Ben Marwood

Ben Marwood
Ben Marwood
Background information
Origin Reading, United Kingdom
Genres Folk, Folk Punk
Occupation(s) Guitarist/singer-songwriter
Instruments Guitar, vocals
Years active 2002 – 2014
Labels Xtra Mile Recordings, Josaka Music, Broken Tail Records
Website benmarwood.com

Ben Marwood is an English singer-songwriter from the English town of Reading.[1][2]

Musical career

As part of the contemporary London folk scene, Marwood has performed alongside Frank Turner, Chris T-T and Emily Barker amongst others.[3]

Ben is a good friend of Xtra Mile Recordings artist Frank Turner and was part of Turner's extended backing band at the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony,[4] and appeared in the video for Turner's single Long Live the Queen.[5]

Playing solo shows from 2002,[6] in 2008 he released his debut mini-album, This Is Not What You Had Planned to some critical acclaim,[7][8] followed by a three-way split album entitled Exclamation at Asterisk Hash which also featured friends Oxygen Thief and Jim Lockey. Both were released on Broken Tail Records, a small indie label run by Marwood.[9] The debut album Outside There's A Curse was released on London-based Xtra Mile Recordings on 31 January 2011 to further critical acclaim, with Kerrang! awarding it a score of four out of a possible five Ks and Rocksound awarding an eight out of ten.[10] The album release was supported by two national headline tours alongside Oxygen Thief,[11][12][13] and a support slot with Frank Turner in May 2011.[14] All undistributed copies of the album were subsequently destroyed in the arson attack on the Sony DADC warehouse during the 2011 England Riots in August 2011.[15][16]

After unreleased material featured on a couple of compilation appearances towards the end of 2011, BBC News reported that Marwood was working on a second album.[17][18][19] It was confirmed in a blog post on 23 December 2012 that the new album would follow in 2013 and was preceded by a five-song EP featuring re-recorded live takes of previous songs entitled Incidents/Accidents, released via Bandcamp on a pay-what-you-like basis.[20]

Following the Bandcamp release, two further digital EPs were released in February 2013 through Josaka Music, Demons and Ben Marwood & Quiet Quiet Band Lay Low, a split with Reading band Quiet Quiet Band which had shortened to Lay Low by the time it reached retailers,[21][22][23] after which Rock Sound announced that the new album Back Down would be released on 13 May 2013 through Xtra Mile Recordings. A headline UK tour was subsequently announced which also featured prominent members of the underground UK acoustic scene, as well as a video for the single Under Lock and Key,[24][25] before heading to the US as opening support for Frank Turner.[26]

Outside of performing, Marwood also hosts a monthly show on a weekly alternative podcast edit radio.[27]

Discography

Albums

EPs

Split EPs

Compilation appearances

References

  1. Minard, Jenny (20 January 2011). "The Session: Why Ben Marwood's dreaming of bed". Reading Post (Reading). Retrieved 11 October 2011. Reading folk-angst singer Ben Marwood [...]
  2. "Ben Marwood and co at Club Velocity". Reading Chronicle (Reading). 7 July 2011. Retrieved 11 October 2011. [...] Reading's finest anti-folk singer-songwriter, Ben Marwood [...]
  3. "Tracks Monkeys With Lasers".
  4. "Frank Turner opens up about 'weird' experience playing Olympics opening ceremony". NME.com. 28 July 2012. [...]joined by an extended version of his band the Sleeping Souls that also included Jim Lockey, Ben Marwood and Emily Barker[...]
  5. "Frank Turner – Long Live the Queen". Retrieved 7 February 2009.
  6. Marwood, Ben (7 April 2012). "The webstore cometh". Blogger. [...]Aldershot's West End Centre on March 13, 2002 [...]
  7. Anderson, Stuart (5 November 2008). "Five Little Secrets by Ben Marwood". London: The Times. Retrieved 7 February 2009.
  8. "Ben Marwood – This Is Not What You Had Planned". The Mag. 28 June 2008. Retrieved 7 February 2009.
  9. O'Brien, Connor. "Album review: Ben Marwood – Outside There's A Curse". Alter The Press. [...]Ben's own label Broken Tail Records[...]
  10. "Ben Marwood – New single 'Singalong' and Frank Turner support tour". Press Counsel PR.
  11. "Ben Marwood To Release Debut Album". Glasswerk.co.uk.
  12. Marwood, Ben. "uk tour dates confirmed". Blog: ben marwood smells funny.
  13. Marwood, Ben. "Something for the weekends". Blog: ben marwood smells funny.
  14. Turner, Frank. "Addenda". frankturner.com.
  15. "Independent record labels fear ruinous stock loss in London riots fire". The Guardian (London). 9 August 2011.
  16. Marwood, Ben. "Things I have done in the past month". Blog: ben marwood smells funny.
  17. "Xtra Mile High Club Vol. 3: Yanks Vs Limeys (Oh…and 1 Kraut)". Xtra Mile Recordings. 1 September 2011.
  18. "Lamp Light The Fire: A Compilation Of Quiet(ER) Songs". Engineer Records.
  19. "Ben Marwood working on new album". BBC News. 18 November 2011.
  20. Marwood, Ben (23 December 2012). "An EP for free". Ben Marwood smells funny (blog). [...]two further digital EPs are heading your way in February [...] new album in May [...]
  21. Marwood, Ben (5 January 2013). "New Year, New Releases". Ben Marwood smells funny (blog). [...]two new EPs available digitally, one my very own work and one shared with my friends Quiet Quiet Band[...]
  22. "'Demons' Amazon listing". Amazon UK.
  23. "'Lay Low' Amazon listing". Amazon UK.
  24. Marwood, Ben (1 April 2013). "Back Down 2013: More Show Announcements". Ben Marwood smells funny (blog).
  25. "Ben Marwood To Release 'Back Down' In May". Rock Sound. 20 March 2013.
  26. "Ben Marwood USA tour video". The Ruckus. 29 August 2013.
  27. "[edit] radio website".

External links