Music > Interviews
Interview with Benjamin Francis Leftwich
29/09/11
Independent record label owner, Jamie Oborne is used to taking a gamble – All On Red, it’s the name of his music management firm. After hearing Benjamin Francis Leftwich at the tender age of 16, he threw all his chips in and started Dirty Hit Records to give Benjamin an avenue to release. Now 22, Ben is delivering good odds; Jamie Oborne doesn’t have to shout his name out anymore when Jo Whiley, Dermot O’Leary and Zane Lowe are doing it for him. We caught up with Benjamin, who remains humble and excited…
How’s it going today? It’s a bit rainy, but it’s fine.
You’re not outside are you?! Yeah, I’m outside having a cig’!
Oh know. I’ll try and take you to drier, warmer places – just in your mind. Please do!
So where are you outside of? I’m outside of my friends’ house in York. I’ve just dropped my girlfriend off at the station and we’re just chilling out.
And it’s a non-smoking house? No, we smoke in the kitchen. We’re rule breakers you see.
Yeah, kitchen smokers – that’s the worst of the smokers! You’ve got a big tour coming up – lots of UK dates; is this something you’re mentally prepared for? Haha, probably not, but it’s something I’m looking forward to. I’ve toured a lot before and it’s gonna be really nice to get back out touring with this band. We did 24 festivals over the course of the summer, so I’ve just had a couple of weeks off now getting ready for tour, so yeah, it’s gonna be awesome. I can’t wait to get on it.
You came to Norwich earlier this year and you played in a pub called The Marquee – - Yes I did!
It’s a venue that’s since shut down and it’s indicative of the hard time that venues are having. Have you got a message for people that should be supporting live music? I just think venues should be eclectic and they should have lots of stuff on and cater for lots of different people, you know, have loads of cool bands come in and do their thing. There’s a lot of students in Norwich too, so when we came to play that venue it was really weird because the rest of the tour was really busy and it was kinda like a bit empty! Everyone was really nice, and it was a good show, but I think it was very much a metal venue, like a rock venue and so the bar staff were like, ‘who the fuck is this guy?!’
You will absolutely love Norwich Arts Centre – - Yeah, I know, I can’t wait; everyone’s been saying how nice it is.
Now I want to take you back, back, back to a time where – if you can untwine the two – tell us what came first, the voice or the guitar? Erm, good question. Probably guitar; I’ve been playing guitar a lot longer than I’ve been singing and that’s what I started on. I didn’t really think I could sing, so I didn’t bother for a while and then I kind of tried it a little bit, so yeah, I’m gonna say guitar.
Was it a tentative moment, opening your mouth to see what would come out? Yeah, I guess I did it in private, in the shower and stuff for a while… but in the end it’s my voice, so it’s cool.
Being a regional magazine concerned with locality, I read an interview with you that said that, ‘if I grew up in London, I wouldn’t have been able to write the songs that I have whilst growing up in York. Home is home.’ Do you think being outside the capital gives you the space to create something individual? Totally, yeah. There are so many bands who come out of London and they have a year or two, then nothing happens and personally I think that’s because that’s where the industry is, that’s where the gigs are, but sometimes it’s healthy to take a step back and listen to what you’re doing. I don’t think that happens much in London. For me, growing up in York was amazing, and there are certain things about London that I don’t like too much, so it’s good to have that space away from there. Obviously I’ve spent a lot of time there now and some of my best friends are there, but it’s not my kind of place. It’s not my kinda vibe.
The album itself has so much relaxed space in it; it’s not over-produced – was it written with the same amount of calm? Yeah, yeah, totally. I always wanted to make an acoustic record and even though there are a few extra bits of instrumentation on there – drums, strings and electric guitar and stuff – I think on the whole it is very much an acoustic album. That’s the way I write my songs and that’s how I play them live and that’s how I wanted it to be.
One of the tracks that hints at expansion is ‘Stole You Away’ - you must be moving on to new material even though we’re still bedding in with the album, but can you see new stuff going that way?Definitely, yeah; I think I like the idea of writing with a band, maybe not a conventional band, but a bit more percussion maybe and a bit more stuff going on, but that’s just kind of the stuff I’ve been listening to while on tour. I don’t have a clear image of what I want the second album to be like yet, but I know I want it to be different.
It must be very exposing to play on your own and I guess, plain lonely with you and your guitar up there! Have you had a yearning to bring more people on stage with you?Yeah, I mean I’ve done a couple of shows with a band, but usually I like it just being me. I don’t get lonely, I tour with mates and there’s a couple of us that go round and stuff, so it’s never too lonely!
Picking out one of the songs from the album, ‘Atlas Hands’ has such a nice, adventurous spirit to it. Do you relish getting lost?Yeah, I always like spending time by myself and I think it’s kinda like quite chilling. For me that song’s about a journey, then coming back to a place.
Do you like the road-less-travelled? Are you an adventurer? Yeah, I guess being on tour we get to see so many places and end up in lots of random situations, so it’s kinda nice to travel round and see new things, for sure.
I read that you wrote ‘A Million Miles Out’ in Southern France, didn’t you?Yeah, I wrote a lot of the songs off ‘A Million Miles Out’ in France. It was probably about three years ago now.
You have to park a lot of your own home comforts when you go anywhere else – do you need that change to be creative?I used to write a lot at home, but now I’ve found that I’m writing more when I’m in different kind of places, and out of my comfort zone. I guess it’s just about finding a place that isn’t your own that you feel comfortable in and then going from there, but that’s just the way I like to do it – I’m sure everyone’s different.
What I thought was a great story was that Jamie Oborne brought about Dirty Hit Records for you, essentially – that’s a massive commitment and I think it takes independent people to do things like that to make something happen nowadays – do you feel the same?Yeah, Jamie’s amazing, he’s such a great manager and a good friend and it’s nice to have someone to talk to on a really honest level and just sort of figure stuff out. So many record labels don’t have any respect for any creative instinct that the artists might have, so in that respect I’m really lucky to have such an amazing label. It’s a pleasure to know that I was kinda one of the bands who Jamie was in to and inspired him to make the label, or whatever, but there are a lot of other bands who are gonna come from that label who are gonna be really good and ones to look out for as well.
What’s really good is that you’ve had the national radio airplay already, and recognition from influential people, so you’ve proven that that independent route can really work…Yeah, totally and I think it’s the best route. I think the reason my stuff’s working is that we didn’t decide to go with a big production on it, we just went honest and stuck to how the songs needed to be presented. Also, all credit goes to Ian Grimble who did an amazing job on it. It’s just important to be free and do what you want to do, it really is. You know, I’ve been in rooms with the heads of big record labels in London telling me that “Atlas Hands’ and ‘Pictures’ and songs like that need big drums and guitars to get released and we were just like, nah, you know. I think some record labels are good for big pop stuff, but for anything with a tiny bit of soul, it’s not a good place to be.
What I thought was really interesting is that Mike Skinner has got hold of ‘Atlas Hands’ on remixing duties. He seems like the most unlikely remixer, but it’s worked really well. Is it quite exciting for you to hand it over?Yeah, it really is. I mean, he’s an amazing producer and an amazing songwriter and I was a big fan of the Streets and of the other remixes he’s done for people like Giggs and stuff like that, but for me it was just amazing. For me, he’s one of the top 5 living British songwriters.
He’s given the song something different, extra too, hasn’t he? Was it strange for you when it came back? I just didn’t know what to expect but I really like it; it’s got a really nice vibe to it and I think it sounds really cool.
Now Ben, you’re coming back to Norwich and I promise you it’s gonna be a lot more packed this time, so what would you like from your Norwich audience?From my Norwich audience what would I like? Good question… I’d like them to have a good time! What else? I’d like them to all wear U2 shirts.
Well I was gonna come, but now you’ve said I have to wear a U2 tshirt, I don’t think I can do it!OK, U2 or… McFly?
Emma Garwood
Benjamin Francis Leftwich is coming to the NAC on October 3rd. For tickets, go to www.norwichartscentre.co.uk. Read the uncut version of this interview at Outlineonline.co.uk
One of the tracks that hints at expansion is ‘Stole You Away’ - you must be moving on to new material even though we’re still bedding in with the album, but can you see new stuff going that way?Definitely, yeah; I think I like the idea of writing with a band, maybe not a conventional band, but a bit more percussion maybe and a bit more stuff going on, but that’s just kind of the stuff I’ve been listening to while on tour. I don’t have a clear image of what I want the second album to be like yet, but I know I want it to be different.
It must be very exposing to play on your own and I guess, plain lonely with you and your guitar up there! Have you had a yearning to bring more people on stage with you?Yeah, I mean I’ve done a couple of shows with a band, but usually I like it just being me. I don’t get lonely, I tour with mates and there’s a couple of us that go round and stuff, so it’s never too lonely!
Picking out one of the songs from the album, ‘Atlas Hands’ has such a nice, adventurous spirit to it. Do you relish getting lost?Yeah, I always like spending time by myself and I think it’s kinda like quite chilling. For me that song’s about a journey, then coming back to a place.
Do you like the road-less-travelled? Are you an adventurer? Yeah, I guess being on tour we get to see so many places and end up in lots of random situations, so it’s kinda nice to travel round and see new things, for sure.
I read that you wrote ‘A Million Miles Out’ in Southern France, didn’t you?Yeah, I wrote a lot of the songs off ‘A Million Miles Out’ in France. It was probably about three years ago now.
You have to park a lot of your own home comforts when you go anywhere else – do you need that change to be creative?I used to write a lot at home, but now I’ve found that I’m writing more when I’m in different kind of places, and out of my comfort zone. I guess it’s just about finding a place that isn’t your own that you feel comfortable in and then going from there, but that’s just the way I like to do it – I’m sure everyone’s different.
What I thought was a great story was that Jamie Oborne brought about Dirty Hit Records for you, essentially – that’s a massive commitment and I think it takes independent people to do things like that to make something happen nowadays – do you feel the same?Yeah, Jamie’s amazing, he’s such a great manager and a good friend and it’s nice to have someone to talk to on a really honest level and just sort of figure stuff out. So many record labels don’t have any respect for any creative instinct that the artists might have, so in that respect I’m really lucky to have such an amazing label. It’s a pleasure to know that I was kinda one of the bands who Jamie was in to and inspired him to make the label, or whatever, but there are a lot of other bands who are gonna come from that label who are gonna be really good and ones to look out for as well.
What’s really good is that you’ve had the national radio airplay already, and recognition from influential people, so you’ve proven that that independent route can really work…Yeah, totally and I think it’s the best route. I think the reason my stuff’s working is that we didn’t decide to go with a big production on it, we just went honest and stuck to how the songs needed to be presented. Also, all credit goes to Ian Grimble who did an amazing job on it. It’s just important to be free and do what you want to do, it really is. You know, I’ve been in rooms with the heads of big record labels in London telling me that “Atlas Hands’ and ‘Pictures’ and songs like that need big drums and guitars to get released and we were just like, nah, you know. I think some record labels are good for big pop stuff, but for anything with a tiny bit of soul, it’s not a good place to be.
What I thought was really interesting is that Mike Skinner has got hold of ‘Atlas Hands’ on remixing duties. He seems like the most unlikely remixer, but it’s worked really well. Is it quite exciting for you to hand it over?Yeah, it really is. I mean, he’s an amazing producer and an amazing songwriter and I was a big fan of the Streets and of the other remixes he’s done for people like Giggs and stuff like that, but for me it was just amazing. For me, he’s one of the top 5 living British songwriters.
He’s given the song something different, extra too, hasn’t he? Was it strange for you when it came back? I just didn’t know what to expect but I really like it; it’s got a really nice vibe to it and I think it sounds really cool.
Now Ben, you’re coming back to Norwich and I promise you it’s gonna be a lot more packed this time, so what would you like from your Norwich audience?From my Norwich audience what would I like? Good question… I’d like them to have a good time! What else? I’d like them to all wear U2 shirts.
Well I was gonna come, but now you’ve said I have to wear a U2 tshirt, I don’t think I can do it!OK, U2 or… McFly?
Emma Garwood
Benjamin Francis Leftwich is coming to the NAC on October 3rd. For tickets, go to www.norwichartscentre.co.uk. Read the uncut version of this interview at Outlineonline.co.uk