Check out our interview with Benjamin Yellowitz, a singer-songwriter from London who is heading on a UK tour next week taking in shows around the country to support the release of his new single Erase You. He's kicking off the tour a week today (15th Sep) playing for us at The Mad Hatter in Oxford for our 'Friday Night Live' residency alongside Antony Elvin and Lisa Doscher - info and tickets here!
1. First up, who is Benjamin Yellowitz?! How long have you been making music?
Benjamin Yellowitz is me! It's a strange and somewhat pretentious story actually! I was born Ben Williams, but changed my artist name a few years ago to my family's original name - Yellowitz. It was an excuse to go in a new musical direction and experiment with a new stage persona, strangely I was much more comfortable being 'him', and realised I was holding myself back in 'real life' too. Told you it was pretentious! I've been making music since I was really young, grew up surrounded by it!
2. Tell us your biggest musical influences!
Ahh a real mixture! From thoughtful songwriters like Tracy Chapman, Ben Howard, to awesome producers like Bon Iver, James Blake. I have a lot of pop interests too, like The Weeknd's old stuff, my current listen's are NAO and RAY BLK. There's always this distinction between 'interesting/complex/off the radar' and 'pop/catchy/addictive'. Any music that can join the two together - I will have on repeat!
3. Your new single ‘Erase You’ is being released soon - anything you can tell us about the writing or recording process for the track?
It's a raw one! Haha! But I guess it was needed. Kind of a 'look its a new me!' break-up song... Only kinda the opposite as well. I must give a shout out to recording and mixing engineer - Jonny Breakwell, who did an awesome job on this track!
4. You’re going on tour to celebrate the single release - what do you enjoy most about playing live?
I love performing live, every night is a completely different story. The beauty of performing on my own is that I get to change the songs slightly every time. People say its a really big sound for one person - lots of FX, guitar percussion, a nice subby drum sampler etc. I don't want to be a guy and his acoustic guitar, but I don't want it to be tricky gadgetry either, so it's somewhere between the two.
5. We’re excited to be hosting the opening night of the tour with you performing at our ‘Friday Night Live’ residency at The Mad Hatter alongside Lisa Doscher and Antony Elvin - what should we expect from the show, and have you caught either of them live before?
All live, no looping and dare I say... pretty emotional too! This will be my first time to catch Lisa and Antony live, I'm excited!
5. There are a couple of Sofar Sounds shows in amongst your tour dates. We love Sofar - how do you find that the shows differ to a regular gig in terms of how your music is received by the audience?
I love playing Sofar shows. They're a strange combination between a 'promo performance' and a full-on headline gig, you only play for 20 minutes but to a silent crowd ready to soak it all up. They're always full of interesting people ready to see/hear new things. There's a lot more importance on the first song at regular gigs, it's your moment to prove yourself, break through whatever barriers and whatnot, but once you've captured the audience, you have them for much longer to create a more dynamic performance that tells several stories.
7. Describe your dream gig to us! Any venues that you’re desperate to play or further afield? Perhaps there’s a local artist you’d love to collaborate with?
Actually, I am super-stoked to be playing in the UK more. After touring abroad so much, I am happy to be exploring closer to home. As I said, every gig is different, and thats all I wish for. I don't really have a desire to play huge venues. See more great cities, meet more interesting people, end up in more bizarre situations... And obviously play more gigs!
8. As we approach the end of Summer and festival season, what does the rest of the year hold for you… is more new music in the pipeline, perhaps an EP? We certainly hope so!
Haha thanks, I hope so too! I have SO many songs in production right now, I'm so keen to get them right though. I also need to be home a bit more to actually get them finished! So yeah, I'll probably be sitting with Jonny at the studio more than I'll be on stage.
1. First up, who is Benjamin Yellowitz?! How long have you been making music?
Benjamin Yellowitz is me! It's a strange and somewhat pretentious story actually! I was born Ben Williams, but changed my artist name a few years ago to my family's original name - Yellowitz. It was an excuse to go in a new musical direction and experiment with a new stage persona, strangely I was much more comfortable being 'him', and realised I was holding myself back in 'real life' too. Told you it was pretentious! I've been making music since I was really young, grew up surrounded by it!
2. Tell us your biggest musical influences!
Ahh a real mixture! From thoughtful songwriters like Tracy Chapman, Ben Howard, to awesome producers like Bon Iver, James Blake. I have a lot of pop interests too, like The Weeknd's old stuff, my current listen's are NAO and RAY BLK. There's always this distinction between 'interesting/complex/off the radar' and 'pop/catchy/addictive'. Any music that can join the two together - I will have on repeat!
3. Your new single ‘Erase You’ is being released soon - anything you can tell us about the writing or recording process for the track?
It's a raw one! Haha! But I guess it was needed. Kind of a 'look its a new me!' break-up song... Only kinda the opposite as well. I must give a shout out to recording and mixing engineer - Jonny Breakwell, who did an awesome job on this track!
4. You’re going on tour to celebrate the single release - what do you enjoy most about playing live?
I love performing live, every night is a completely different story. The beauty of performing on my own is that I get to change the songs slightly every time. People say its a really big sound for one person - lots of FX, guitar percussion, a nice subby drum sampler etc. I don't want to be a guy and his acoustic guitar, but I don't want it to be tricky gadgetry either, so it's somewhere between the two.
5. We’re excited to be hosting the opening night of the tour with you performing at our ‘Friday Night Live’ residency at The Mad Hatter alongside Lisa Doscher and Antony Elvin - what should we expect from the show, and have you caught either of them live before?
All live, no looping and dare I say... pretty emotional too! This will be my first time to catch Lisa and Antony live, I'm excited!
5. There are a couple of Sofar Sounds shows in amongst your tour dates. We love Sofar - how do you find that the shows differ to a regular gig in terms of how your music is received by the audience?
I love playing Sofar shows. They're a strange combination between a 'promo performance' and a full-on headline gig, you only play for 20 minutes but to a silent crowd ready to soak it all up. They're always full of interesting people ready to see/hear new things. There's a lot more importance on the first song at regular gigs, it's your moment to prove yourself, break through whatever barriers and whatnot, but once you've captured the audience, you have them for much longer to create a more dynamic performance that tells several stories.
7. Describe your dream gig to us! Any venues that you’re desperate to play or further afield? Perhaps there’s a local artist you’d love to collaborate with?
Actually, I am super-stoked to be playing in the UK more. After touring abroad so much, I am happy to be exploring closer to home. As I said, every gig is different, and thats all I wish for. I don't really have a desire to play huge venues. See more great cities, meet more interesting people, end up in more bizarre situations... And obviously play more gigs!
8. As we approach the end of Summer and festival season, what does the rest of the year hold for you… is more new music in the pipeline, perhaps an EP? We certainly hope so!
Haha thanks, I hope so too! I have SO many songs in production right now, I'm so keen to get them right though. I also need to be home a bit more to actually get them finished! So yeah, I'll probably be sitting with Jonny at the studio more than I'll be on stage.
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