Ben Wilkins Takes His Love for Music on the Road

London, Ontario singer-songwriter Ben Wilkins releases debut album.

Music has always been a constant in Ben Wilkins' life. He spent weekends as a kid listening to local bands in his hometown of London, Ontario, moved to Montreal at the age of 18 to study music at McGill University and is now turning his passion for music into what he hopes will be a successful career. Having already released a self-titled debut album, it's safe to say Wilkins has taken a big step towards turning his dream into a reality. Youthink caught up with Wilkins to chat about his new album, his appreciation for music from the '70s and his plans for 2012.

YT: Who or what inspired your passion for music and how excited were you to go to Montreal to study music at McGill?
BW: It was very exciting. [Music] became sort of a focus in my last year of high school - that’s why I really wanted to do that and I really wanted to get in. I had other choices and such but that was really where I wanted to be. So I was really thrilled to get in. It was an exciting move.

YT: What were some of the core lessons and skills you developed while at McGill that have helped you become the artist you are today?
BW: I learned that the program was not going to in itself make me a musician. It really had no focus – not even a seminar about songwriting. For example, it was really specifically classical jazz, or pretty abstract composition. At around third year, I decided there’s a lot of stuff at this school I can still learn. I started getting sound recording classes, not because I wanted to be an engineer, but because I knew it was really important to be able to talk to engineers. I definitely learned a lot about music theory - I’m able to arrange for orchestral instruments on the level that I can right now.

YT: What are your hopes and expectations for your self-titled debut album?
BW: This album was already winning the lottery that I got to record it. It was made completely independently. The album itself deserves a chance in that I wanted to make sure there was proper promotion behind it. I didn’t want to just put it out on the Internet and see what happens. I’ve seen that happen with friends where if it’s not in the right hands when it comes out, it can be easily forgotten about or ignored. My hopes are that it just spreads across a large enough radius and people who like it pay attention. I just want people that will love it to hear it.

YT: How would you describe the album and is there one theme that is consistent throughout?
BW: The songs are very personal. And I did that consciously. I wanted to write songs that were true to me. The first album is a collection of songs I’ve written over a couple of years so there’s not one underlying theme. Each song has a theme.

YT: The album has a '70s feel to it. What is it about that era’s music that appeals to you?
BW: Music from that time is actually pretty romantic stuff.  It’s always been an exciting part of music history and American history in general. I’ve heard this a lot and it’s fun because I’m being compared to people that I love and from an era that I love. But we weren’t trying to make the record actually sound like it’s from the '70s. We were just using techniques of recording that was used more in the '70s.

YT: What do you think is missing in the music industry today that was present in that era?
BW: I think there are some things that have happened in the music industry in the last 15-20 years. One of them people refer to as "the loudness war" where everybody is trying to get their single to be the loudest one, because record companies and record labels decided that they would sell more records if the songs were louder. What that has done is destroy the dynamic feeling in music. You can’t have really loud moments and really quiet moments if everything is really loud all the time. It’s becoming to the point where people really notice now and are complaining about it.

YT: Where do you find it easiest to write and where do you draw inspiration?
BW: I wish I had a really easy formula because I probably would be writing a lot more. I find I write often when I am able to isolate myself at the piano for long enough or the guitar... but I need to be in a place where I feel pretty good. Then songs will start to write themselves. I can’t elaborate too much because it works or it doesn’t work. It’s true or it’s not true. I try to no overthink.

YT: What are your plans and goals for 2012?
BW: My plans and goals are to play a lot of shows, to take this show on the road. And that’s a pretty fun thing to do because when I bring a real piano to every show, that’s a challenge in itself.