BEN KIDSON
PAGE 25
CHASING THE TRANSCENDENT: A MODERN CAREER IN MUSIC
In my final year at Dulwich College, my favourite guitar teacher Mr Faulkner found a copy of ‘Julia Florida’ for me. I left the school able to perform it from memory, in the way I had witnessed many years before. I still sit sometimes and play that piece, no longer for any purpose other than to remind myself of the journey that I started so many years ago, and sometimes I feel as bewitched as when I heard it for the first time. How did your time at Dulwich College impact your music? The opportunity to attend a school like Dulwich College is a privilege like almost no other. Boys who attend the College can explore any minute interest they might have, be it art, drama, sport, or Japanese card games. I arrived with a burgeoning passion for classical guitar, and Dulwich allowed me to pursue that interest to the fullest. I performed both classical and modern pieces with the guitar ensemble. Mr Faulkner facilitated a deeper devotion to the Spanish guitar as well as introducing me to his own compositions, a few of which I still play today. During my time at the College, we were consuming information at a staggering rate. What I found inspiring was that this did not stop when the bell rang. Every morning, tired and muzzy, my friends and I would sit on the coach to school, exchanging the new songs we had discovered. We lived in Putney and Barnes, so we had over an hour to get through as much as possible. Once at school, conversations echoed through the cloisters and common rooms about new music. Brothers by The Black Keys was revered, Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange venerated. One couldn’t walk far without seeing two boys standing side by side, each sharing a single earphone. Whilst technology has moved on, I am sure the boys are still unified by the same interest in new melodies and lyrics. Music is a fiercely competitive field, and we’re told that it’s those who are the most tenacious that will succeed. I was taught to work hard and efficiently, whilst also encouraged to approach everything with curiosity. This mindset has led to so many Old Alleynians thriving in creative fields. I am proud to consider myself one of them. Tell me about your career. In 2023, I had an amazing opportunity. Wolverhampton Wanderers set up a record label with Warner looking for submissions from fans (which I've always been) and they signed me. Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin sits on the board at the club, and he picked me to appear in the signing video. I turned up at the Warner Offices and Robert was there with a Wolves shirt with my name on and a bottle of Bollinger. Robert has always been very anti-label. His advice to me was: “Congratulations on the signing. You’re very talented. Don't believe a word they say”. ‘They’ were all in the room. I was recording in the Fire Pit on very high-end equipment with industry experts and in March, I played at Molineux at half-time to 30,000 people. Unfortunately, the club ran into financial difficulties, and I made the tough decision to leave. However, next thing I knew, I had an offer from Universal to release one of my songs, and after that, American Express got in touch. They're running an initiative to sponsor a selection of unsigned musicians in London and with that has come a whole host of opportunities. I got the call whilst on a stag do in Tenerife, lying on a sunbed horrifically hungover. When I got back, a five-man camera crew turned up and followed me around for a couple of days. I composed a range of music for them, and now it’s been made into a documentary on Amazon Prime. I’ll be
How would you describe yourself as a musician? I’ve always been into music that sits on the ‘alternative’ side of the spectrum. My favourite bands at school were Nirvana and the Arctic Monkeys, and I've always wanted to make music like them. However, after leaving university, I was offered several opportunities as a pop songwriter and, from 2017-19, I wrote songs with new artists who’d recently signed label deals. I’d initially taken this offer on the basis that pop music consisted of easy lyrics, in 4/4, over functional harmony and structure. I soon discovered my mistake. There is a lot more depth and artistry to pop than I'd given credit, and there is as much capacity for experimentation in pop as in any other genre. For example, in Carly Rae Jepsen’s ‘Call Me Maybe’, the tonic chord is not heard until the very last beat of the song. This creates suspense, and one is more likely to listen until they hear the ‘resolution’. Dr Carnelli, my music teacher at Dulwich College, told us that J.S. Bach would be unable to sleep at night until the last piece of music he heard resolved, and if it hadn’t, he’d have to resolve it himself on his harpsichord. I became attached to the art of writing the perfect pop song, and I've combined that love of pop with the sound palette of my favourite ‘alternative’ bands. That’s the kind of music I make. Where did your love of music begin? My mum told me at eight years old “you need a thing… you can’t just sit in front of the television your entire life”. Thankfully I managed to navigate her away from her first suggestion of the oboe. Another option was drama, but I learned a few years later during an underwhelming performance as Harry the Horse at the Edward Alleyn Theatre that acting will never be my strong suit. We settled, finally, on the classical guitar. I'd seen bands performing on the television and expected to be learning the chords to songs by The Strokes. Instead, I was faced with 19th century Spanish composers. Although initially dismayed, I watched in awe as my first teacher wove an intricate musical story, which he had ostensibly pulled from the ether. It turned out to be a piece called ‘Julia Florida’ by Augustin Barrios. “One day”, he said, “If you stick at it, I’ll teach you that one”. With this new instrument in my hands, for the first time I could make music myself. Searching out pieces in ‘The Guitarist’s Way’ and learning them to perform for my (ever-patient) parents, provided a passion like nothing I had ever felt before. I was awake for the first time.
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