Ben Howard

0:00On a way. It's starting to annoy me. It's the life of living on the road though. You got to deal with it man. It's starting to feel like... Yeah. About three of these things. Well let's start with that. It was the first time you've gotten sick on tour. Oh no. Like where it's hit you. No, no, I've had this. I'm kind of, I wouldn't even come myself sick. I've just got sort of, I've had... The voice is your instrument. Yeah, I've had full on flue and stuff. I think it rarely cancel a gig if I'm ill. I have to be like dying to cancel the show. Pretty much. Which one you have 2000 people coming up to see every night. Yeah, exactly. Especially in somewhere that we've really ever been and it's amazing to have so many people come to the show here. We played Montreal last night as well and it was like two over 2000 people there. Did you get a chance to go out of Montreal with just in out on the tour?

0:49No, because I've just been doing a bit rough, I stayed in all day. Yeah next time. It's one of those cities you've got to solve you. I've got to look around. Yeah, same with Toronto. I've been around Toronto a couple of times before. Do you like it? It's nice. So I want to write this piece. It's a very mainstream audience, MSN, Microsoft. So a lot of my audience aren't going to know who you are. So I feel bad asking you a lot of the questions you've probably gotten a lot over the years. But I kind of want to write a piece on you and how it all got started because it seems like I have a lot of friends and bands that do the same similar kind of like a roots folky thing that are having trouble getting to that next level. So I kind of want to know about the business side a little more about how that happened for you.

1:35But let's start with Joni and Bob and your parents turning you on to music. So when did it all start? It started when my mum gave me guitar when I was about six. I saw a photo when I was about six. But before, yeah, I mean it just always played guitar and always wrote songs. And it was folk music that was around the house? Or is that what you gravitated to? Mostly. I think there was kind of just a real mix of music. There was a lot of records from the 60s and 70s and stuff like people like Richie Havens and the sort of Joni Mitchells and stuff of the world. But then there was a lot of different stuff as well, like a lot of Pink Floyd and Waterboys

2:21and all sorts of music. I think I'm just bombarded by it. But yeah, I guess it was mostly guitar based. And you gravitated to guitar why? Is that you wanted it? Your parents and you told your parents that or they bought you randomly when they? I don't even remember to the honest. I've just always had a guitar. I started on the acoustic. I started on a little nylon string. And then I remember eventually I'd been playing guitar for a little bit and mum was like, you should go and have guitar lessons and I killed it for them. I killed the joy straight away. So I quit playing the guitar when I was little at some point. I think I was an early teenager. That makes sense. No one's put the effort in one of the early teenagers. I picked up the electric when I got back into it. I think just an angsty teenager that wanted to smoke part and play an electric guitar.

3:11But my parents listened to everyone from Mark Knopfler to fucking old buses named Gary Moore and people like that who had clapped in. Eric Clapton. There's a lot that in the house. And yeah, Bruce Springsteen as well. So it was kind of all these kind of male guitar heroes. And this is all your parents influence. This isn't coming to friends yet. So when do the friends come in and your circle of friends start finding new music and what would that have been? Fairly early on we always to jam together. Maybe so like 15, 16 my friend month showed me drop tunings and stuff.

3:58Maybe 16 I think. I just started playing round and drop tunings a lot and really enjoyed it. Because before that I'd been playing a lot of, almost at that time I was listening to a lot of people like Rayla Montane and Damon Rice and some writers strictly. And then we just started jamming a lot of blues stuff and I was playing an open E quite a lot. And it was just fun. I played a lot of cool music and he started pushing some different friends. And Michael Roddy, Roddy Bove just started pushing some new music out man. I think we hung around with some older lads and we were younger as well. And they used to push a lot of reggae and stuff on us and hit pop and things. Okay so this is 17, 18.

4:45When does the gigging start? Gigging started when I was probably about 20, 20, 21. She got into it a little later. How come it took you weren't comfortable, you weren't ready? You just never seemed to be, I played my first open mic when I was at 16. I went to the pub when I was 16 and played in the pub. And it was a buzz, I really enjoyed it. But then I don't know, I had different stuff to do. I was like doing other stuff. I didn't want a gig, but I didn't want to become a musician or anything at the time. So when does that happen? Was there a moment or did it just kind of gradually happen? I knew I would love to do it, but I didn't, I didn't kind of forge your head early on.

5:34Maybe 19 I might have started playing. It was when I got back from travelling and I had, yeah, started playing open mics in university when I was about 19. So I think it was then I started, I was doing a degree and I just had a lot of free time. I'd go down and I'd play open mics. It's kind of a nice way just to hang out with other people who played music. It was cool if I had nothing to do it. I'd just get around and play a few songs and see what other people are doing. I could just get pissed really. Are any of those songs that ended up on the record or those beginning songs? None of them, I think. They're kind of the couple of years that ensued.

6:20There was definitely one or two. I got, there's a few songs on that album that came from university. Keep your head up and the wolves in two of them. Two upbeat ones. Yeah. More upbeat. That's interesting. You started writing the upbeat stuff and then maybe slower stuff started creeping in as you became a writer. Yeah. Yeah. I think maybe there's a couple of the quiet ones when I was when I was there. I kind of had a funny time at Eenie. I look at it. It started really well and I surfed a lot and played music and had a lot fun. And then. Surf in England? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I lived down in Cornwall and then I had a long-term girlfriend and that kind of ended and had a funny sort of mid-period at Eenie where I wasn't living in it.

7:07And we had a winter that just rained the whole winter. And that's when a lot of these songs came out. That's when you started really delving into writing. Yeah. A few of them. Yeah. I've always written. Like literally ever since I was a little kid I played the guitar because I liked the writing words and I studied journalism because I liked making up words. Oh, how am I doing so far? Yeah. It's getting fun. Yeah. I mean I was never very good at it. So that was a funny thing. Well you found your talent. I think it's okay. Yeah. It's cool. I'm happy where we got to. So you're writing these songs. You're about 20 years old and this is held you now? 24 or 25. Okay. So there's only a few years ago. Yeah. So you really started gigging from what I've heard. Like you played a lot of shows over the last few years. Yeah. Yeah. And you realize that's how this business works. Yeah. Basically I think it was more that's how I wanted it to work.

7:54Like we didn't have any records or anything to go on for a while. Like we just played a lot of shows and that's how people were hearing of us and we just kept booking gigs and looking gigs and it was just got busier and busier and it was a funny way to do it. And then when does the first EP come out? Not that. EP's that are not able to be found anywhere it seems. Yeah. I was 21 maybe. And what did that EP do for you? Did it get you signed in to an agent and manager or anything like that? No, they were all hand drawn. I used to draw the covers and my manager was actually my best friend at university. He still is my manager. He came to an open mic once and there's about four people in there and he's a tortoise and

8:40I went home to an office and said, I want money? I need a fucking manager. And I was like, okay, cool. And it just seemed daft at the time. But yeah, that's carried on. But that EP was that hand drawn and it was just so people had music and we'd kept playing just little local shows and stuff and then I started going to London and I'd draw them at the gig. I'd sit there while other people were playing and draw my little EP's and then playing because my honor did. Yeah, so that was, yeah, maybe I was 20, 21. Yeah, 21. When is the label kick in? When does that happen? I'm not until like last year or something. So this new, or not the new record, but the record that's out now was finished and the label came on board or they helped you put it together?

9:26Pretty much like we were sort of halfway through the recording process. Like we signed to a little French independent label actually first, which was quite cool. And that sort of gave us the money to be able to just sit down and focus on it for a while. Not a big advance, but just like a little advance for us. And especially the first instalment of that was just a little bit of money that we could start recording and think about it. I know we're quite happy just to let's do what we do. In hindsight, we were pretty immatured at all. I know it was just like, fuck right, how we're going to do this. We, me and Chris, that we've known it for a few years now, decided that we could record now and do it.

10:17So we were like halfway through the recording process when the label got on board. How does that happen? How does the label get on board? I don't know. Are you knocking down doors? No. I think we really, we were very conscious not to chase people in the industry. Because the last thing you want in the music world is people who are on your team that don't give a fuck about you. Or people who you work with that really don't get it. So we kind of carried on doing our own thing and went, played a few gigs in London, sold out a few little shows and things were still just building and studying. We had a booking agent. Yeah, the label just, we got a few offers from record labels and a lot of it didn't feel right.

11:04So we kind of said no and carried on and then Ireland got in touch and yeah, that kind of just seemed right. They've been really good as well. They just give us a lot of freedom to record what we want. There's a few little hassles of things. Sometimes we're really on the whole as I'm in no part of the universal. So it's a major label and they're pretty chilled about it. Especially now, obviously with some records. It's working for everybody. Yeah, we've just done an EP and they just didn't even say anything about it. Yeah, I do want to bring up the EP because the trailer, well actually let's get to it because that's moving ahead a little bit. Because I saw you at South by Babel or Babel music. Was there some part of your play like that? Babel, Babel, Babel, something like that. Anyway, it doesn't matter. But I think I'd heard the wolves about a month before it's an indie playlist that you could find online.

11:50But it seems like ever since then it has just been going crazy. And over here at the mod club which is a tiny little place a couple of months ago and now this is happening. So how does a band get from that level to this level? Do you even know? No. Does it just happen? Yeah, I think there's a bunch of stuff you can do yourself. You can tour real hard and you can... We've spent a long time on that record. No, I was proud of that record. I am proud of that record. So it's kind of... Yeah, I think we spent a long time making sure it was right and making sure it was vibey. So that definitely helps. But I think that the only time luck ever comes into the music industry is whether people like your music or not.

12:37And it's not something you can sort of choose or you can dictate. People either come to shows that they won't. People who either like the music and they don't. So it's... Yeah, I think we've been really fortunate. People like the music. Okay, a lot of people are like, you got really lucky this happened and you got really lucky that happened and you got really... And I was like, well, not really. I kind of fucking played shit loads of gigs. Yeah, it's not like. I got up at five o'clock in the morning so I could be in that place. Yeah, I kind of rinsed myself and... Yeah, I don't know. The luck comes in with people that see liking music and they come to the shows. How's it... I was going to say... Have you gotten used to this life? I mean, this has been a life of what, a year now of really just nonstop world touring.

13:24Yeah, probably a year, year world touring and then like a couple of years of solid European. Yeah, definitely got you to... You have lifestyle. This is what you wanted. This is what you thought it was going to be. Never, it's not what I thought it was going to do. What do you think? How is it different? More partying, more motley crew backstage. And it's kind of less, I'd say less. You realise that every day, you can drink every day but it fucks you. And especially if you sing and stuff like... Yeah, I thought it would be... It's a lot less glamorous. There's loads of it that are less glamorous. But that's kind of cool if it was glamorous all the time and you shit. That's a good quote.

14:10Yeah. I don't know, everything's always different to what you think it's going to be. I had a naive view of the whole music industry before I thought. And how in the process of it, I thought you played a few over the mic. Record label came down and you got signed and that was it. It's the 60s. Yeah, exactly. And you got fucking screwed as well. Yeah. No, it's been a fun couple of years. It's been so exciting. And it's... I mean, we've been really fortunate that it's always been going up and up. I mean, one day there'll be a dip and that'd be an interesting headspace to be in. Yeah. But yeah, we've been... Let me see you recognise that though. You know that there's a chance that'll happen. Yeah. Not for sure, but you never know. Yeah. I mean, what really scares me is that I can't imagine doing anything else.

14:56I think we're so privileged doing this that if it all fucking fell apart tomorrow, we'd all kind of wonder what job to do next. We've had it so good being able to play music in front of lots of people for the last couple of years and having a lot of fun with it and going to mad parties and getting shit-faced and stuff. And then you get to fit all stopped. It'd be like, right, fucking day job? I don't know if I could. Yeah. Which is scary. Which is scary because I thought I would have been more grounded than that. That's interesting. So is there more pressure than for the CP to make sure that you can continue this lifestyle? No, not really. The EP was just to get more music out. Let's start with that. When is it going to come out? When can we hear? Is it done? Yeah, it's pretty much done.

15:41Chris is doing the final mix. So it'll probably be out next month, imagine. It's a bit soft-releasing. It's not going to be, there's no hype to it. It's more of an ideas EP. What does that mean? It's kind of a different direction in some respect. There's a lot of electric guitar on it. I'm going to say the trailer has electric in it. Yeah, it's quite sort of soundscapey. It's not weird, I suppose, but it's just kind of a few different tracks. It's only a four-track EP. Yeah, for us it was just getting a bit more music out. So we've got a bit more space on album too. I get really angsty when I've got songs I really want to record. I was sort of getting really fidgety about getting some tracks down.

16:28So we recorded this little EP. Wouldn't you do it? I recorded it last month. Oh, so really recently. Yeah, literally just had four days in the studio and a beautiful studio back in this on that little video. I'm just doing it down in Devon. Just did it four days and basically got all the tracking done and just been mixing it and stuff. A lot of it was live, which is cool. What are you writing about? One of the songs? Yeah, mostly. Yeah, mostly. Kind of about the summer before really. Kind of culminated in songs being written in the autumn and winter. And then it got to summer and I was like, fuck, I've got to record these songs.

17:13I mean, I've got a lot of songs that I'd like to record. Some of them I've saved for album too. Some of them went on the EP just because it was about time that came out. Do you lament over songwriting or does stuff come quickly? Do you sit there and really scratch out words and make sure every word is right or is it come out? And you're like, that's what I meant to say because that's what came out. Depends. I think you have both processes. Yeah, definitely a bit both. Sometimes it will come out straight away and then sometimes it will take quite a long time. It depends what you are as though. I find if I have time and space I can write songs in a couple of days or in a week. And then if I haven't got any time and I'm on tour and stuff and sometimes I won't write songs for it. It would take me four months to write songs.

17:58One longest one. Can you think of one? What's one on the record that people would know that took forever? One on the record. I don't know actually. Most of them on the record I had a lot of free time when I was writing them. Okay. Yeah, most of them didn't take that long actually. Balls took a long time when I was writing them. I don't know why. Were the oo's in the original or is that something that came out in the studio? No, it was in the original. There's a couple of little things in the album that were supposed to just be a little f*** around. We would just have had that song for a while.

18:44Same with keep your head up the chorus with sort of a little stab at the next girlfriend of mine. Yeah. It was nice to get those digs in. Yeah, she cut a little fringe and I hated it. So that's what the little line in the chorus was like, keep your eyes on. Keep your mind sitting in your ears, keep your head on. Just because it was just like a little dig. It was kind of a little bit fun. I know you got to go eat. So we do some four or five questions. Five quick questions. One more answer. Okay. Rode or studio? Rode. Lening or McCarty? Neither. Really? Okay. I've heard Dylan before and Lou read the other day so it's nice when you do a different one.

19:31When you hear a song usually hits you first, lyrics, melody or rhythm. Oh, that's a good one. Lyrics. Song you've written your most proud of. Black Fives. And in one word, Ben Howard. I love that one. That's always a fun one. Oh, Jesus. That's f***ed up. One word. One word. Stubborn. Nice. Thank you very much, man.