Interview with Ben Simon!

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Genre(s): Instrumental Deathcore
Location: Bradford

PSAB: Why did you choose to use your actual name for your band instead of making up a band name, like most bands out there?

BS: I chose to use my name because in my opinion it's a lot more personable. I'm not a band just yet, it's just me. Instead of people communicating with anonymous members of a group, they know they are talking right to me, which is really cool.

The "band name" "Ben Simon" allows me to keep my music being exactly what I want. I'm the only one, and I want to be able to listen to my album and know that there isn't one part on there that I'm not personally a fan of. Right now promoting my musicianship is exactly what I want, and here's hoping that I possibly get brought into a band some day. 

PSAB: You released your debut album The Reckoning late last month. How has the feedback been for the album thus far?

BS: The feedback has been absolutely outstanding. I haven't made too much money, but I got the whole album funded publicly through a Kickstarter campaign I did, so I literally recorded my album in the studio without having to pay a cent personally.

I have sent my album off for reviews, and so far the response has been really great. It's nerve-wracking as a metalhead, because we are all so brutally honest with each other, but as I said, I couldn't be more pleased with the responses. In two weeks, my album has been played over 2,000 times, and that to me is amazing. Now, if only 2000 people bought it!

PSAB: How's the metal scene in Bradford?

BS: Music scene in Bradford? Non existent, especially for metal.  We're a super small town, but hey...maybe this can break it open a little bit more! Peterborough, where I live right now for school, is certainly a little better, but as a new musician trying to make his way through, it's certainly tough trying to get your name out there.

PSAB: If you could have any musician featured on a new song, which musician would that be?

BS: Any musician? Jeez. Can I pick 10? Haha! Hmm, Martin Andres (from Pomegranate Tiger), or David Maxim Micic (there is another guy who just uses his name to promote himself)...both absolutely brilliant musically, and really down to earth guys.

PSAB: What types of music play the most influence on your music? Anything out of the ordinary?

BS: There is nothing too out of the ordinary with my influences. Metallica made me pick up the guitar, and my influences definitely now mostly draw from bands like Machine Head, Lamb of God, Trivium, August Burns Red, and so forth. However, I will never get tired of massive movie/tv show scores from composers such as Bear McCreary, Hans Zimmer, James Horner, Howard Shore, etcetera. 

PSAB: Any shout outs to gives?

BS: I definitely have to say thank you to my family. I wrote this album as a kind of therapy for dealing with death of my father (stage 4 cancer at age 49), and both my sister and my mother have been nothing but supportive. My mother in particular has been absolutely unbelievable. We're always there for each other, and it's amazing. She is one hell of a woman.

Shayna, my girlfriend, has stuck with me since my Dad passed, and has literally heard "The Reckoning" from its inception. I love that girl more than I can describe. My last personal thank you, would have to go Harley Butt at Acrylic Recordings. He the man I worked with for months in the studio, and he really allowed me to take my music to the next, professional level. Without him, this certainly would not have been possible just yet.