Benjamin Francis Leftwich Interview
English singer-songwriter talks to us about his successful year, who he would invite to his desert island and festivalling.
Alright mate. Where are you at the moment?
We’re just driving down to London, I’ve got a BBC 6 interview tonight, so heading down there and then heading to Bestival tomorrow.
Wow, that’s quite big BBC 6 is quite a renowned station for music.
Yeah man, it should be cool.
Have you played Bestival before?
No never, I’ve done like about 20 festivals this summer and this is kind of our last week of festivals so I’m looking forward to it.
How has the festival season treated you?
It’s been amazing man, it’s been an awesome summer and I’ve seen some nice places and it’s been all good.
Can you think of a highlight?
I think Greenman festival for me was a highlight, it was an amazing festival, I was playing at nighttime and everyone was sat down, it was a really chilled vibe.
I’ve listened to your songs and have watched your videos as well. The video’s feature the great outdoors and the great natures of the world and childhood, are you a travelling man?
I’ve travelled a lot. I’m half Australian so I’ve been there a couple of times and other places for sure.
How do you write your songs?
There’s no real formula, I just write whatever I feel comfortable, usually I just sit down somewhere, whether it’s in my room or outdoors or at a friend’s house or whatever, I just chill and jam a bit and that’s how my songs happen.
Do you have any particular favourite singer/songwriters?
Yeah yeah, I mean for me my two favourites are Bruce Springsteen and Ryan Adams, I just think they are amazing, they have constantly released great albums.
Have you got a particular favourite from Bruce?
My favourite Bruce album is Nabrasca.
What were your parents like when you decided you wanted to become a musician? The musician’s lifestyle, it can be tough and sometimes you don’t make much money. What did they think of your choice to make music?
They are fully supportive, they have always been totally supportive in what I want to do.
Have you got advice for people who want to venture into music?
I think my advice would be to just do what feels right and not try and force it. Just focus on your music and writing and being creative and recording songs and then you know if you get that bit right then the rest will start to make sense.
You releases a Million Miles Out EP. Was it a precursor to this latest album?
I released another EP called Pictures EP as well.
Moving on to your album. What’s your favourite song to play live?
One I really like playing live is a song called ‘Butterfly Culture’ which is song I wrote when I was in a band when I was a bit younger and so whenever I play it I get sort of a nostalgic feeling.
That’s kind of the theme that I hear in your songs and see in your videos. There’s kind of a nostalgic element.
Yeah probably man, I think the time span that I picked the songs from this album is kind of four years ago from now and some from now so some of them are really new and some of them are older but yeah it’s definitely one of the themes running through it I guess.
What’s your plan for the rest of 2011?
I’m heading out on tour in October, got about 30 dates in October and November and then hopefully will be going to the States as well before Christmas.
When you perform live, do you get nerves, and how do you deal with them?
I don’t really get nervous, the only times I get nervous is when I think my voice is, my throat’s hurting or whatever, and I’m not kind of on it as I should be but I just try and always play the best show I can and yeah, I don’t really get nervous as such.
We ask a couple of silly questions during our interviews...
I like silly questions!
If you were invisible for the day, what would you do?
I’d follow Mark Garvey around and pat him on the back and just amuse myself, that’s the day probably!
Can you tell us something no one knows about you?
Yeah! I actually once won a competition in this pub in Yorkshire, me and some of my cousins were staying there at the weekend. I won a competition in who could eat 1,100 chips.
Noo! How many did you eat!
I got to like 970.
Yeah! Nice one!
...and then I was sick!
At least you won. Are you a big eater?
Not really, no.
On tour, what one item can you not live without?
Good question, my backpack! I will always take a backpack on tour with me and it’s got like all my clothes in it and I manage to get all my things in one backpack.
If you were sent to a desert island, you know the government were like “alright, you gotta go to this island, by yourself and you’re allowed to select three famous people with you, they can be dead or alive” Who would you take and why?
Would I be coming back from the desert island at any point?
We can’t let you know that I’m afraid.
Ok ok. I’d take Bruce Springsteen because he could sing and keep everyone in a kind of mellow/pretty good mood. I’d probably take John Travolta.
Which era of John Travolta?
Well I’ve heard that he knows how to fly a jumbo 747. The third person I would take is probably Albert Einstein. He could figure out a way to make the plane potentially out of some, maybe there will be some metals underground that you could.
You’re the first person to actually try and solve the island question. Most people are content with staying on the island!
He’d make the plane and John Travolta would fly it.
Alright! So you’ve got a swimming pool, the water’s just been taken out, you can’t put water back in it but you can fill with anything other than water. What would it be?
Maybe fruit pastels? Because they’ve got the sugar coating they don’t really go off. It’s a type of thing that would be good for guests and stuff for when they come over your house.
Good luck for the future!
Cheers man!
“Last Smoke Before The Snowstorm” is out now at all good outlets.
Keep up to date with Benjamin Francis Leftwich at http://www.benjaminfrancisleftwich.com/
Alright mate. Where are you at the moment?
We’re just driving down to London, I’ve got a BBC 6 interview tonight, so heading down there and then heading to Bestival tomorrow.
Wow, that’s quite big BBC 6 is quite a renowned station for music.
Yeah man, it should be cool.
Have you played Bestival before?
No never, I’ve done like about 20 festivals this summer and this is kind of our last week of festivals so I’m looking forward to it.
How has the festival season treated you?
It’s been amazing man, it’s been an awesome summer and I’ve seen some nice places and it’s been all good.
Can you think of a highlight?
I think Greenman festival for me was a highlight, it was an amazing festival, I was playing at nighttime and everyone was sat down, it was a really chilled vibe.
I’ve listened to your songs and have watched your videos as well. The video’s feature the great outdoors and the great natures of the world and childhood, are you a travelling man?
I’ve travelled a lot. I’m half Australian so I’ve been there a couple of times and other places for sure.
How do you write your songs?
There’s no real formula, I just write whatever I feel comfortable, usually I just sit down somewhere, whether it’s in my room or outdoors or at a friend’s house or whatever, I just chill and jam a bit and that’s how my songs happen.
Do you have any particular favourite singer/songwriters?
Yeah yeah, I mean for me my two favourites are Bruce Springsteen and Ryan Adams, I just think they are amazing, they have constantly released great albums.
Have you got a particular favourite from Bruce?
My favourite Bruce album is Nabrasca.
What were your parents like when you decided you wanted to become a musician? The musician’s lifestyle, it can be tough and sometimes you don’t make much money. What did they think of your choice to make music?
They are fully supportive, they have always been totally supportive in what I want to do.
Have you got advice for people who want to venture into music?
I think my advice would be to just do what feels right and not try and force it. Just focus on your music and writing and being creative and recording songs and then you know if you get that bit right then the rest will start to make sense.
You releases a Million Miles Out EP. Was it a precursor to this latest album?
I released another EP called Pictures EP as well.
Moving on to your album. What’s your favourite song to play live?
One I really like playing live is a song called ‘Butterfly Culture’ which is song I wrote when I was in a band when I was a bit younger and so whenever I play it I get sort of a nostalgic feeling.
That’s kind of the theme that I hear in your songs and see in your videos. There’s kind of a nostalgic element.
Yeah probably man, I think the time span that I picked the songs from this album is kind of four years ago from now and some from now so some of them are really new and some of them are older but yeah it’s definitely one of the themes running through it I guess.
What’s your plan for the rest of 2011?
I’m heading out on tour in October, got about 30 dates in October and November and then hopefully will be going to the States as well before Christmas.
When you perform live, do you get nerves, and how do you deal with them?
I don’t really get nervous, the only times I get nervous is when I think my voice is, my throat’s hurting or whatever, and I’m not kind of on it as I should be but I just try and always play the best show I can and yeah, I don’t really get nervous as such.
We ask a couple of silly questions during our interviews...
I like silly questions!
If you were invisible for the day, what would you do?
I’d follow Mark Garvey around and pat him on the back and just amuse myself, that’s the day probably!
Can you tell us something no one knows about you?
Yeah! I actually once won a competition in this pub in Yorkshire, me and some of my cousins were staying there at the weekend. I won a competition in who could eat 1,100 chips.
Noo! How many did you eat!
I got to like 970.
Yeah! Nice one!
...and then I was sick!
At least you won. Are you a big eater?
Not really, no.
On tour, what one item can you not live without?
Good question, my backpack! I will always take a backpack on tour with me and it’s got like all my clothes in it and I manage to get all my things in one backpack.
If you were sent to a desert island, you know the government were like “alright, you gotta go to this island, by yourself and you’re allowed to select three famous people with you, they can be dead or alive” Who would you take and why?
Would I be coming back from the desert island at any point?
We can’t let you know that I’m afraid.
Ok ok. I’d take Bruce Springsteen because he could sing and keep everyone in a kind of mellow/pretty good mood. I’d probably take John Travolta.
Which era of John Travolta?
Well I’ve heard that he knows how to fly a jumbo 747. The third person I would take is probably Albert Einstein. He could figure out a way to make the plane potentially out of some, maybe there will be some metals underground that you could.
You’re the first person to actually try and solve the island question. Most people are content with staying on the island!
He’d make the plane and John Travolta would fly it.
Alright! So you’ve got a swimming pool, the water’s just been taken out, you can’t put water back in it but you can fill with anything other than water. What would it be?
Maybe fruit pastels? Because they’ve got the sugar coating they don’t really go off. It’s a type of thing that would be good for guests and stuff for when they come over your house.
Good luck for the future!
Cheers man!
“Last Smoke Before The Snowstorm” is out now at all good outlets.
Keep up to date with Benjamin Francis Leftwich at http://www.benjaminfrancisleftwich.com/
