Ben Griffith, the acoustic singer-songwriter, always knew he wanted to be involved in music. Attending a school that actively promoted music spurred him on and at the age of 11 he started his own band. ‘The Ben Griffith band’ is comprised of friends, Rob on bass and backing vocals and Ali on drums and percussion.

When describing how he goes about composing Ben said: “Generally I play around on my guitar coming up with a basic chorus or chord sequence I like, then a melody appears and the rest feels like a jigsaw with all the parts falling into place. The lyrics tie it together and give it meaning. Other times lyrics are the starting point and their meaning is the main inspiration to write”.

London-born Ben is now based in Brighton which has quite a vibrant music scene as he recounts: “I’m doing ok here but still I’m only just breaking onto the scene. There are so many artists and bands playing here all vying for attention so it can be hard to get a slot”.

Last year Ben went on the road with his first UK tour to promote the release of his EP “Tea & Sympathy”. He has interesting views on how difficult it is to make it in the music industry: “One way you can hope to achieve success is to stay true to your roots, your writing, songs and fan-base. If you can it’s better to make the industry, than be made by it. I really hope by releasing through my own label (Cakewalk Records) I’ll stay in control enough to achieve what I, and not the industry, sees as success”.

Ben is now busy working on material for his first album and hopes to go into the studio in March: “An exciting 2008 is in store with gigs throughout and a single release in the summer, with a real build towards the album release later this year. I can’t wait!”

by Claudia Bronda