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from: http://www.benchristophers.com/BEN CHRISTOPHERS emerged tentatively onto the scene in the summer of 1999 playing a series of 'low-key' solo shows underneath a pizza parlour in W1. Each night was rammed, the audience ecstatic as he riveted them with a performance of irresistible fragility and passion. From his humble beginnings in Wolverhampton, via exposure to music and musical instruments from a young age - Ben's dad gave him his first guitar when he was just four or five years old - Ben had finally 'come home'.With a recording contract already in place with V2 Records, BEN CHRISTOPHERS' debut album was ready.
David Kosten of Faultline - whose mix of classic(al) influences and avant-garde approach was very influential to Ben and proved to be the perfect foil for him - produced the album: “David was so illegal with the use of sound. He liked the way things happened accidentally, and that happened all the time. It was so fast, it was so exciting and invigorating. I was really lucky to be able to work like that, it captured the magic of the songs.”'My Beautiful Demon' was released at the end of August 1999 to great acclaim in the UK, all over Europe and beyond; and things went from strength to strength.
In February 2000, BEN CHRISTOPHERS played his first shows with a band, a brave step - considered by some a risk - outside of what had already proved a successful 'intimate' formula. He was joined on stage by a drummer, keyboardist and double-bass player. The result was incredible; like he was shattering the delicate spell of the first shows and simultaneously delivering another kind of magic altogether, even more enveloping. That summer, as well as playing Glastonbury, he played Reading and Leeds festivals with a full band: the audiences were left stunned.The new album, 'Spoonface', released 29th October 2001, is produced by David Kosten with Ben.
Whilst Kosten's instinct for coupling opposing sounds and forces and making them work together again informs much of the atmosphere,as on 'My Beautiful Demon', the end result is a much 'easier', accessible work. The songs on 'Spoonface' are in a state of flux and motion, yet meticulous in attention to detail and in perfect balance. Together they make a truly beautiful record. He didn't have a particularly successful time at school: "I left with no qualifications. I had a pretty nervous disposition, I just didn't really take things in, and I'm colour-blind.
I had a test a while ago, and its about 95%. Generally most colours I see I don't know what they are. I was watching TV with a friend recently - the weather was really bad and the screen kept flicking between colour and black and white. But I had no idea it was happening. I don't see in black and white, but a lot of colours look the same to me. The London Underground map's just a joke."