic rights and freedoms that I was given, some people have to fight and claw for and lose everything for.”

Grandson performs at Aftershock Fest in Sacramento on Oct. 10, 2021. Courtesy Lexie Alley.

The relationship between Benjamin and his fans, the grandkids, has grown stronger. He speaks with fans through social media, sometimes even asking them to share their deepest thoughts anonymously on Instagram—and fans oblige.

“I’ve always chosen the route of making people feel like I’m there for them and understand them,” he said. “Even if I can’t make the sort impact at the microcosmic level as I’d like to from person to person, I still want people to feel like I could go have a beer with them down the street and hear them out.”

Despite the busy schedule, Jordan Benjamin plans to get back into the studio this summer to get some new ideas recorded. He said the gears in his mind are always turning, whether it’s about the experiences of his fans or through his frustration of watching the news.

“How far can you push people before they break?” he said. “What can my music be the soundtrack to in a person’s life?”

Benjamin said he initially set a challenge for himself to both play 100 shows in a year and make his best work ever. But at least for now, he’ll take things night by night.

“Right now, I’m just focused on giving the people in London, Ontario a fucking great show,” he said.

Follow writer Mike DeWald at Twitter.com/mike_dewald.