Episode Transcript
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Chris (00:17):
Season 5, welcome.
I've been getting it wrongStarted crying.
Ben Woods (00:24):
Season five Welcome.
This is our second episode ofseason five.
Actually, I have Ben Woodscoming in from the UK, who is
the Golden Dregs Great newrecord coming out One single
already out, and we're going tofeature another single at the
end of this podcast.
So stay tuned to listen to whatthe golden dregs sound like,
(00:45):
but first we'll get to know thema little bit, or him, uh, ben,
hey, hi, how's it doing?
Thanks for having me.
I'm very well.
Thank you, yeah, I've been along time follower, um, so when
I saw that you had some newstuff, I was like, okay, gotta
reach out, gotta see.
And so I was super happy thatyou took me up on this invite.
I mean, yes man so then you'vebeen doing this for a while,
(01:11):
right?
Um, I was just looking at yourpros perusing your your band
camp page, um, and I mean you'vegot the earliest release on
there.
You've got some early, really2017.
Okay, role of a life.
Well, I guess that was a singleright, but, uh, single um,
you're pretty prolific.
A couple of eps before that,which I've since removed, okay,
(01:35):
um, and some of the tracks gotrepurposed on other records, but
, um, so, yeah, it's probablyabout you know, coming up to 10
years of releasing recordedmaterial, amazing, amazing and
it's such a distinct style like.
Chris (01:48):
I love your voice and the comparisons that it gets to.
You know cohen and callahan andum, that baritone, and but
you're not only the, the voicethat you found within the golden
dregs, but the songwriting isreally strong, um your
storytelling is just um.
I love it.
I love your stories that youtell through your song how did
(02:10):
it begin for you then?
Like like, if you could bringus back in time a little bit,
what are some of those earlyrecollections of, of music being
important to you?
Ben Woods (02:20):
uh, I mean my, my writing probably dates back to,
you know, around that time wetalk about the early recordings
I was living in Falmouth, whichis a town in Cornwall, which is
a very southern point in the UK,south of where you can go, and
there's a really good sort ofgarage punk rock sort of scene
(02:43):
going on there and I wasrecording a lot with people and
I loved the music and I wasplaying drums a lot of the time.
But I think I felt like Iwanted to address this kind of
more like lyric focused musicthat I was maybe interested in
or that had resonated with megrowing up, music that I was
(03:07):
maybe interested in or that hadresonated with me growing up.
Um, so the first recordings andthe first album that I put out
kind of utilizes the musicianson the scene on that scene and I
actually I looked through um,looked through your podcast and
saw you've done an interviewwith Holiday Ghosts.
Yes, um, so we came up at thesame time.
Okay, I played in holidayghosts for a little bit back in
the days, but, um, that's cool,it means to run a studio
(03:30):
together and, yeah, kind of camefrom a similar place and the
holiday ghost, I think isbirthed of a similar thing.
It's, you know, everything wasquite uh, it was kind of high
octane, intense, like yeah,garage punk sort of music.
Holiday ghost was kind of like.
Maybe in its early days was asort of more reserved
alternative for sam to sam andcat to explore their songwriting
(03:52):
for sure.
Chris (03:54):
No, they have a great story too.
That's, that's a greatconnection to, to have.
Ben Woods (03:57):
Yeah, yeah, you know we're still, you know still uh,
still hanging out and they'reback and forth, but we spent the
year together and, yeah,amazing, amazing and like do you
remember those earlierrecordings like what, where you
started to feel inspired towrite and to to sing, like
becoming a singer songwriter?
Chris (04:16):
could you walk us through a bit of that process, of how
you came to?
Ben Woods (04:18):
things I was inspired by, yeah, particular.
Well, I came at writing from arecording perspective, I was
studying, recording and we hadthis tape studio and, um, yeah,
friends would recommend stuff tome, I guess, and I kind of was
put onto the likes of smog andsilver jews I'd maybe, I'd
(04:41):
probably overlooked until myover 20, my early 20s, you know,
yeah, when I was younger Ialways loved, you know, like
Joni Mitchell and Neil Young andthat's a world of like kind of
classic songwriters, withoutdissecting it too much, but, um,
yeah, that's sort of like likethe beat happening, all these
things that were kind of like alow-fi recording, aesthetic,
(05:03):
yeah, um, and magnetic fields,and I think they kind of made me
feel like um, because I wasn'tparticularly competent, I wasn't
confident in my voice and Iwasn't a competent player of my
instruments beyond the drums.
You know, I was great drums,but listen to those recordings.
(05:25):
It kind of made me feel like itdidn't really matter so much,
like the vibe a new perspectiveon yeah, totally, totally, that
kind of got me started and, um,I think you can hear in the
first, the first album,lafayette.
Chris (05:40):
I'm really like figuring it out yeah, totally, I hear you
hit on that like I love theprogression two of your records
because it does feel like you'relearning from one to the next,
to the next.
Definitely, almost you know youfeel the growth happening.
Ben Woods (05:54):
Um, it's funny actually looking back because,
um, I think you look at even upuntil the last record, it's like
these three records are allquite different.
There's maybe like a throughline, but they're different, and
it maybe seems like, oh, maybeI don't know what I'm doing, so
I'm trying to play with it.
But by the fourth album it'slike okay, this is like what the
thing is right now.
(06:15):
It's like enough differentdirections in it.
I feel like it makes more sense.
Chris (06:19):
You know, I totally agree , like the first single off of
godspeed which is coming out inApril.
People, april 27th 25th.
Excellent studio and the singlethat's that that you've
released already, the company ofstrangers.
I mean it does feel like you've.
It's a coming of age, almostlike your sound is there,
(06:40):
finally, or it like right.
It's all solidifying, all thecrystallization is happening.
I think every record is astepping stone in a way, because
it allows you to find so.
It was interesting what yousaid.
So the three records that arethe your latest ones, are all
(07:00):
very different, right, I mean, I, I hear that, but you said
there's a thorough line.
How would you connect all thosethree together?
What do you think it is aboutit other than being you?
Ben Woods (07:13):
I think maybe the like lyrical intent of them,
perhaps whether it always landsthe way I would have intended it
to, more so than my voice,because that is something I have
been figuring out and thatdefinitely changes through the
records as I become morecomfortable with it.
(07:34):
But I think the songwritingvoice is kind of um, consistent
throughout there you.
Chris (07:44):
I love your voice.
I wanted to ask you about thattoo.
How did you come to find it?
Because?
it is so distinct.
I talked to somebody just theother day Nico, he's in this
band, Friko Cool, yeah, he saidit took him about five years to
find his voice.
Ben Woods (08:02):
I never thought that it would take that long, but I
guess in retrospect, like itdoes take time to figure out
where your highs and your lows,and if you could push this extra
one a little bit furtherwithout it snapping the back of
the song, or yeah, I mean, I, Ilike, when I was first, you know
, in this sort of scene of bandsplaying in my early 20s, late
(08:24):
teens I was, you know, music welistened to was like Black Lips
and Strange Boys and White Fence, and I was trying to, I tried
to emulate that style of singinghigher, and there's a bit of
that in the first album maybe,but it was like a strain for me
really.
But it was like a strain for mereally.
(08:49):
Um, and I kind of quicklyrealized that the songs where I
kind of delivered a moreintimate performance were the
ones that resonated more.
And it wasn't in the secondalbum there's still not
throughout the whole of therecord, but there's certainly
some tracks on there where I waslike, okay, I think I've got it
now.
Um, yeah, I figured out, wasthere a song in particular, been
where.
We're kind of like you're likeokay that this is, yeah, getting
(09:09):
close to what I envisioned wayback when I started this it was
uh, nobody ever got rich yourfather.
He was drunk and almost alwaysright.
He made sure that you grew uptoo fast at night.
(09:32):
He speaks to God what I nevergot rich, hey son.
You know I never got rich.
I worked all my damn life and Inever got rich.
(09:54):
Hey God, why'd I never got rich?
Hey god?
and that one, um, I'd had the,I'd had the verses for that song
(10:17):
for a couple of years and wasgoing to leave it as is, with a
sort of instrumental chorus.
And then I started singing thechorus in this more intimate way
and I actually reallydistinctly remember it, kind of
clicking me like, okay, this ismaybe how I can best express my
(10:39):
narratives, my feelings,whatever For sure.
Chris (10:43):
And how do you?
What's your process about forwriting songs Like how do you?
How do you start from an ideato something?
Ben Woods (10:51):
Well, it's always it's been thrown out of whack.
Really, like I was always proudof being like, oh yeah, I can,
I like I like to write my lyricsfirst or I write them as I play
guitar.
You know, like it was likeclassic and right and like it
comes from this like place deep,deep within.
But since the I hate to mentionit but since the lockdown, I
(11:15):
was right during that period Iwas writing a lot of music but
didn't have much lyricalinspiration.
But then, you know, I was kindof had this I was kind of freed
from having to work and so I wasspending my days just making
music and really enjoying thatprocess, and then I had to kind
of write to the music, right,and that's kind of gifted me the
(11:38):
most part of the last album,this new album.
I'm really pleased to say thatI've kind of cleared that
backlog of these musical ideas,because I kind of hate to waste
an idea before I've seen itthrough.
How do you?
Chris (11:53):
know when it is one that you'll take note of that one and
shelve it.
But I'm coming back to thatbecause it had something.
What are you looking for whenyou find the thing that that
that makes that song, you know,individual or I've become more
picky with each album.
Ben Woods (12:12):
You know, for the first, when I did hopeless of
the hopeless, there were noextra tracks written for.
That was just like the albumlafayette.
There was like I wrote a lot ofsongs and I kind of put them,
put them out as eps or whateverstragglers and whatnot.
Right, right, right.
And then on grace and dignity,I there were a few extra cuts I
(12:34):
kind of took off the record andand then, for this, got for
godspeed.
I wrote a lot of stuff I didn'tuse.
That I kind of have to.
I just have to get morediscipline with recognizing when
an idea is not working and itdoesn't need more energy putting
into it.
And the joy of having harddrives is I can just leave it
(12:54):
and it's there because I still,you know, there's ideas I
shelved during the writingprocess of this album.
But the melodies are comingback to me in my day to day and
I'm like, okay, well, maybethere's something in that.
I just wasn't doing it, right,you know right, right.
Chris (13:09):
It's interesting, though, that that that these artifacts
that you keep can always youknow, that you have this mindset
that, yeah, I might use that,you know, or take that little
piece and insert it there, likeit's definitely um a great way
to journalize your, your journey, as well as as you're building
I I read that this, the, thelatest record coming out in
(13:31):
april, godspeed is, was adifferent kind of collaboration,
and tell me if I'm wrong herethat most of the other songs and
records that you'd put out wasvery much you and this one had
more people involved in it, orlike did you bring songs to a
group of people saying I wantyour input, or did you have
pretty much how you wanted tosound when you brought the songs
(13:53):
to your collaborators?
Ben Woods (13:55):
I I wanted to approach this album.
So we toured the last album alot more than I ever toured an
album.
Um, because you know we hadquite, we had a sort of air
quotes, proper release for it ona label, and we toured events
in the states and extensivelyaround europe and festivals and
stuff um, so we came out of itas a sort of like kind of, dare
(14:16):
I say, a professional band.
You know, like we kind, offigured out how to play, because
we we came to it as a group offriends really, um, and I think
during the process we kind offigured out how to play it.
Cause we, we came to it as agroup of friends really, um, and
I think during the process wekind of figured out a sort of
musical pathway for ourselvesand, um, I, yeah, I wanted to
approach this album focusing onthe production and the song
(14:37):
writing, but not necessarilyfocusing on getting the right
takes myself, you know, okay,okay, and I wanted to kind of.
I think there's in any sort ofcollaboration there's give and
take, and I feel like to allowthe, my bandmates, my friends,
(15:01):
to feel ownership over thisthing.
You know, it's nice foreveryone to be kind of um
invested creatively as well.
You know, I don't want to feellike they're traipsing around
europe playing, playing theseparts.
I've told them to play, youknow, and this makes me sound
like I'm a dictator, but I guessI am in a respect, but you know
it's not comes from a um comesfrom a point of interest and
(15:26):
compassion, I suppose, um, andyeah, you know, each, each
member of a group sort of hastheir own, uh, musical
background.
They're all quite different andI kind of wanted to bring that
into it separately.
So I could it yeah, it wasn't,the songs were kind of done um,
(15:48):
but I would book each of them infor a couple of days each in
the studio to come and bringsome ideas in and play, play
their parts and I think thealbum's better for it yeah, yeah
.
Chris (16:00):
What were some?
Some of the surprises that youdidn't expect with opening up
the collaboration like that arethere.
Were there things that wereunexpected in in the creation of
the newest record?
Ben Woods (16:11):
um, there were no real curveballs, I don't think.
I kind of I I didn't know whatthe outcome was going to be, but
I kind of had an expectation ofhow involving the others was
going to shape the record.
For example, I played drumsmyself in the last two albums
and matt, our drummer, has avery, uh, very different
(16:33):
approach to the drums.
I knew from the ground upthat's the first thing we
brought in, that's gonna reallydrastically change it, and I
wanted to make a more.
You know, discounting the firstalbum.
The last couple of records arevery gentle and I wanted to
create a more instantaneous setof songs.
(16:54):
You know, yeah, um, and matt'sthe guy for that.
Chris (16:58):
So that's cool, that's cool and and I imagine just
seeing his approach to what hewould put down on tape as
opposed to yours quite different.
But you're able to I want youto, you know take care of that
kind of like lighten your load abit, because yeah, as well,
like was this your production?
Was this your production aswell?
Ben Woods (17:19):
this the latest record as well yeah, I've only
ever produced my records myselfokay.
Okay, the last two I've goneand mixed with someone else
who's kind of gotten a bitinvolved.
At that point I kind of went abit, took a bit of a deep dive
(17:42):
on it.
This time I had a bit of help.
I had a friend come into thestudio with me for a couple of
days Alistair and I kind of lostsight of getting the mixes
across the line.
He had a very great technicalear.
He just came in and was likethis isn't sitting quite right.
Blah, blah, blah, and that wasreally good.
Chris (18:03):
It gives your ears, too, a little bit of a different
perspective as well, because Iimagine you get so inundated in
these songs and the.
Ben Woods (18:10):
I completely every little thing, yeah yeah, yeah, I
mean we, we got dropped fromour record label two days before
we went into the studio to makeit.
Um, so I and it was in theirstudio in the basement of their
offices, but it still letsstudio time, which is really
great, um, but I was like, well,I've got five weeks to make an
(18:32):
album.
That's gonna, you know, proveourselves, prove them wrong,
that kind of thing.
I went in seven days a week forfive weeks across christmas, um
, and I was just kind of a bittunnel vision on it.
I definitely thought it wasfinished long before it was
finished and it took guidancefrom the guys in the band and
(18:54):
our management to be like I feellike you need to do a bit more
work on this and yeah, could yousee that too?
Chris (18:59):
like was that like?
Ben Woods (19:01):
yeah, once I was told I think people were scared to
tell me because it had been suchan emotional few months.
Well, we don't want to rock theboat here.
Chris (19:09):
You're like maxing it out .
Ben Woods (19:12):
I was like don't worry, guys, we'll get signed
again.
And the rejection emails startcoming in and the crosses on the
spreadsheet are filling up.
I'm like, well, we're going togo now.
Chris (19:27):
It's tough business, that's for sure Tough business,
so kind of bring things to aclose here.
Ben, thanks again for comingand sharing.
I love your stories.
Um, what, what?
What does the rest of 2025 looklike?
So the record drops in april,and what are your plans with?
Ben Woods (19:45):
it we're doing, um, we're doing a few dates in
support of it, a short releasetour in May and, yeah, lining up
some festivals for the summer.
But to be honest, I don't know.
I don't really know what isgoing to happen in that
department.
You know, we have a new agentworking with us.
(20:06):
I really like him.
He has a really good idea ofhow to position the band and,
you know, just have to see howit connects.
There's so much, there's somuch music out there and
everyone's fighting for thelivers of the same pie and
totally you know people like itgreat.
You know, I set up my own labelto release this record and it's
(20:30):
in collaboration with end of theroad, who are a great um music
festival in the uk.
That's it yeah these music withthem before and they manage our
band, um, and so I really lovethe autonomy I have there over
what I'm doing, and I'm usingthat platform to release some
other records with some otherartists that I work with in the
(20:53):
studio.
So, um, that's amazing.
That's keeping me busy.
It's a busy year.
Whether it's going to all be onthe road or not, I don't know
Right.
Well, it's kind of that fun partof it too.
Right, you never know what'sgonna like.
I suspect you're gonna get areally good reception with this
record.
Sure, I've only heard one ofthe singles, but like I said
(21:13):
before.
It has that crystallization ofof the golden dregs coming
together.
So I'm really excited to hearthe rest of it.
But it does have that likeauthentic feel like and settled
like right, something'ssolidified together.
Um, my words are are losing mehere now.
(21:35):
That's pretty cool.
Yeah, I know, I've reallyappreciated and I've listened to
all your records too.
Right like I, I know what yoursound started like and how it
evolved, and so I was reallyexcited with that, that single
that came up.
So I do encourage all thelisteners to go and grab a show
if you can get this record aswell.
And you know, I just wish youall the best, ben, I mean thank
(21:58):
you, keep doing it.
Chris (21:59):
I imagine the songwriting continues on in your world yeah
, yeah, I'm looking towards thenext record at the moment.
I started mapping out a fewideas and I've been writing with
a few other people fordifferent projects and just
seeing I'm just seeing whathappens now.
You know Absolutely.
Ben Woods (22:17):
I've had a shift Best .
Yeah, that's it.
Well, I'm glad that your heartis still open to creating this
music for us.
I don't know what else I'd do.
Yeah, exactly.
Well, keep it up.
I'll be watching you as youprogress through and again
thanks so much for taking sometime nice one.
Thank you so much for having mecheers.
(22:38):
If you're so sure, then go tellit to the mountain.
Like you've held the answersall along, Maybe it's time that
I was taken out to pasture.
Seems lately I've been gettingit wrong.
You started crying when themorning came too early.
(22:59):
You said I promised you thatthings would always stay the
same.
Guess I never had something Ibelieved in For long enough to
make a change.
And if you told me how you werefeeling, I could say, say, say
(23:23):
something profound, like leavingis the best type of healing.
Or if he were here, then hewould be proud Of how you turned
out.
But don't let God speed thecompany.
(23:44):
Take all you need.
What were you saying aboutnecessary evil?
(24:14):
Did you ever feel your life wasan angel?
Cause he'd be loaded his to thecompany, the company of
strangers.
And that's why God speed thecompany.
(24:38):
Break all you company.
Break all you see.
And in the west we weredeafened by thunder and you held
(25:02):
me till the fear ran out.
I must admit that we're not allthat different.
Till you put the words insidemy mouth, you put the words
inside my mouth.
You put the words inside mymouth, you put the words inside
my mouth.
(25:26):
I've been working for thecompany of strangers.
Been working for the company ofstrangers.
Been working for the company ofstrangers.
Been working for the company ofstrangers.
Been working for the company ofstrangers?
Yeah, I'm in the company ofstrangers.
(25:47):
Yeah, I'm in the company ofstrangers.
Yeah, I'm in the company ofstrangers.
Yeah, I'm in the company ofstrangers now.
Season 5, welcome.
I've been getting it wrongStarted crying.
Ben Woods (00:24):
Season five Welcome.
This is our second episode ofseason five.
Actually, I have Ben Woodscoming in from the UK, who is
the Golden Dregs Great newrecord coming out One single
already out, and we're going tofeature another single at the
end of this podcast.
So stay tuned to listen to whatthe golden dregs sound like,
(00:45):
but first we'll get to know thema little bit, or him, uh, ben,
hey, hi, how's it doing?
Thanks for having me.
I'm very well.
Thank you, yeah, I've been along time follower, um, so when
I saw that you had some newstuff, I was like, okay, gotta
reach out, gotta see.
And so I was super happy thatyou took me up on this invite.
I mean, yes man so then you'vebeen doing this for a while,
(01:11):
right?
Um, I was just looking at yourpros perusing your your band
camp page, um, and I mean you'vegot the earliest release on
there.
You've got some early, really2017.
Okay, role of a life.
Well, I guess that was a singleright, but, uh, single um,
you're pretty prolific.
A couple of eps before that,which I've since removed, okay,
(01:35):
um, and some of the tracks gotrepurposed on other records, but
, um, so, yeah, it's probablyabout you know, coming up to 10
years of releasing recordedmaterial, amazing, amazing and
it's such a distinct style like.
Chris (01:48):
I love your voice and the comparisons that it gets to.
You know cohen and callahan andum, that baritone, and but
you're not only the, the voicethat you found within the golden
dregs, but the songwriting isreally strong, um your
storytelling is just um.
I love it.
I love your stories that youtell through your song how did
(02:10):
it begin for you then?
Like like, if you could bringus back in time a little bit,
what are some of those earlyrecollections of, of music being
important to you?
Ben Woods (02:20):
uh, I mean my, my writing probably dates back to,
you know, around that time wetalk about the early recordings
I was living in Falmouth, whichis a town in Cornwall, which is
a very southern point in the UK,south of where you can go, and
there's a really good sort ofgarage punk rock sort of scene
(02:43):
going on there and I wasrecording a lot with people and
I loved the music and I wasplaying drums a lot of the time.
But I think I felt like Iwanted to address this kind of
more like lyric focused musicthat I was maybe interested in
or that had resonated with megrowing up, music that I was
(03:07):
maybe interested in or that hadresonated with me growing up.
Um, so the first recordings andthe first album that I put out
kind of utilizes the musicianson the scene on that scene and I
actually I looked through um,looked through your podcast and
saw you've done an interviewwith Holiday Ghosts.
Yes, um, so we came up at thesame time.
Okay, I played in holidayghosts for a little bit back in
the days, but, um, that's cool,it means to run a studio
(03:30):
together and, yeah, kind of camefrom a similar place and the
holiday ghost, I think isbirthed of a similar thing.
It's, you know, everything wasquite uh, it was kind of high
octane, intense, like yeah,garage punk sort of music.
Holiday ghost was kind of like.
Maybe in its early days was asort of more reserved
alternative for sam to sam andcat to explore their songwriting
(03:52):
for sure.
Chris (03:54):
No, they have a great story too.
That's, that's a greatconnection to, to have.
Ben Woods (03:57):
Yeah, yeah, you know we're still, you know still uh,
still hanging out and they'reback and forth, but we spent the
year together and, yeah,amazing, amazing and like do you
remember those earlierrecordings like what, where you
started to feel inspired towrite and to to sing, like
becoming a singer songwriter?
Chris (04:16):
could you walk us through a bit of that process, of how
you came to?
Ben Woods (04:18):
things I was inspired by, yeah, particular.
Well, I came at writing from arecording perspective, I was
studying, recording and we hadthis tape studio and, um, yeah,
friends would recommend stuff tome, I guess, and I kind of was
put onto the likes of smog andsilver jews I'd maybe, I'd
(04:41):
probably overlooked until myover 20, my early 20s, you know,
yeah, when I was younger Ialways loved, you know, like
Joni Mitchell and Neil Young andthat's a world of like kind of
classic songwriters, withoutdissecting it too much, but, um,
yeah, that's sort of like likethe beat happening, all these
things that were kind of like alow-fi recording, aesthetic,
(05:03):
yeah, um, and magnetic fields,and I think they kind of made me
feel like um, because I wasn'tparticularly competent, I wasn't
confident in my voice and Iwasn't a competent player of my
instruments beyond the drums.
You know, I was great drums,but listen to those recordings.
(05:25):
It kind of made me feel like itdidn't really matter so much,
like the vibe a new perspectiveon yeah, totally, totally, that
kind of got me started and, um,I think you can hear in the
first, the first album,lafayette.
Chris (05:40):
I'm really like figuring it out yeah, totally, I hear you
hit on that like I love theprogression two of your records
because it does feel like you'relearning from one to the next,
to the next.
Definitely, almost you know youfeel the growth happening.
Ben Woods (05:54):
Um, it's funny actually looking back because,
um, I think you look at even upuntil the last record, it's like
these three records are allquite different.
There's maybe like a throughline, but they're different, and
it maybe seems like, oh, maybeI don't know what I'm doing, so
I'm trying to play with it.
But by the fourth album it'slike okay, this is like what the
thing is right now.
(06:15):
It's like enough differentdirections in it.
I feel like it makes more sense.
Chris (06:19):
You know, I totally agree , like the first single off of
godspeed which is coming out inApril.
People, april 27th 25th.
Excellent studio and the singlethat's that that you've
released already, the company ofstrangers.
I mean it does feel like you've.
It's a coming of age, almostlike your sound is there,
(06:40):
finally, or it like right.
It's all solidifying, all thecrystallization is happening.
I think every record is astepping stone in a way, because
it allows you to find so.
It was interesting what yousaid.
So the three records that arethe your latest ones, are all
(07:00):
very different, right, I mean, I, I hear that, but you said
there's a thorough line.
How would you connect all thosethree together?
What do you think it is aboutit other than being you?
Ben Woods (07:13):
I think maybe the like lyrical intent of them,
perhaps whether it always landsthe way I would have intended it
to, more so than my voice,because that is something I have
been figuring out and thatdefinitely changes through the
records as I become morecomfortable with it.
(07:34):
But I think the songwritingvoice is kind of um, consistent
throughout there you.
Chris (07:44):
I love your voice.
I wanted to ask you about thattoo.
How did you come to find it?
Because?
it is so distinct.
I talked to somebody just theother day Nico, he's in this
band, Friko Cool, yeah, he saidit took him about five years to
find his voice.
Ben Woods (08:02):
I never thought that it would take that long, but I
guess in retrospect, like itdoes take time to figure out
where your highs and your lows,and if you could push this extra
one a little bit furtherwithout it snapping the back of
the song, or yeah, I mean, I, Ilike, when I was first, you know
, in this sort of scene of bandsplaying in my early 20s, late
(08:24):
teens I was, you know, music welistened to was like Black Lips
and Strange Boys and White Fence, and I was trying to, I tried
to emulate that style of singinghigher, and there's a bit of
that in the first album maybe,but it was like a strain for me
really.
But it was like a strain for mereally.
(08:49):
Um, and I kind of quicklyrealized that the songs where I
kind of delivered a moreintimate performance were the
ones that resonated more.
And it wasn't in the secondalbum there's still not
throughout the whole of therecord, but there's certainly
some tracks on there where I waslike, okay, I think I've got it
now.
Um, yeah, I figured out, wasthere a song in particular, been
where.
We're kind of like you're likeokay that this is, yeah, getting
(09:09):
close to what I envisioned wayback when I started this it was
uh, nobody ever got rich yourfather.
He was drunk and almost alwaysright.
He made sure that you grew uptoo fast at night.
(09:32):
He speaks to God what I nevergot rich, hey son.
You know I never got rich.
I worked all my damn life and Inever got rich.
(09:54):
Hey God, why'd I never got rich?
Hey god?
and that one, um, I'd had the,I'd had the verses for that song
(10:17):
for a couple of years and wasgoing to leave it as is, with a
sort of instrumental chorus.
And then I started singing thechorus in this more intimate way
and I actually reallydistinctly remember it, kind of
clicking me like, okay, this ismaybe how I can best express my
(10:39):
narratives, my feelings,whatever For sure.
Chris (10:43):
And how do you?
What's your process about forwriting songs Like how do you?
How do you start from an ideato something?
Ben Woods (10:51):
Well, it's always it's been thrown out of whack.
Really, like I was always proudof being like, oh yeah, I can,
I like I like to write my lyricsfirst or I write them as I play
guitar.
You know, like it was likeclassic and right and like it
comes from this like place deep,deep within.
But since the I hate to mentionit but since the lockdown, I
(11:15):
was right during that period Iwas writing a lot of music but
didn't have much lyricalinspiration.
But then, you know, I was kindof had this I was kind of freed
from having to work and so I wasspending my days just making
music and really enjoying thatprocess, and then I had to kind
of write to the music, right,and that's kind of gifted me the
(11:38):
most part of the last album,this new album.
I'm really pleased to say thatI've kind of cleared that
backlog of these musical ideas,because I kind of hate to waste
an idea before I've seen itthrough.
How do you?
Chris (11:53):
know when it is one that you'll take note of that one and
shelve it.
But I'm coming back to thatbecause it had something.
What are you looking for whenyou find the thing that that
that makes that song, you know,individual or I've become more
picky with each album.
Ben Woods (12:12):
You know, for the first, when I did hopeless of
the hopeless, there were noextra tracks written for.
That was just like the albumlafayette.
There was like I wrote a lot ofsongs and I kind of put them,
put them out as eps or whateverstragglers and whatnot.
Right, right, right.
And then on grace and dignity,I there were a few extra cuts I
(12:34):
kind of took off the record andand then, for this, got for
godspeed.
I wrote a lot of stuff I didn'tuse.
That I kind of have to.
I just have to get morediscipline with recognizing when
an idea is not working and itdoesn't need more energy putting
into it.
And the joy of having harddrives is I can just leave it
(12:54):
and it's there because I still,you know, there's ideas I
shelved during the writingprocess of this album.
But the melodies are comingback to me in my day to day and
I'm like, okay, well, maybethere's something in that.
I just wasn't doing it, right,you know right, right.
Chris (13:09):
It's interesting, though, that that that these artifacts
that you keep can always youknow, that you have this mindset
that, yeah, I might use that,you know, or take that little
piece and insert it there, likeit's definitely um a great way
to journalize your, your journey, as well as as you're building
I I read that this, the, thelatest record coming out in
(13:31):
april, godspeed is, was adifferent kind of collaboration,
and tell me if I'm wrong herethat most of the other songs and
records that you'd put out wasvery much you and this one had
more people involved in it, orlike did you bring songs to a
group of people saying I wantyour input, or did you have
pretty much how you wanted tosound when you brought the songs
(13:53):
to your collaborators?
Ben Woods (13:55):
I I wanted to approach this album.
So we toured the last album alot more than I ever toured an
album.
Um, because you know we hadquite, we had a sort of air
quotes, proper release for it ona label, and we toured events
in the states and extensivelyaround europe and festivals and
stuff um, so we came out of itas a sort of like kind of, dare
(14:16):
I say, a professional band.
You know, like we kind, offigured out how to play, because
we we came to it as a group offriends really, um, and I think
during the process we kind offigured out how to play it.
Cause we, we came to it as agroup of friends really, um, and
I think during the process wekind of figured out a sort of
musical pathway for ourselvesand, um, I, yeah, I wanted to
approach this album focusing onthe production and the song
(14:37):
writing, but not necessarilyfocusing on getting the right
takes myself, you know, okay,okay, and I wanted to kind of.
I think there's in any sort ofcollaboration there's give and
take, and I feel like to allowthe, my bandmates, my friends,
(15:01):
to feel ownership over thisthing.
You know, it's nice foreveryone to be kind of um
invested creatively as well.
You know, I don't want to feellike they're traipsing around
europe playing, playing theseparts.
I've told them to play, youknow, and this makes me sound
like I'm a dictator, but I guessI am in a respect, but you know
it's not comes from a um comesfrom a point of interest and
(15:26):
compassion, I suppose, um, andyeah, you know, each, each
member of a group sort of hastheir own, uh, musical
background.
They're all quite different andI kind of wanted to bring that
into it separately.
So I could it yeah, it wasn't,the songs were kind of done um,
(15:48):
but I would book each of them infor a couple of days each in
the studio to come and bringsome ideas in and play, play
their parts and I think thealbum's better for it yeah, yeah
.
Chris (16:00):
What were some?
Some of the surprises that youdidn't expect with opening up
the collaboration like that arethere.
Were there things that wereunexpected in in the creation of
the newest record?
Ben Woods (16:11):
um, there were no real curveballs, I don't think.
I kind of I I didn't know whatthe outcome was going to be, but
I kind of had an expectation ofhow involving the others was
going to shape the record.
For example, I played drumsmyself in the last two albums
and matt, our drummer, has avery, uh, very different
(16:33):
approach to the drums.
I knew from the ground upthat's the first thing we
brought in, that's gonna reallydrastically change it, and I
wanted to make a more.
You know, discounting the firstalbum.
The last couple of records arevery gentle and I wanted to
create a more instantaneous setof songs.
(16:54):
You know, yeah, um, and matt'sthe guy for that.
Chris (16:58):
So that's cool, that's cool and and I imagine just
seeing his approach to what hewould put down on tape as
opposed to yours quite different.
But you're able to I want youto, you know take care of that
kind of like lighten your load abit, because yeah, as well,
like was this your production?
Was this your production aswell?
Ben Woods (17:19):
this the latest record as well yeah, I've only
ever produced my records myselfokay.
Okay, the last two I've goneand mixed with someone else
who's kind of gotten a bitinvolved.
At that point I kind of went abit, took a bit of a deep dive
(17:42):
on it.
This time I had a bit of help.
I had a friend come into thestudio with me for a couple of
days Alistair and I kind of lostsight of getting the mixes
across the line.
He had a very great technicalear.
He just came in and was likethis isn't sitting quite right.
Blah, blah, blah, and that wasreally good.
Chris (18:03):
It gives your ears, too, a little bit of a different
perspective as well, because Iimagine you get so inundated in
these songs and the.
Ben Woods (18:10):
I completely every little thing, yeah yeah, yeah, I
mean we, we got dropped fromour record label two days before
we went into the studio to makeit.
Um, so I and it was in theirstudio in the basement of their
offices, but it still letsstudio time, which is really
great, um, but I was like, well,I've got five weeks to make an
(18:32):
album.
That's gonna, you know, proveourselves, prove them wrong,
that kind of thing.
I went in seven days a week forfive weeks across christmas, um
, and I was just kind of a bittunnel vision on it.
I definitely thought it wasfinished long before it was
finished and it took guidancefrom the guys in the band and
(18:54):
our management to be like I feellike you need to do a bit more
work on this and yeah, could yousee that too?
Chris (18:59):
like was that like?
Ben Woods (19:01):
yeah, once I was told I think people were scared to
tell me because it had been suchan emotional few months.
Well, we don't want to rock theboat here.
Chris (19:09):
You're like maxing it out .
Ben Woods (19:12):
I was like don't worry, guys, we'll get signed
again.
And the rejection emails startcoming in and the crosses on the
spreadsheet are filling up.
I'm like, well, we're going togo now.
Chris (19:27):
It's tough business, that's for sure Tough business,
so kind of bring things to aclose here.
Ben, thanks again for comingand sharing.
I love your stories.
Um, what, what?
What does the rest of 2025 looklike?
So the record drops in april,and what are your plans with?
Ben Woods (19:45):
it we're doing, um, we're doing a few dates in
support of it, a short releasetour in May and, yeah, lining up
some festivals for the summer.
But to be honest, I don't know.
I don't really know what isgoing to happen in that
department.
You know, we have a new agentworking with us.
(20:06):
I really like him.
He has a really good idea ofhow to position the band and,
you know, just have to see howit connects.
There's so much, there's somuch music out there and
everyone's fighting for thelivers of the same pie and
totally you know people like itgreat.
You know, I set up my own labelto release this record and it's
(20:30):
in collaboration with end of theroad, who are a great um music
festival in the uk.
That's it yeah these music withthem before and they manage our
band, um, and so I really lovethe autonomy I have there over
what I'm doing, and I'm usingthat platform to release some
other records with some otherartists that I work with in the
(20:53):
studio.
So, um, that's amazing.
That's keeping me busy.
It's a busy year.
Whether it's going to all be onthe road or not, I don't know
Right.
Well, it's kind of that fun partof it too.
Right, you never know what'sgonna like.
I suspect you're gonna get areally good reception with this
record.
Sure, I've only heard one ofthe singles, but like I said
(21:13):
before.
It has that crystallization ofof the golden dregs coming
together.
So I'm really excited to hearthe rest of it.
But it does have that likeauthentic feel like and settled
like right, something'ssolidified together.
Um, my words are are losing mehere now.
(21:35):
That's pretty cool.
Yeah, I know, I've reallyappreciated and I've listened to
all your records too.
Right like I, I know what yoursound started like and how it
evolved, and so I was reallyexcited with that, that single
that came up.
So I do encourage all thelisteners to go and grab a show
if you can get this record aswell.
And you know, I just wish youall the best, ben, I mean thank
(21:58):
you, keep doing it.
Chris (21:59):
I imagine the songwriting continues on in your world yeah
, yeah, I'm looking towards thenext record at the moment.
I started mapping out a fewideas and I've been writing with
a few other people fordifferent projects and just
seeing I'm just seeing whathappens now.
You know Absolutely.
Ben Woods (22:17):
I've had a shift Best .
Yeah, that's it.
Well, I'm glad that your heartis still open to creating this
music for us.
I don't know what else I'd do.
Yeah, exactly.
Well, keep it up.
I'll be watching you as youprogress through and again
thanks so much for taking sometime nice one.
Thank you so much for having mecheers.
(22:38):
If you're so sure, then go tellit to the mountain.
Like you've held the answersall along, Maybe it's time that
I was taken out to pasture.
Seems lately I've been gettingit wrong.
You started crying when themorning came too early.
(22:59):
You said I promised you thatthings would always stay the
same.
Guess I never had something Ibelieved in For long enough to
make a change.
And if you told me how you werefeeling, I could say, say, say
(23:23):
something profound, like leavingis the best type of healing.
Or if he were here, then hewould be proud Of how you turned
out.
But don't let God speed thecompany.
(23:44):
Take all you need.
What were you saying aboutnecessary evil?
(24:14):
Did you ever feel your life wasan angel?
Cause he'd be loaded his to thecompany, the company of
strangers.
And that's why God speed thecompany.
(24:38):
Break all you company.
Break all you see.
And in the west we weredeafened by thunder and you held
(25:02):
me till the fear ran out.
I must admit that we're not allthat different.
Till you put the words insidemy mouth, you put the words
inside my mouth.
You put the words inside mymouth, you put the words inside
my mouth.
(25:26):
I've been working for thecompany of strangers.
Been working for the company ofstrangers.
Been working for the company ofstrangers.
Been working for the company ofstrangers.
Been working for the company ofstrangers?
Yeah, I'm in the company ofstrangers.
(25:47):
Yeah, I'm in the company ofstrangers.
Yeah, I'm in the company ofstrangers.
Yeah, I'm in the company ofstrangers now.
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