Ben Westbeech Interview
Interview with Ben Westbeech
Words by Amy Redmond
Ben Westbeech and Amy Redmond are drinking tea and eating double chocolate biscuits in his bedroom in Stoke Newington, talking about Dappy, Coolios cookbook and Bens goggle-eyed fish Keef…
I’m making my second album on Strictly Rhythm Records, which is a house label that started in 1989 and has just been taken over by Defected.
Congratulations man, so where does that take you musically compared to the first album?
I think I’ve pretty much got free range to do what I want to do, but I kind of want to make more housey records. That’s what I’m DJing and what I’m into, it felt like a logical progression to do that.
If you weren’t doing music what would you be doing?
Chef or restaurant critic, I really like food. I’m really into cooking, I’d like to be a chef, I know its really long hours. But the ideal job would be restaurant critic.
That’s got to be the dream!
Yeah, eating out in restaurants every night, that would be the dream job. It would be so good, but it would be bad because you’d have to slag off people’s restaurants. But its subjective isn’t it, its like art or music, you’ve got to be a bit of an ass-hole to be a critic…
And you’re not?
(laughs) But the idea of being a food critic is wicked. I think I’d just like to eat in a lot of restaurants for free!
You’ve got your Coolio cookbook for that!
Don’t give away my secrets!
What were you into when you were little?
I started DJing at 12! I was really heavily into music.
Are you an only child?
I was then; I have a step sister now who’s 15. But then I was…
Was music your friend then?
Yeah and anything else I could talk to, random bits of wool that I’d pick up and make friends with. No, I didn’t have it that bad! But you do have to make your own fun. I used to have a rabbit, but then that went a bit mad and started barking so we had to put it down and then a dog. All my animals have gone mad, or blind and died.
And Keef downstairs? (Ben has a fish tank in his living room with two strange looking fish in it, Keef has goggle eyes.)
I’m really worried about the fish downstairs. The big ones started to go for Keef a lot, and I’m just worried that he’s going to end up eating one of his eyes. I don’t know if he could eat his eyes, they’re too big. But I see him going for him, the other ones really agro.
Anyway, tell me about you when you were 8, what were you playing musically?
At that time I was playing piano and singing, I took up the cello at about 12.
Do you still play?
Yeah it’s over there, I do play now and again, it’s quite relaxing actually. I moved my studio out of here, this room was a massive studio before, so its just been really nice having a bedroom as a bedroom, so I can just get the cello out, its much more relaxing.
A bedroom should be a play you can switch off.
I’m going to get a big old vintage chair in here so I can listen to music and do internet stuff, I still work from here, but I like to separate the two. But I find we’re just all on computers all the time. I don’t like it really. I was never really into computers as a kid, but I’ve had to because of music and now I feel like I’m attached to it 24/7.
There’s no way is can be any different now.
Everything’s just digital. It’s gone absolutely crazy.
How are musicians meant to make money now?
(laughs) I don’t know! DJing, publishing, that’s your main source of income, getting a good publishing deal. Getting adverts or TV use. You’ve just got to keep on releasing music, do mix tapes, get DJ sets, then your live show, get a good show if you want to make some money. But it’s really hard for people. Everyone’s doing it, there’s so many people making music, it’s just crazy! It’s really good, I love it, but it’s just a bit mental. Everyone’s really fighting for a piece of the pie all the time which is really healthy, but it just means you’ve got to be good, and work really hard at it to be noticed, which isn’t a bad thing.
And who do you rate at the moment?
I really like Floating Points, Joy Orbison, obviously, Julio Bashmore, he’s making really good house music and I really like DJ Gregory. I think live wise, I really like Florence and the Machine, I know it’s a bit ‘everyone loves Florence’, but I think she’s a really good artist. I like Bat For Lashes as well. I don’t like a lot of pop music in the charts at the moment. You know Tinchy Stryder and N Dubz and all that sort of stuff, its just like ‘come on!’ I know kids are buying it, to me it just doesn’t seem like music, its just mass processed shite that a few song writers are making. It’s just horrendous and it makes me really sick actually, just putting MTV on and watching the chart, it’s like ‘Christ, is this music?’
It’s pop though…
Yeah but pop music used to be wicked.
Did it though or were you just younger?
I don’t know, if you look back at the 60s and stuff, music was really good, pop music was really good then. From the 90s to now we’ve just nose dived into cack. Which is the fault of only a handful of people. (laughs) You’re either in it for the art or the money. I’ve seen people this year make conscious decisions, I mean, look at Mr Hudson, from where he was two years ago, he was really quite respected, and now he’s just done a tune with N Dubz, oh my God!
Completely sold out, but fair play, sort of!
Yeah, I mean, fair play, if you’re going to go down that road. The other guy who’s done it is Example, fair play to him, but like where’s he going to go. He’s a white hip hop artist, what else is he going to do? You’re either going to make underground hip hop records and probably not make any money or you’re going to sell out and go for it. And it’s like fair enough, it’s not my bag, its nice to see people do it, but I just can’t stand the music. Music means so much more to me than that, than just selling out and going for the money. I guess they must go through turmoil as well.
I think there has to be something within you that goes nah, I can justify this…
Yeah, but the problem is, after that you’re completely fucked, cos you can’t go back to being cool anymore, there’s no going back. Although in four years time, who knows?! I might be making that phone call to Dappy! (laughs)
So the first album was called Welcome To The Best Years Of Your Life, were they the best years of your life?
Probably yeah! It was definitely a giggle, I’ve travelled so much from it, yeah they probably were. I think I got that title from an advert for an insurance firm! I was like ‘that’s a wicked name for an album!’
Do you think you’ve cursed yourself then so now your best years have gone?!
Oh God don’t say that! I’m going to have a nervous breakdown.
The best years are still to come definitely! Have you got a title for the next one?
No, I don’t think so. I’ve got quite a lot of it written, it’s just a case of getting in producers now and kind of working it. But quite a lot of its done, it’s been really fun; I’m working with some really nice people like Julio Bashmore, Joy Orbison, DJ Gregory, Chocolate Puma from Holland, Joe Goddard’s sending me a track. There’s loads of people, we’re going to make 20 records at least and see. It’s a pretty mad line up of people.
Well done, I’m proud of you!
Thanks!
Thank you for letting me raid your bedroom and eat biscuits.
Take those biscuits with you!
www.myspace.com/benwestbeech
