Ahead of his debut Australian tour we catch up with British singer-songwriter Benjamin Francis Leftwich to find about more about his debut album Last Smoke Before the Snowstorm and to find out what he has in store for Australian audiences.
Hey, how are you?
Hey, good thanks man, how are you?
Yeah not too bad thanks, how was the drive back from Hop Farm?
Yeah, we actually drove back to London after the gig. And I stayed on the floor of a hotel room last night, and then we got the train back this morning.
So you must be pretty knackered then?
(Laughs) Yeah I am. But it’s all good, it was a wicked gig.
Did you manage to get any free time to see any of the bands?
I watched Tallest Man on Earth from the side of the stage. I met him briefly, he’s a really nice guy and I’m a big fan of his music, so that was really cool. I also saw an American singer-songwriter called Robert Francis play as well he was amazing.
Did you get a chance to see Bob Dylan?
No I didn’t, we had to leave. Wait, I’m don’t think he was playing on our day actually. I think he might have been on the night before.
You’re on your way down to Australia in a couple of weeks, is this your first time down to Australia, touring or otherwise?
It’s my first time playing shows there, yeah. My mum was born in Sydney and I have Australian citizenship. I’ve been there a couple of times and spent a couple of Christmases there. But it’s my first time playing shows, and I’m really excited.
Excellent, is it just going to be a solo affair, or are you bringing a backing band with you?
I’m coming just by myself with a guitar. So it’s going to be just acoustic shows. Which is what I love, so it’ll be good.
I’m not too familiar with the venues that you’re going to be playing, but I imagine they’ll be quite intimate affairs?
I think so yeah, I think they’re like 200 cap venues, so nice, small and cosy. But I’m looking forward to it.
You’re only playing a couple of shows, this a case of testing the waters before coming down for more?
I think so yeah, we’re planning to come back early in the New Year. I don’t know what the official plan is, but, I’m looking forward to coming out and playing shows for sure.
Just to get a little bit of background, who do you consider to be your influences?
I’d say top three would be Springsteen, Tom Petty and the Beatles.
That’s a pretty quality top three.
(Laughs) Thanks
Did you get a chance to see Springsteen when he was on tour in the country?
Do you know what I had a ticket for one of his shows, but I had a gig booked in on that night, so I couldn’t make it, and I was gutted. But I’d seen him live before, I love him a lot, I’m lucky to have seen him live, and hopefully if I get some time I’ll be able to see another show somewhere.
The album Last Smoke Before The Snowstorm, I have to say was one of my favourite albums from last year, I was just wondering where those songs come from, they seem like they’re sparked from actual events, but with a touch of ambiguity too.
Thanks so much for that man, I think there is definitely a level of ambiguity to the first couple of EPs and the album. I wrote the songs between the ages of seventeen and twenty, so the songs for me are about all the things to do with growing up, love, not looking after your body well enough. Friendship and that moment before you’re about to set off on another journey. When I was writing this album, I’d never toured before, I’d never experienced anything like it, and I never really expected people to listen to it. For me the album is about being on the edge of youth and not really knowing where you’re going to go from there.
Has work begun on a follow up?
I’ve done all the instrumental tracks for the next EP. I’m just finishing off lyrics and vocals at the moment, just kind of taking my time with it a bit. Then I want to do another record around about early new year.
How do you approach the writing process?
To be honest I don’t really have any format or rules. I usually just sit down with the guitar and play and jam; and things come to me. Sometimes songs will take a couple of months to come together and sometimes they’ll take a couple of hours. Sometimes I’ll go in with specific ideas for lyrics, or a specific message, but most of the time, I just pick up the guitar and go from there.
Is it the kind of process where you have to be in one place, or are you able to get a lot of writing done on tour?
On tour I get a lot of writing done, but I never complete songs on tour. I always demo little thirty-second ideas, or write lyrics down. The road is a good place to get inspired, but not necessarily a good place to be really focused and finish songs. I usually find I come back with loads of ideas and demos, and I’ll play around with that for a couple of weeks and try and go from there.
Do you have a sense of place when you write? You’ve just come off tour of the US and Canada, do certain areas inspire certain types of songs?
For sure yeah, I think different areas and cities do inspire certain types of songs. Sometimes we’ll go somewhere that is really beautiful and then other times we’ll go somewhere and it’ll be dark and grim; but those situations give way to different types of songs, and different ways of approaching different types of songwriting. I’m definitely the kind of person who is heavily inspired by my surroundings.
Speaking of that US and Canada tour, how do you feel it went?
It was amazing. It was such a mad experience. I’ve never done anything like that before, but it was really fun you know. And people came to shows, which I was really surprised by and pleased about. I signed the album to Vagrant, who are a cool independent label over there. They were all really nice, and that was a nice confidence boost for me. I toured with a band called The Jezabels for a little while, who were really really lovely and are some of my best friends in the world, so that was really nice.
So has the album been well received? In America and Australia (if it’s been released that is)
I’m not sure if it’s been released in Australia yet, I think it’s available digitally worldwide, but I don’t know about physical to be honest. I think other people know more about that than I do. It seems to be that I’m constantly getting messages online from different people around the world who are saying that they’re into it, which feels really good. I think more than anything it’s been a slow word of mouth thing, which is exactly how I wanted it to be.
Well I think that’s about it. Thanks for speaking to me, and good luck with the tour.
Thanks.
Benjamin Francis Leftwich will be playing at the Northcote Social Club in Melbourne tomorrow night the 17th of July and at The Vanguard in Sydney on Wednesday the 18th of July.
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