Starting in 2002, Ben Miles spent 3 years finding his own style. It resulted in his self recorded, self promoted debut album 'Play Loud'. The album embodied everything that, to him, made music exciting and interesting. Hopping from hardcore punk to blues through to ska in a heartbeat, with heavy distortion. More importantly to him, it contained large quantities of very dark humour. Much of the album was recorded at home, but later after being accepted onto a course at Red Tape Studios in Sheffield he had the opportunity to re-mix and re record some of the content. The Big Black style drum machines and experimental approach to both recording and song writing often did not sit well with some.
Live, he took only his guitar, a DAT player (affectionately referred to as 'the blue box of doom') and his distortion pedals. This was almost his undoing, as he frequently found himself billed with much less vitriolic solo acts. This was a lose-lose situation, as Ben was constantly scaring off the fans of the other acts as they were boring the life out of the people interested in him. There were, however, some exceptions. In particular he feels that his opening slot for Sheffield-based mentalists Rumpus was one of his best solo outings, not to mention an acoustic set opening for a band that had only been together for about a month – Little Man Tate.
Despite small victories, something had to change.
In 2006 he decided to form a full band. He joined up with drummer Simon Gray (ex Metallicish & Population Lost) and bassist Mike Hamilton, calling themselves Ben Miles and the Sumo Wrestling Porn Stars. It was a good step in the right direction, as Ben no longer found himself opening for dire singer-songwriter types but playing to proper rock fans. On the downside, the ‘Sumo Wrestling Porn Stars’ part of their moniker had a negative effect on bookings and had to be shortened to ‘The Ben Miles Band’. Due to other commitments, Simon had to leave the band in April ’06 and was replaced by Ricky Marples (ex noise merchants Killing Conversation) on drums. They went on to play numerous gigs, including a sold-out Winding Wheel in Chesterfield in the Derbyshire Times band of the year competition. They also recorded a six-track demo, however Ben was disappointed with the outcome as he felt it sounded rushed and shoddy. Ultimately he was unhappy with the overall lack of direction overcoming his own band.
As a result of this, the band only played one gig of any merit in 2007 – a biker rally in Morton. The rest of the year was spent working on new material and trying to regain the focus that was desperately needed. The inspiration from this came from that fact that during the latter half of 2006. Ben was suffering from severe sleep deprivation, at his worst only sleeping once every three weeks. To make matters worse, he then suffered from a serious bout of depression in the first half of 2007. After this ordeal, he turned these experiences into two albums entitled Music To Crash Cars To. Volume one – ‘falling asleep at the wheel’ talks about his experiences with sleep deprivation, whilst Volume two – ‘Relishing the point of impact’ deals with his issues with depression. However, it wasn’t until Ben teamed up with Simon Gray once more that the project really took shape. Recording at Simon’s home studio (affectionately dubbed ‘Poohead studios’) they were able to take the time required to really flesh out the songs and craft them properly – the first time Ben had really had that kind of luxury.
At the end of 2007, Simon asked Ben to fill in on bass for his band 51st State. Here he met Mike Dabbs, and when the band came to an unexpected stand still at the beginning of 2008 Ben invited him to join his band on rhythm guitar and backing vocals. It was immediately apparent to them that this was the one element that had been missing, and his playing instantly complemented the sound of the band.
Right now, the band as a whole are looking forward to a good year – with a new line up, new songs and a whole new outlook
Live, he took only his guitar, a DAT player (affectionately referred to as 'the blue box of doom') and his distortion pedals. This was almost his undoing, as he frequently found himself billed with much less vitriolic solo acts. This was a lose-lose situation, as Ben was constantly scaring off the fans of the other acts as they were boring the life out of the people interested in him. There were, however, some exceptions. In particular he feels that his opening slot for Sheffield-based mentalists Rumpus was one of his best solo outings, not to mention an acoustic set opening for a band that had only been together for about a month – Little Man Tate.
Despite small victories, something had to change.
In 2006 he decided to form a full band. He joined up with drummer Simon Gray (ex Metallicish & Population Lost) and bassist Mike Hamilton, calling themselves Ben Miles and the Sumo Wrestling Porn Stars. It was a good step in the right direction, as Ben no longer found himself opening for dire singer-songwriter types but playing to proper rock fans. On the downside, the ‘Sumo Wrestling Porn Stars’ part of their moniker had a negative effect on bookings and had to be shortened to ‘The Ben Miles Band’. Due to other commitments, Simon had to leave the band in April ’06 and was replaced by Ricky Marples (ex noise merchants Killing Conversation) on drums. They went on to play numerous gigs, including a sold-out Winding Wheel in Chesterfield in the Derbyshire Times band of the year competition. They also recorded a six-track demo, however Ben was disappointed with the outcome as he felt it sounded rushed and shoddy. Ultimately he was unhappy with the overall lack of direction overcoming his own band.
As a result of this, the band only played one gig of any merit in 2007 – a biker rally in Morton. The rest of the year was spent working on new material and trying to regain the focus that was desperately needed. The inspiration from this came from that fact that during the latter half of 2006. Ben was suffering from severe sleep deprivation, at his worst only sleeping once every three weeks. To make matters worse, he then suffered from a serious bout of depression in the first half of 2007. After this ordeal, he turned these experiences into two albums entitled Music To Crash Cars To. Volume one – ‘falling asleep at the wheel’ talks about his experiences with sleep deprivation, whilst Volume two – ‘Relishing the point of impact’ deals with his issues with depression. However, it wasn’t until Ben teamed up with Simon Gray once more that the project really took shape. Recording at Simon’s home studio (affectionately dubbed ‘Poohead studios’) they were able to take the time required to really flesh out the songs and craft them properly – the first time Ben had really had that kind of luxury.
At the end of 2007, Simon asked Ben to fill in on bass for his band 51st State. Here he met Mike Dabbs, and when the band came to an unexpected stand still at the beginning of 2008 Ben invited him to join his band on rhythm guitar and backing vocals. It was immediately apparent to them that this was the one element that had been missing, and his playing instantly complemented the sound of the band.
Right now, the band as a whole are looking forward to a good year – with a new line up, new songs and a whole new outlook