After three years off the road, Ben Marwood has found fun once again and will be performing in Brighton and Hove next week to kick off his comeback tour. It’ll be his first Brighton date since 2010.
A year-long illness made writing, producing and performing music near impossible for Ben, who says he spent the year after the release of his second album in 2013 “embracing horizontal living”.
The folk singer-songwriter will be playing at The Brunswick on 6 April, one day ahead of the launch of his new album Get Found on record label Xtra Mile. At one point, he considered never making a return to music – so this is fantastic news.
He’s performed alongside the likes of alongside Frank Turner, Chris T-T and Emily Barker, to name a but a few.
Speaking to the Brighton and Hove Independent, Ben said: “The album is out on 7 April, and it is about time too. I finished my parts in July, and it has been like another nine months since then.
“A lot of people are asking me if I think of this as a fresh start, and it is certainly another opportunity. Certainly, in my life, things are now pre- and post-, with all the changes along the way. I have definitely got a different attitude to music now.”
Ben began to fall ill in 2014 after the release of his second album Back Down. What started out with a common cold lead to Ben losing his balance and being unable to walk. He said: “I put everything I had into my second album, and at the end of that cycle, there was a point where I just let myself think ‘Why do I do this?’ I think I was asking the wrong questions.
“What has happened in between has changed my attitude. By the end of the second album, it was getting to be like a job. I have now gone back to making it fun. It is all about remembering to have fun. That’s not the kind of thing you should have to write down to remember.”
Back in 2013 and 2014, Ben lead a jam-packed lifestyle; he worked an office job during the day, made music in the evening, and stayed up late to chat with his long-distance girlfriend in America. He believes he contracted labyrinthitis after a bought of fatigue, and then suffered from post-viral fatigue for several months.
“I just had to take it easy, but it tends to get better after a couple of years,” Ben explained. “Now, I am going out on the road for just a short tour, which is a milestone… and just getting the album together has been a significant personal milestone as well.”
Tickets for Ben’s gig at The Brunswick on Thursday 6 April are already selling fast. His UK tour will run from 6 April – 16 April, bringing his music to nine cities.
Event details: 1 Holland Road, Hove BN3 1JF, Tel: 01273 733984, Email, Website, Facebook Event
