Amongst the many rising artists in Glasgow’s music scene is Ben Lauder, a musician and producer who sat down with Brig Newspaper to discuss his old gems, fresh starts and his new single.
With seven singles so far, Ben’s music introspectively blends relatable lyrics with catchy pop melodies that are guaranteed to be stuck in your head all day (not complaining).
His recent single, ‘Wedding Store‘ was released February 13, along with a scenic music video filmed around some local spots in Glasgow, and Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh.
Your new song, ‘Wedding Store’ is very upbeat, and with a lot of songs like that it could get easily mistaken for a really happy song, but the lyrics are quite sad. How would you describe the story behind the lyrics?
“So it was based on a true story. Me and my best friend Sarah were on a night out and basically brought two friends back to the flat, I thought one of them was cute, and he ended up liking Sarah so that was that. But it sounds like a sad story on paper, like you would think I was really upset about it but me and Sarah still talk about it all the time as like one of the funniest nights of my life, we just had so much fun. So I think that’s why the song sounds so upbeat because I don’t look back on this as a negative experience. I look back as like, “Oh my god that’s so hilarious that happened.”
Did you have any inspirations for the type of sound that you wanted the song to have?
“I’ve really been into Audrey Hobert recently and I love the way that she includes a lot of humour in her writing so that was definitely a massive inspiration when writing ‘Wedding Store’. I just think a lot of her songs, they’re so earnest and sincere, but they’re using humour to send a message so that was definitely a big inspiration.”
And because this song was your first music video, how did you find the process of that?
“It was definitely difficult, but the director Tommy was so great. I was very stressed about it but on set, it could not have been an easier process, the 3 days that we were shooting went so smoothly, we were ahead of schedule. Everyone on set was so great to work with no one had a bad attitude, it was just literally perfect. So yeah, a bit of both but I could not have worked with better people for it.”
Leading up to the release of your single, your social media had a bit of a transformation and you deleted your first single off streaming platforms. Was this a decision to celebrate your new era of your music or did you just feel it was time for a clean slate?
“Yeah I think I wanted to start a clean slate. I put out an EP when I was 15 called Inspired. It’s not something that I’m not proud of but I just feel that everything I’ve done since then has been 10 times better and my fear was, I don’t want someone coming into my Spotify, pressing shuffle and that’s the first thing they hear. But yeah, I just decided to take that down and start clean.”
A lot of artists have done the same the same thing, starting fresh or doing something totally different. Do you feel this is something you would recommend for younger musicians?
“Honestly yes. I think you want to put your best foot forward and as much as it may be an ego bruise to hear, people don’t care yet, so no one really had an emotional attachment to that first project. So, it wasn’t hurting anyone taking it away and I think you want to put your best foot forward to try and engage new people.”
You mentioned you have been making music since you were 15, so I’m assuming this has always been a passion of yours?
“100%. My parents both played in a brass band, they’ve done very prestigious things. It’s a very musical household. I’ve been singing and dancing for as long as I can remember, so yeah this has always been a massive passion for me.”
Now for a fun last question, if you were to open for any musician, who would it be?
“Oh, that’s a really good question. I mean Taylor Swift would obviously be awesome, Charli XCX would be great, I’m not as much the partygoer as I once was, but yeah, she’s so awesome.”
Ben’s new single ‘Wedding Store’ is available across all streaming platforms, and his new music video can be found on YouTube. If you enjoy pop romance ballads, this tune is definitely worth a listen.
Featured Image Credit – Ben Lauder via Instagram
