nearly..

hi all

further to recent site trauma, the relaunch is nearly complete, though sadly it is at the cost of the forum. nearly six years of embarrassing onstage shots and setlists down the drain, although the traffic had tailed off recently anyway.

in the meantime links should be fixed/updated in the next few days, and hopefully all will be well once more.

i'm playing down at 21 South Street Arts Centre this week, Saturday 22nd, entry about £3 i think, and it's entirely acoustic (no PA at all!) so it'll be one for the Novelty books.

see you soon.
b. x

it's the end of the site as we know it

.. and i feel fine?

sure as shit, my webhost today announced an unprecedented loss of data.

benmarwood.com will be down until i'm told it's ready to not be down anymore.

i have a backup of most of the site on my laptop, but inevitably in situations like this i'm sure there'll be something i've forgotten to back up.

something like my forum, whose various backups existed on the same server as the original data. you'll have more news when i do.

thanks,
b. x

a change of Heart. wear.

regardless of whether you're a solo artist or in a 20 piece choir, i still think you need running buddies. people who you can turn to and rely on when you're out and about in foreign towns, when you're sick of the company of your band or, in my case, yourself.

with Turner abroad, Mr T-T enjoying more success than ever before (and rightly so) and Mssrs Lockey and Thief warming up for a UK tour this week, tonight i had to say goodbye to my running buddies as a collective for the last time. tonight, the Heartwear Process refomed for one night only just to properly split up, all under the excuse/umbrella of a 30th birthday party.

not mine i hasten to add.

i think of these people like my music family. i was there at their first show back in 2004, and i was there at there last tonight. in the meantime they've spawned a great offshoot in Quiet Quiet Band, we've formed a record label, destroyed countless stages and, to my knowledge, i've never argued with any of them.

so tonight we gather together friends of the band, most of them shared with me, as well as Damien A Passmore and the Loveable Fraudsters, the three acts present at their first gig, and we went hell for leather until the flanel shirts were sweaty and the tears were in our eyes. and i did see some grown men cry tonight.

i shall miss these people as a band with all my heart.

mp3: Ben Marwood - No Name #1 (Elliott Smith cover)
http://www.benmarwood.com/site2/nn1.mp3