ShareBen McKelvey, singer songwriter, chats with Kevin Cooper about playing large arenas with Wet Wet Wet, the success of his debut album Life & Love In England, his Johnny Cash vinyl album collection and performing an acoustic set in support of The Overtones on their forthcoming tour of the UK
Ben McKelvey is a multi-instrumentalist, singer songwriter from Brentwood Essex, who started out in the music business as a fully-fledged drummer. Originally starting off in a punk rock band, McKelvey pursued a solo career when the band split in 2010, after he took it upon himself to learn to play the guitar, thus creating the ultimate one man band.
In February 2014, he released an EP; Everything You Were Meant To Be and from that came his debut single, Stay Young. His debut album Life & Love In England followed in February 2016.
Currently touring the UK with The Overtones, he took the time to have a chat with Kevin Cooper and this is what he had to say.
Hi Ben, how are you today?
I am very well thank you, how are you Kevin?
I’m doing okay thank you. The last time that we spoke you had just been confirmed as the support for Wet Wet Wet. How did that go?
I really loved it and me and the rest of the band really did have the time of our lives. It was just me and my mates playing at some of the biggest venues in the country with this massively iconic band. I loved every second of it actually. I even enjoyed all of the travelling, the interviews, staying in nice hotels; none of it was a slog, and it was totally brilliant. However, I’m sure that in twenty years’ time when you have done it all a million times that it can get a bit tiring, but we really did love it. To be honest with you, after I came home, around a week later I just felt that I needed to be back out on the road touring again (laughter).
As I recall when you got the phone call informing you that you were going to be supporting Wet Wet Wet you were in a guitar shop in Wembley buying yourself a new guitar.
(Laughter) bloody hell Kevin, how did you remember that (laughter).
Some things just stick (laughter). You are going to be supporting The Overtones on their UK tour. Are you excited about that?
Excited just doesn’t sum up how I feel about that. I am really pleased that we are going back out on tour this winter with The Overtones because me and my drummer Mark will be doing the whole tour, just the two of us. We are just itching to get back out on the road. We are really looking forward to it.
What experiences have you taken from touring with Wet Wet Wet; what has it taught you?
To get more sleep (laughter). Also, don’t drink beer every night, that in particular was a good lesson learnt (laughter). I have to say that we are pretty professional in the way that we conduct ourselves. I run quite a tight ship with the band. We are never late and we are never disorganised. We travelled a lot through the night after we had played, to the next city on the tour and I think that sometimes we were almost too eager to get to the next city. I had thought that we would wake up in the city and we would be there ready for the next gig. However, sometimes we were getting in at four and five in the morning, loading all of our kit into the hotel, having had four hours sleep and then doing it all again. We did that for twenty-one days and we were knackered (laughter). So I think this time we really do need to get more sleep. That was most definitely a lesson learnt.
And just how did a certain Marti Pellow treat you, was he nice?
All of the boys in Wet Wet Wet were brilliant really. On the first night of the tour they all watched our set from stage side and then they put a load of beers into our dressing room as a welcome to the tour sort of thing. It was all quite surreal really. The first time that I met Marti he didn’t even shake my hand, instead he gave me a great big hug. He is such a great guy. In fact they are all great guys and we had so much fun with them. It really was surreal for us to be sat eating lunch with Wet Wet Wet. I remember looking around the table and thinking ‘wow, this really is a bit weird’ (laughter).
You must have been happy with the number of fans who were getting to the venues early in order to see you play. It was growing as the tour progressed.
Yes, that was a really great feeling. I think that word was getting around quite quickly. Even the guys in Wet Wet Wet said to us that if we make fans on this tour, they will follow you and they will stick with you forever. I just thought ‘that would be nice’ but it was actually true. We went from selling three or four albums on the first night and from there it just doubled every single night and before we knew it we were selling between eighty and a hundred albums every night. We were the support band and for me it was unheard of really. A lot of people who came to see us on that tour are already telling me that they will be coming to The Overtones tour, some of them purely and simply to see me (laughter).
So I think that fan wise the Wet Wet Wet boys were right about that. Everyone who came to see us on that tour have really stuck by us. It is pretty humbling for a support band because you usually don’t get that type of response so it was brilliant; it was a perfect tour for us.
At the end of the tour did Mr Pellow and the guys from Wet Wet Wet give you any career advice?
We had a really nice evening with them on the last night of the tour which found us up in Inverness. We all had a couple of beers together, chatted about the tour, discussed what everyone was going to be doing next together and about Marti’s forthcoming solo album and tour. The guys had been giving us advice throughout the entire tour, they really did take us under their wing and helped us along. At the end of the day they are music fans and so are we so we chatted about music. Tommy (Cunningham) the drummer and I chatted for most of the evening about The Jam (laughter).
When we showed up in our van after staying at the Travel Lodge, the boys turned up in their tour bus after staying the night in the five star hotel just down the road they looked at us and said “don’t worry boys, you will be here soon. We can remember the good old days in the back of a van” (laughter). They were brilliant and I would love to go out on tour with them again. The whole experience was just perfect for us.
I have to tell you that I have photographed The Overtones’ previous two gigs here at The Royal Concert Hall. Let me tell you, you are in for an amazing time.
Really, that’s fantastic. I have never even been to the venue or done a Christmas Tour but I feel that it is a perfect time because people are all in a good mood. Everyone wants to buy CD’s for people and just have a good night so I am just counting the days to just load up and get back on the road. I can’t wait, I am looking forward to it even more now (laughter).
So it’s going to be just you and Mark, what can we expect?
We will be playing an acoustic set which is ideal for us. We were actually thinking about taking things up a notch on this tour with an electric guitar, bass and drums but we thought about it and looking at the venues that we will be playing, we all agreed that it was ideal for an acoustic set. We have been working really hard on a set to suit the show and I have to say that I personally think that it is a great set list. I hope that it will really warm the crowd up and set everyone up for a fun evening. I am sure that everyone will have a cracking time.
How are rehearsals for the tour going?
It’s funny you should ask that (laughter). Mark has recently bought himself a drum pad so we have actually programmed a few strings together with a glockenspiel on that. So as you can imagine it is going to be a very different type of set compared to the one we played on the Wet Wet Wet tour. It is going to be more melodic and more suited to a hall kind of show. So the people who came out to see us on the Wet Wet Wet tour will be surprised by the style of the set. We wanted to make sure that people were not going to simply watch the same set so we have mixed it up a little bit; we are doing a new song that we didn’t do on the last tour, and we have mixed it up here and there.
Don’t knock playing the same set, Status Quo have been doing that for the past forty years now and they haven’t done too badly out of it (laughter).
(Laughter) I know, a lot of bands have done that. That’s alright if you are headlining, people will still come along to see you but we have got to keep people interested at this stage in our careers (laughter).
We have briefly mentioned the album, Life & Love In England, were you happy with how well it was received?
To be honest, I was stunned with just how well it was received. I had absolutely no idea that things were going to turn out as well as they did. It was a very nice surprise (laughter). To be perfectly honest, when I wrote and recorded the album I wasn’t really doing anything productive. At that time we did a very small tour which ended at Shepherds Bush Empire which was fantastic, but at that time I didn’t really have anything else going on. I had this album sitting there but no agent, no tour, absolutely nothing going on. Also at that time I didn’t really have a band either. I thought that I might as well put the album out there on iTunes and if people liked it then they liked it. Then when I heard that I would be supporting Wet Wet Wet I decided to release the album in time for the tour.
I woke up on a Friday morning with about twenty missed calls from my producer and when I called him back he told me that the album was in the singer songwriter charts (laughter). I couldn’t believe it. During the day the album crept up to number six in the charts before we went out onto the stage at the Birmingham Arena. It was all very, very surreal (laughter). I have to say that it was because of the audiences at the Wet Wet Wet shows that the album did so well and because we shifted so many album sales. I really do have a lot to thank the fans for, together with the Wet Wet Wet guys for giving me the chance to do that. They simply changed everything in terms of my career.
Are there any thoughts on a new studio album as yet?
Yes, we have and I can tell you that a new album will be coming out early next year. At the moment I can’t give you a title or what it’s about but I would love to chat with you again once it is confirmed and we have announced it. I recorded a lot of songs for the second album throughout this year and because I had a break from touring I found myself with a lot of time on my hands which I allocated to writing. I wrote and recorded eight or nine songs for the second album but it wasn’t feeling right. I wasn’t really feeling what I had written so I recently took the tough decision to scrap the whole thing and start again.
However, that now means that I have got to write and record an entire second album immediately (laughter) because I am then on tour. It’s Christmas, so I haven’t got very long to get it done but the songs are feeling way more natural; they are sounding so much better, and I simply much prefer them. It’s a bit of a weird one because I put myself under pressure but I feel that I work better when I am under pressure. If I know that I have only got a few weeks to do it then I will do it. However, if you give me a year I will mess around for a year and not really do it (laughter). I am really looking forward to it and it is going to sound brilliant. As soon as I have got a bit more news on it and I can talk about it more, and I would be happy to tell you all about it.
On the subject of the second album, will you be releasing it on vinyl?
I would love to. I live down in Brighton now and I have got into collecting vinyl. I am currently trying to collect all of the Johnny Cash albums. I have currently got twenty-five but he released about three hundred so as you can see I am quite a way off completing the collection at the moment (laughter). Vinyl is something that I have really grown to enjoy. I now actually make the effort to go out and buy a record at the weekend from an independent record shop; go home, put the vinyl on and actually listen to the whole album. You just don’t do that if you have got an iPod; you put it on, you walk around, and you can listen to any one song out of ten thousand. Whereas I find that with vinyl you actually do sit down and listen to the whole record.
However, when it comes to me putting the album out on vinyl I would love to and it would be great to get my first album out there on vinyl. We did have all of the artwork made for it but at the time it simply wasn’t worth us doing that. I didn’t know how well the album was going to do or what was going to happen. What is more likely is that a couple of albums down the line I will re-release my previous albums on vinyl; that what I would like to do. That, at this moment in time is far more realistic.
We have spoken about you supporting both Wet Wet Wet and The Overtones but there is another tour that we should mention isn’t there. You are going to be supporting Mike + The Mechanics on their forthcoming tour which starts in February next year. How did you find out?
(Laughter) yes I am. Well, I was sitting on the beach down in Brighton. I’d just had a great day working on some music and thought I’d relax with a beer. The sun was going down and my phone rang with the news. It was just a great end to the day.
Were you familiar with them and their music before you were asked to support them?
I was yes. My cousin is a big fan and had shown me some of their stuff. Funny enough I was recently listening to some Genesis albums, again as my cousin who I now live with, is a big fan so I was already listening to some of Mike’s work. I can’t wait to get out on the road with such an iconic band. For me it really is an honour.
How is your Stay Young line of clothing doing?
It is doing really well actually. At this moment we are realistically testing the water and we are hoping to introduce a few more products but it seems to be pretty popular. I haven’t had the time to really push it but hopefully we are going to get some winter garments in for the tour; some fur lined hoodies and some beanies, that sort of thing which will be really nice. And then hopefully we will be able to give that a bit more of a push and I intend to spend more time on it next year knowing that there is a demand for it. We are actually currently working on a Stay Young website which will be up and running for the New Year, fingers crossed.
How’s the training going?
It’s going very well, I am still training very hard. I tend to do most of my work while I am at the gym (laughter). The gym has a cafe down by the marina which is really nice and that is where I do most of my work. It works quite well for me.
Where would you like to see yourself in five years’ time?
In five years’ time I would like to have two more albums under my belt, and I would like to be headlining the sort of venues that I am playing now. I know that sounds quite ambitious but the more that I tour these iconic venues, the more I want to do a two hour set when I am out on stage and not simply thirty minutes. The only way that I can do that is by headlining so that is where I would love to be. I would love to be heading at the O2 Academy’s and places like The Shepherds Bush Empire; those types of venues. In five years’ time that is what I would love to be doing, still doing music, still doing a few other things. I like to have my fingers in many pies (laughter). Perhaps even have a few different businesses on the go. Who knows, we will just have to wait and see.
What was the last song or piece of music that made you cry?
To be honest with you I can’t remember the last time that I cried (laughter). I guess that it would have been at a funeral. I know that is a rubbish answer but I honestly can’t think. Do you have another question quickly (laughter).
What was the last record that you bought?
That was an old Johnny Cash vinyl album called Gone Girl. I bought it in a great record store called Across The Tracks a couple of weeks ago now. I played it when I got back home and I loved it very much.
Is Ben McKelvey’s glass half full or half empty?
It is half full all of the time, Kevin. Absolutely.
I know that you are a massive fan of Bruce Springsteen; did you manage to see him here in the UK earlier this year?
No, I didn’t, but funnily enough my parents went because they are more rock and roll than I am (laughter). I was over in Germany at the time when he played but a few of my friends went and they all tell me that he smashed it. He has still got it.
What really amazed me was hearing people saying that Springsteen plays far too long. How can you play for too long?
It’s a generation thing I think, a general lack of interest. It’s not a support act that has played for two hours, it is Springsteen himself. Isn’t that what you bought the ticket for, to see him play (laughter).
Ben on that note let me once again thank you for taking the time to speak to me. It was an absolute pleasure.
Thanks Kevin, it’s really nice speaking to you again and let’s definitely catch a beer on the tour. Bye for now.
