Benjamin Bland
I’m Ben and I live in York where I spend most of my time pretending to be a historian or drinking interesting beers in one of the city’s many great pubs. Sometimes I do both at the same time. It really depends on how my day is going.
Music has been my major passion for quite some time now. It’s rare that I’m not either listening to it, making it, talking about it or thinking about it, and unfortunately I’ve garnered rather a reputation amongst friends for knowing more bands than is ultimately healthy for the purposes of casual conversation. This has become more troublesome over the past couple of years, when my interests have shifted ever moreso towards the realm of experimental music types.
I’ve been writing about music now for about three years, and over that time I’ve been lucky enough to have had the opportunity to hear, see and meet tons of great artists. My career highlights in that sense would probably be interviewing two of my favourite ever musicians in Scott Kelly from Neurosis and Steven Wilson from No-Man / Porcupine Tree. Two of the most nerve-racking but ultimately enjoyable experiences of my life there.
I create ambient / drone / noise music under the name Broken Machines. My first two records sound awful to me now but I’m working on some new stuff and I promise it is much better so keep your ears peeled for news of that. I’m also in an (as yet unnamed) ‘pop’ band, set to start recording some material soon.
Keep up to date with my ramblings on music here and with my drinking here
Articles by Benjamin Bland
Enter the mysterious world of the swine… Benjamin Bland gets the lowdown (sort of) on Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs
“I suppose really I can only take things as far as my own limitations…” – Benjamin Bland speaks to Justin K. Broadrick about the new Jesu album, the reformation of Godflesh and more.
Benjamin Bland on a record of startling humanity, and beautiful drones…
“All the tunes are about space, and animals, with a bit of Ancient Egypt thrown in!” – Benjamin Bland explores the weird and wonderful world of Emperor Yes…
“Theo isn’t a real person I’m afraid” – Benjamin Bland questions one-man loop act Theo (aka. Sam Knight)…
“I seem to proclaim we’ve ‘made it’ all the time…” – Benjamin Bland speaks to Plymouth rockers Woahnows
Has the dependency on crescendo and climax held us back? Benjamin Bland investigates…
“We moved to Manchester at exactly the same time, and ended up finding each other on the internet, but without the romance (well, maybe a little) and awkward dating” – Cleft share their big sloppy love of noise with Benjamin Bland…
Bristol riff monsters Anta are the latest band to feature in our Echoes of the Future column. Hot on the heels of having his ears blasted off by their superb new record, ‘Centurionaut’, Benjamin Bland asked them the usual questions…
“Our common ground seems to be playing loud” – Benjamin Bland gets the lowdown on London’s Pulmonic
“A lot better than you’d expect from a band that has taken five years to follow up their debut, but ultimately also a little less than the sum of its parts” – by Benjamin Bland
To celebrate the label’s fifth anniversary we spoke to Kscope’s Johnny Wilks about some of the label’s finest releases to date, and the place of prog in the modern music scene…
We’re always on the look out for top quality new noise rock here at Echoes and Dust. Beard of Wolves are of a breed rarely heard and so it was decided that they HAD to be featured in Echoes of the Future before too long, and so Benjamin Bland got the Welsh duo to answer the usual tough questions…
“We’ve all fathered this fucked up musical baby called Drunk Dad, it’s enough to drive a man to drink…” – Benjamin Bland gives Drunk Dad a grilling.
“I want to play Call of Duty with Boris Johnson”. Benjamin Bland gets intense with Them Wolves…
The best young band in the UK? Highly possible… Post War Glamour Girls are one band you NEED to hear – by Benjamin Bland
“Pull your socks up and dive into the dirty shit swamp that is the industry and don’t get out till you find a bottle of Evian…”. Benjamin Bland talks to Broken Hands.
Festival season is upon us, and so we thought it would be a good idea to make sure you’re up to speed with all the options out there for you over the next couple of months. We all know the big names but the best festivals out there are the smaller, underground events. Here are six festivals that Benjamin Bland has earmarked as being perfect for discerning music lovers…
