News from the mailing list: Ben Marwood Day, 2000Trees and more.

The following is taken from the recent Ben Marwood mailing list mailshot. To get on the list, the box is at the bottom of this webpage.

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Hey mailshotters!

I am on the train from London to Oxford.

It stops at places that aren't even places.

What better time to update you all on the latest news? Well, it is going to keep me awake, and I'm thankful that I caught the train this time around - three weeks ago today I missed them all and spent the night in Paddington. You'd think I'd have learned by now, but I've only been making the trip on and off for a decade.

So, today is going well. Next week, though, will be even better:

>>Album out this Monday
Yes. I am excited, nervous, proud and terrified in equal measure, for my new album Back Down is out on Monday. I'm not sure that I can accurately portray how this makes me feel without the medium of dance, but it will all be good come Monday. Here's a short breakdown of things you might want to know, followed by some long-winded sentences about stuff you probably don't.

>>Ben, where can I get it?
Why, I'm glad you asked. Back Down is available from all fine establishments and probably the crap ones too. Popular links are Banquet, Amazon, iTunes or how about Xtra Mile themselves?

>>Is there anything else important happening on Monday like, say, your brother Tom's 28th birthday?YES. But also Monday has been declared #BenMarwoodDay on Twitter (not by me), and I'll be part of a Twitter Q&A between the hour of 6 -7pm UK time. There's also going to be lots of other stuff happening throughout the day when no-one at work is looking (only kidding, people from work, I work dead hard). For more information on Ben Marwood Day you can read all about it on the Xtra Mile site. I'm pretty excited by all the attention, so I shall be doing my royal wave all day.

>>Recorded music is so April, what are your UK tour dates again? You know, the ones that start this Friday.

May 17 LONDON Camden Monarch (18+)
May 18 READING Rising Sun Arts Centre (18+)

Jun 01 LEICESTER Cookie Jar/Crumblin' Cookie (14+)
Jun 02 BIRMINGHAM The Railway (18+)
Jun 03 YORK Black Swan (18+)
Jun 04 DUNDEE Cerberus Bar (18+)
Jun 05 EDINBURGH Pivo (18+)
Jun 06 MANCHESTER Bay Horse (18+)
Jun 07 CHELTENHAM Frog and Fiddle (18+)
Jun 08 BRISTOL The Louisiana (16+)

For more details head to the gigs page here.
People, I can't wait. I'll be joined at various points on the tour by so many incredible acts it is making my head hurt. No two bills are the same, and do yourself a favour and look some of these up: Retrospective Soundtrack Players, Jay Newton, Oxygen Thief, My Name Is Ian, Helen Chambers, Dave Hughes, Mark McCabe and Jim Lockey just for starters.

**JUST ANNOUNCED**
On July 12th/13th I'll be making my seemingly annual outing to the only festival worth your time and money, 2000Trees in Cheltenham. Come and help me go crazy with the excitement. I promise this year I'll bring sensible footwear..

>>The end

For some reason that I'm definitely not complaining about, I am Band of the Week on fairsharemusic. I'm really not sure how these things happen, but i'm very happy with it. Check them out - they give half of their profits to charity. Whilst we're on the topic of unexpected happenings, and in conclusion, I am humbled by the number of people who have emailed, tweeted, facebooked and rugby-tackled me to the ground to express their support for the new album, from the people who gave up their time to play on it, to the people who are just going to sit and listen. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Now I need to go home and edit this draft so it looks slightly more colourful. Right now it's looking like a thesis or a classic Penguin book, and we all know that's not what you signed up for.

Hello from platform 13,

Ben.

xx

ps. I know you probably have already, but please do check out Frank Turner's new album Tape Deck Heart, out on Xtra Mile. If his new video compared to mine is anything to go by, all Xtra Mile bands will be digging holes in their videos in 2013.

pps. Still no approach received from Everton.