IN CONVERSATION WITH : SPIELMANN

Last week, Leeds based solo artist Spielmann unveiled his hotly anticipated EP ‘Back By Popular Demand’.

Self proclaimed as ‘Harry Styles for 6 Music Dads’ Spielmann takes the moments that make life so wonderful, terrible, and at times terrifying and turns them into catchy, hopeful, and huge-sounding alternative pop tracks that we just can’t get enough of.

Testament to the ability of his storytelling, Spielmann aka Ben Lewis, places a character at the epicentre of this project. Writing through the lens of Spielmann, a sarcastic and sharp tongued yet sensitive protagonist, Ben perfectly captures the modern Millennial panic and wraps it in a synth filled, easily digestible package in his latest project.

We caught up with Ben ahead of the release to find out more about the inspiration behind topical single Blue Passports, his least favourite lyrics, and the recording process behind his new EP.

So Ben, first thing's first, how did you get into music?

I’ve been doing music for a really long time. I'm 36 and I’ve been playing for half of my life now which is quite a terrifying thing to think about!

I’ve been playing in bands since school really with varying degrees of success. Spielmann came around at the end of Covid. Previously I was writing and producing for a project with a friend of mine, but during Covid that just became more difficult and things fell by the wayside.

I had the urge to get back into doing music but felt like I wanted to try something on my own – this is my first ever solo thing.

How did you find that transition then, from playing in bands to being completely on your own with full control?

I like it, because I’m a bit of a control freak. Not in a megalomania way, but I see the project as a full thing. I can envision how the artwork and the branding plays into the music and the live show, so it’s nice to have the ultimate say of how the whole thing is stitched together.

Recording wise it is difficult not to have people to bounce things off, especially when you’re on a budget – I just record it in my attic. Whereas if you’re in a studio you can try things out with different producers, I’d like to try a bit of that in the future maybe.

You released your single ‘Blue Passports’ in August. Its quite a personal concept for you, can you tell us a bit more about the track?

Yeah so in the least pretentious way possible, I use the Spielmann thing almost as a lens. There’s quite a lot of myself in it, but it’s also an opportunity to tell stories and say things that are a little more difficult to explore. I guess Spielmann is a bit of a character, with parts of me within it. With Spielmann sometimes it’s almost as if the needle swings from me to Spielmann; some songs are a bit more character driven, and some are more me. Blue Passports definitely has a lot more of me in it.

I know Brexit was a while ago, but I only received my blue passport in the post last year which inspired the song. When it was delivered in the post, it felt like a slap in the face from my perspective. Then a few things happened in succession which added to that. I saw a woman shouting at two people  in the street telling them to “go back to where they came from”, and I stopped to ask if they were okay and they had the broadest London accents I’ve ever heard. It feels like things like that are happening more often now and are worse now than they have ever been in my lifetime. In Leeds there’s a road I walk down with some very ‘interesting’ pubs on it – there’s a line in the song about being ‘tired of the country’ that came from walking down there. And there’s a moan about vaping (laughs).

The personal element to it is that my family are all foreign. My dad’s side of the family are refugees that came over to here and Northern Ireland, and my mums side of the family are German. Spielmann is a German name from my family history. So I’ve always felt more European than “British” which is why the passport arriving in the post felt so strange to me. Although the song is quite personal I’ve used the Spielmann lens to be a bit more snarky about things.

Do you think having Spielmann as a character allows you to feel like you can express these things a little more loosely?

Definitely, I have thought about it before and it feels like Spielmann is the way I would speak if I didn’t abide by the filter of polite society and decorum. I can pick bits of things that happen to me in real life, but it gives me the freedom to tweak them a bit to fit the stand point that I’m writing from and what I’m trying to achieve with the song.

Blue Passports is a song from your new EP Back By Popular Demand, do the songs on that have a similar sound and message?

Yeah so thematically it’s all in the same world, but musically its a step forward. It’s the first time I’ve recorded real drums, as opposed to midi drums and me typing it out on a keyboard. And it’s been mixed by a guy who does Adele records and stuff like that.

What I usually go for is big hooky choruses and an anthemic sound – which is what I love- and when you’re doing it on your own bedroom like I was, sometimes the ambition doesn’t always line up with the final product. So I think this is the closest I’ve got to the ambition and the final thing being on a similar level. Musically it sounds bigger, better and crisper, but it’s still a bloke in his 30s being sarcastic about stuff.

there are some big choruses in there, did any artists particularly influence the sound?

I think for me there’s different influences for the writing and different influences for the production of it. So lyrically I take a lot of inspiration from observational writers like Alex Turner, Father John Misty, James Murphy from LCD sound system, and Jarvis Cocker from Pulp of course.

Production wise LCD are a massive influence, I like a lot of bleepy synths in the background. Then I also really like The War on Drugs and that ‘driving rock’ kind of sound... without sounding too much like someone’s Dad. (Laughing).

It’s definitely got a quiet euphoria to it.

I’ve been told before that some of my stuff sounds like it could soundtrack a coming of age film end credits, which is a massive compliment so I’ll take that.

You’ve a tour with Get Down Services coming up, how are you feeling for it?

Yeah I’m doing a few dates with them in November which will be great. We met when we both supported Antony Szmierek earlier this year. They’re all mates from before, and I just kind of muscled my way in to the friendship group (laughing). They’re super supportive and super lovely (Get Down Services and Antony Szmierek) and will come down to the front to watch your set and stuff.

This summer things seem to have gone a bit crazy for Get Down Services, so I think there’s a few sold out shows too. It’ll be loads of fun.

In one sentence, why should people get there early to watch you on the Get Down Services tour?

I’m the best support band you’ll ever see.... probably better than the headline band. (Laughing sarcastically).

The live set is basically just me on stage, so it’s kind of like a one man band doing karaoke and slowly having a breakdown ... so if you’re into that you’ll love it.

As we’re called Pass It On Magazine, we ask all of our artists to pass a question on to the next artist, your question is from The Guest List, they asked:

What your least favourite lyric you’ve ever written?

Does it have to be from a published song? So the problem with writing through a lens is sometimes you get far too down the rabbit hole. So you’ll have to forgive me because this is horrendous.

I wrote this song about the breaking up of a relationship, with the idea of going round to your partner’s parents house for dinner and everything falling apart during that. I’d actually like to finish the song but this is why I haven’t. I literally can’t even look up while saying this (laughing).

The lyric goes something like: “I told your mother she looked ravishing, I’ve had the daughter, now I want the real thing.”

It’s skin crawling! I wrote it and was like ... yeah even from the angle of somebody who’s intentionally trying to upset everyone at the table, that’s too far. So that’s never seen the light of day.... until this interview. It’s gross so please make sure people know I am very ashamed of it.

Stream Spielmann's new EP ‘Back By Popular Demand’ now!

Keep up to date with Spielmann here.