the webstore goeth, and then cometh back again..

Holy moly,

So, it turns out that people like t-shirts with slogans from 2008 on, because within five days of the launch of the webstore, shizzle went crazy and the first run of 'Ben Marwood Stole My Sound' t-shirts in blue sold out. This has left me with a choice to make, since I'd told everyone they'd be limited edition.

SOLUTION #1: DO A DIFFERENT COLOUR

Forest green, anyone?

SOLUTION #2: DO A DIFFERENT DESIGN

Singalong lyrics, anyone?

So, yes, this Tuesday the store re-launched with two new t-shirt designs to pre-order, the two above no less. The stock's due early on the second week of May, and whilst I know this is a little while to wait, I decided to sweeten the deal a little bit with some t-shirt related special offers as follow:

PREORDER A NEW SHIRT, GET A NEW MP3

Yep, yep, if you pre-order one of the two new shirts before 6pm on April 26th, you'll be rewarded (or punished) with a brand new, currently-unreleased mp3. I can't decide which one I'm going to give away, so I'm just going to present you with a whole list of them on the 26th for you to choose.

Click here for 'Ben Marwood Stole My Sound' in green

Click here for 'Singalong' in red

PRE-ORDER TWO, GET THREE NEW MP3s

Pre-order two at the same time, and not only will it cost you less, you'll also have a choice of three mp3s from the list, instead of one. Again, this applies before 6pm on April 26th. Go crazy!

As ever, there are also loads of other special offers which you can peruse simply by clicking here

That's that. Thanks for your ongoing support. Because of you, I finally learned how to use the Post & Go machines in the post office.

Ciao!

B

the webstore cometh

In very-basic-coding news, I have spent a few evenings over the last couple of weeks trying to remember how to make things look nice in Internet Explorer (hint: it's hard), then I decided instead to make it competent.

When it became clear that my html knowledge does not extend to making things look competent in Internet Explorer, I built the damn thing anyway so you're going to have to either live with its clunky appearance or switch to Google Chrome for a 10% neater outlook. I'm not sure if anyone still uses Firefox and Safari, and I haven't tested it in either so if you do use either and it does work then let me know. You should also let me know if it makes your computer grow teeth and attack a sibling, votes Republican or attempts a military strike on Homs.

The star turn of the store is this little number, modelled by a goofball who spent a good few minutes trying to look less of a goofball in front of a mirror like a fourteen year old girl on Myspace in 2005.

Also, there are:

Xtra-Mile's official CDR copies of Outside There's A Curse

Broken Tail's last official promos of This Is Not What You Had Planned and the last of the real, actual stock of Exclamation At Asterisk Hash

The last of the Ben Marwood beanies and scarves from 2011, reduced to clear.

Plus a whole bundle of combo moves to deploy.

Now taking payment in the forms of all major credit cards, debit cards and interesting pieces of string through Paypal, who in internet terms are veterans of this here game.

With t-shirts, there'll be more designs and stuff to follow over the next few weeks, but I thought I'd start back at the start, in 2008, and finally turn that Get Cape joke back onto myself. I think we can all agree these shirts are long overdue, but I had to wait until I had some downtime to build the store and finalise a design, plus I was waiting for the tenth anniversary of the first solo show I ever had, which happened to be at Aldershot's West End Centre on March 13, 2002.

Happy birthday, me. I am ten.

avoiding the drought season: an idiot's perspective

Please, someone, let this be a joke.

Please.

No?

Well at least it's a letter from Australia.

the shows must go on..

After knocking away the cobwebs over St Patrick's weekend with a show for the Reading University Songwriters Society (though, as Steve Lewis pointed out that night, a night surprisingly full of covers for a songwriters event), it's time to confirm some more shows.

A return to 2000 Trees
Sure as eggs are eggs, I can confirm today that I'm back at 2000Trees this July 14th. I'm pretty damn excited to be involved in this festival for the fourth year in a row, and happy to be heading back to the headline spot on the Greenhouse stage. Those of you who found it too quiet last year will be overjoyed (i'm sure) to note that the PA for this year will be even bigger.

Also confirmed for the festival are the likes of Dry The River, Future of the Left, Pulled Apart By Horses and much much more. As ever, there are no day tickets, but weekend tickets are still available here.

Trees on Fire

As if one 2000Trees-themed event wasn't enough, I'm also pleased to be playing the Trees on Fire alldayer at Cheltenham's Frog and Fiddle three months earlier on Saturday, April 14th. Tickets are available here.

Glastonbury (fringe) Festival

Yep, since there's no Glastonbury festival to be had this year, my good friend Steve Henderson has taken it upon himself to help liven up their fringe festival with a couple of great nights in June, firstly with Jim Lockey and Gaz Brookfield on Friday, June 22nd, and then me, Oxygen Thief and Nick Parker on Saturday 23rd.

Tickets are available at £5 for either night or £8 for both. You can get more information by emailing Steve.

And of course, the JimBob show..

.. with me and Damien A Passmore in support, in Reading, on May 18th. Tickets are still available at £9 here.

Hopefully i'll see you at one of those. More show news to follow!

Thanks again to anyone and everyone who came down to the show over the weekend. I can't remember the last time I played for fifty minutes and have it only feel like ten..

.. oh, and a note from some friends of mine

Broken Tail Records are firing up their engines for their tenth official release this April, the debut single from my good friends Quiet Quiet Band.

More information right here: clickyclicky

Catch them supporting Emmy the Great this Friday at Sub89 in Reading.

a steak through the heart

hey everyone

some exciting developments at bM hQ this week, and when i say 'some exciting developments' i mean 'some developments'.

first of all, i'm hard at work recently sorting out the first ever run of ben marwood t-shirts. it's something which i've been looking into for a long time but haven't had the inclination to follow through with for various reasons. I've finally been convinced that there are a bunch of people out there who I can trust the quality of, so the wheels are in motion. these will be available at select shows and from the ben marwood store on benmarwood.com, when it eventually opens. i guess that there's a store on the way is announcement #2.

the reason this is all future-speak is because i'm currently in the back yard of my girlfriend's shared house in Tampa, meaning my brain couldn't give even half a fuck about websites and stores and such, but i'm back in the country on Sunday and everything will go crazy from then on.

whilst i'm on the subject of Tampa, i was lucky enough this week to enjoy the company of Mr Frank Turner and his band of merry men currently out on tour with the dropkicks. to a man they look exhausted, but in fine form, and if the recent show at Ritz Ybor is anything to go by they've torn this tour a new turban. Ttttt. i had the pleasure of harmonic'ing the shit out of a mouthy mouth-harp for 'I Still Believe' and caught up with (your friends and mine) The Ruckus, and then I started drinking on my antibiotics and I cannot remember how the funk I got home. But apparently I navigated. My autopilot is a reliable beast.

to cap it all, and apologies to the vegetarians in the audience, but my girlfriend sprung upon me a surprise anniversary visit to Bern's Steak House, an independently-owned, upmarket, how-the-fuck-can-you-afford-this steak house right here in Tampa. for the sake of all of us, i'm going to keep my memories to myself, but good god if you're a steak fan and you ever get the chance to go, just go.

http://www.bernssteakhouse.com/

anyway, the crickets have risen and the wind is up. adios.

horatio dies all over again

dear boris,

a few years back i wrote a song called 'Horatio Dies'. though i never 'properly' released it, people still liked it and i play it a lot.

during the album recording sessions with Bobby Bloomfield of Does It Offend You, Yeah? back in August which spawned a couple of decent tracks, I had a stab at a new version of 'Horatio Dies', and then donated it to the good people at Engineer Records.

they have THIS to say..

------------------------

All of us at Engineer Records are very proud to be giving the world Lamp Light The Fire: A Compilation of Quiet(ER) songs

Lamp Light The Fire has a theme. No questions or hidden agendas. Simply put, Engineer Records wanted to gather a small array of artists that we´ve loved and worked with in the past, and/or thought would sound great in the environment of an acoustic guitar as the central instrument, and build from there. Don´t let the title fool you though, as there are as many acoustic rockers on here, as much as the intensely subtle, slow burners as you´d expect on such a compilation. Listening to it as a whole you'll hear that this real gem of a project sounds just as dynamic as any ´proper´ album. Although mellow in places, this is not a snoozer of an album only to fall asleep with. Hearing how each artist took the idea and built upon it is certainly the key to the album's inspiration. You´ll find some songs that sound like the artists´ best work yet, and plenty of exclusive material.

You´ll hear the acoustic guitar accompanied by piano, strings, vocal harmonies, and fitting percussion. You´ll hear some artists we´ve worked with in the past, showing off their new material, and some newer bands, or newer solo work, most of which is previously unreleased. Engineer Records and these artists, including Chuck Ragan (Hot Water Music), Ryan Mills, Jeff Rowe, The Satellite Year, Her Only Presence, Mikee J Reds (Call Off The Search), Elemae, The Waltz (Penfold/Moirai) and Dan Coutant (Joshua), have created the scenario of a sit down at a camp fire surrounded by good friends. This musical company bring together talent from across the world to warm your heart, sway your soul, and reflect upon the quieter side of life.

PURCHASE FROM THIS LINK (engineer bandcamp)

PHYSICAL CDs AVAILABLE FROM ENGINEER AND INTERPUNK

So there!