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

• Outside There's a Curse (2011)
• Back Down (2013)

EPs

• This Is Not What You Had Planned (2008)
• Incidents/Accidents (2012)
• Demons (2013)

Split EPs

• Ben Marwood vs. Heartwear Process (7" vinyl – 2007)
• Exclamation at Asterisk Hash (w/Oxygen Thief & Jim Lockey and the Solemn Sun – 2009)
• Lay Low (w/Quiet Quiet Band – 2013)

Compilation appearances

• Four By Four EP – "More Good Propaganda" (2007)
• Four By Four More EP – "Question Marks?" (2008)
• Xtra Mile High Club Vol. 3 – "We Are No Longer Twenty-Five [Mile High Version]" (2011)
• Lamp Light the Fire – "Horatio Dies" (2011)

References

External links

• Official site
• Ben Marwood on Myspace
• Broken Tail Records on MySpace