James caught up with Ben Marwood in Wolverhampton before his support slot with Frank Turner to talk about his debut album, how he got into music and much more.

When did you first pick up an instrument and start writing music?
I started writing when I was 16, but I started playing guitar when I was 10 so I took a little start writing I guess.

Who would you say your main influences are?
At the moment probably Elliot Smith, Death Cab for a Cutie, Jeff Louis, Mr Turner of course and Jonny Flint.

You released your debut album ‘Outside There Is A Cure’ back in January, are you happy with how it has gone down with your fans and the press?
It took a lot of getting together so I’m glad it’s all worked out quite well. We got some really good reviews, we also got a couple bad reviews but they’re always hilarious to read, I take pointers from them. One review said I sounded like The Wurzels which is a really bizarre thing; I took all their other points but maybe not that one. Kerrang and Rocksound really liked it and they were the ones I was hoping for so I’m glad they came through, I think everybody from the public I’ve spoken to has said it was good but then again unless they were drunk or complete bastards they wouldn’t come up to me and say “You’re terrible, how dare you”. 1 guy on the tour said “Your pretty good but you need a better hair cut” that’s the closest to a bad review I’ve had so far.

What inspired you when writing the album?
Well these songs are a collection that I’ve had for a while, all the ones that I hadn’t released before. So there’s various stages such as terrible ‘emo’ heartbreak that inspired some things but towards the end it’s about just accepting life. So there you go my influences range from terrible ‘emo’ heartbreak and getting my shit together and acting more like a man ha ha!

You have some quirky song titles on the album such as ‘Tell Avril Lavinge I Never Wanted To Be Her Stupid Boyfriend Anyway’ and ‘A Shower Of Bastards’ can you tell us a bit more about these songs?
“A Shower Of Bastards”, I just really like that expression it doesn’t really have much to do with the actual song. I think we all sat up one night when I was looking for a name for the song; It’s only a short song, about a minute and a bit long, we were discussing what a collective name for a group of bastards was and we decided it was a shower. In terms of “Tell Avril Lavinge I Never Wanted To Be Her Stupid Boyfriend Anyway” again that has nothing to do with Avril Lavinge, it’s about a librarian I met that was about 5 foot tall and fell instantly in love with her so I wrote her a love song; then I never saw her again ha ha! When I was look for a title every time I put the radio on I kept hearing that fucking song she’s got (“Girlfriend”) so I thought I don’t want to be your boyfriend and let her know in the form of a song title she’ll never see.

You also have a song called ‘JJ Abrams’ on the album, are you a big fan of the man’s work on programmes such as Lost and Alias?
I am not a fan of Lost; all my friends are into it but I was just really confused by it. You’d wait all season to find an answer to 1 question, then the finally would raise 7 more and it was ridiculous. I am however a big fan of the man himself, the work he did in Cloverfield was terrific and some other work.

The album has been released on Xtra Mile Records, how did the record deal come about?
I financed the album myself and recorded it all myself then sent out some demos to labels; Xtra Mile Records wasn’t one of them and when I saw Frank he said “You did send it them didn’t you?” when I told him I hadn’t he told me to do it ASAP because he’d been poking them to release it. So I sent it and then we all met up one summer’s day in June 2010; we decided it can be done, I could be a grown up recording artist, then after a few false starts and a few crossed wires we finally got it released in January and lived happily ever after... For now!

You are currently on tour with Frank Turner a man you have worked and toured with before, so how does it feel being on a long running tour with him?
It feels amazing. He’s been trying to get this done for ages, I’ve been mooching through every support slot going that he’s had but something’s always come up. This time round its happened, Its good sized venues and they’ve all sold out; 200-500 capacity venues which is lovely and Frank’s fans have been really receptive to my stuff and have treated me really well. It’s better than being at work like I normally am 9-5 Monday to Friday at a desk making charts on Microsoft excel but instead I’m being driven around the country. Who wouldn’t want that?

In general how have the shows been so far?
They’ve been really good, there’s only been 1 off show but that wasn’t our fault and it wasn’t the fans fault it was just stuff that didn’t come together properly apart from that they’ve all been phenomenal. The crowds have been nice too, I haven’t had many hecklers but I’ve had some but mostly northern; when you hear a room full of people screaming it’s all just “ROAR” and you can’t distinguish words so you don’t notice.

I understand you are playing 2000 Trees Festival again this year, how much are you looking forward to being part of that festival again?
1000% excited! Largely because it’s my 3rd year running and normally they don’t like having people back to back except for maybe Frank. So I’m glad that they’ve had me back again and I’m quite high up on the bill; I’m playing a converted book bus that they’ve turned into a stage that’s solar powered and everything so I’m glad to be helping the environment whilst screaming my shit at people ha ha!

What do you have planned once your current touring schedule comes to an end?
I’ve got to go back to work which is a huge pain in the balls. I’m playing with Mr Franz Nicolay in London on the 1st of June at the Brixton windmill and then I’m playing Franz’s launch show for his album on the 6th in London. Apart from that it’s going to be new recordings and I’ll try to get on tour again by the end of the year.

What’s your take on the digital revelation killing off the music business?
It’s not. I mean it’s made it really easy to pirate stuff, but if people want free music they’re going to get it anyway if it wasn’t online they’d burn CD’s for each other. Some people have come up to me and said “I really like your stuff I downloaded it illegally” and I never know whether to say well done for checking out new music or how dare you come up to me and say that; I want to hug them with one hand and slap them with the other. I don’t think it’s going to kill it because people like to own music in their hands and proper, iTunes isn’t particularly expensive and neither Spotify its hardly breaking the bank.

Social network sites seem to be a big tool in the music industry these days, with artists communicating with their fans over it and some even ditching their own website and having just a social network page, what are your opinions on social networks as tools in the music industry?
I use them quite a lot. Since I got a Blackberry they’ve been following me around everywhere and it’s got a bit chaotic. I gave up adding friends to my Facebook page, I have a personal one and a music one that people like, I’m on the twitter and twat about a lot, I used to be on MySpace but these days it’s like a big sewer full of rotting musical corpses because they made it so nobody wants to use it and its horrible. Last.fm is terrific I love that one because I know which of my songs are failing, but not Bebo because that’s for 12 year old boys.

Where do you hope to see yourself in a year’s time?
Still alive, I’ll be 31 by then. Hopefully I’ll have my next album ready and be touring again playing to more than 5 people per show ha ha.

One last random question that we ask every band, if you could be an animal out of a zebra or Giraffe which one would you be and why?
I’d be a giraffe because they’re really tall. Zebra’s are painted horses, I suppose you could ride them around but giraffes are more Ace Ventura. Somebody told me giraffes can’t put their heads down for too long or they have a heart attack, I might need to revise my choice, no I can eat stuff out of trees. Giraffe decision made.

Thanks for your time is there a message for your fans reading this?
Buy all my records ha ha! See you soon guys.

Interview By James Webb