Large Talks to Benjamin Francis Leftwich

Large caught up with Benjamin Leftwich as he tells us of his exciting plans for the year, how he enjoys reading and writing, and what inspired his beautiful music.

Having been introduced to music at a very young age, Benjamin says it was his parents who enlightened him to the world of music as they always played it to him.

When asked where his musical inspiration comes from, Leftwich states simply “everything”.

“There’s so many different things that can do that; I read a lot and enjoy writing short stories. There’s a lot of ambiguity in my lyrics, so just anything that moves me I guess”.

Currently listening to the likes of Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen and “lots of Brian Adams”, he also admits to being a fan of the new Arcade Fire album.

His name is on the radar with the likes of those listed above, with the increasing attention to Benjamin’s musical talent, with his records being aired on BBC Radio One, I ask him how it all feels getting to this stage.

“It’s great, I didn’t really expect any of this, but it’s nice to have the good support of the radio. The live shows have been really good with people coming to see me play which is what it’s all about; it’s really nice to have all of that support.”

Does he get nervous before performances? “I guess there’s always those ten minutes of butterflies before you walk on stage, but no I don’t get too nervous”.

Benjamin, already very familiar with Manchester, confesses how much he loves the big city, “I’ve spent a lot of time there, “I went there quite a lot when I was younger as my mom used to live there”. He has also become familiar with the live music scene; “I really like playing at Manchester”.

Having already played at Night and Day, Ben claims he is “really looking forward to playing at the Deaf Institute”. He’ll be performing at there at the beginning of June and informs me of what everyone’s got to look forward to:

“I’ll be playing acoustic, just me and maybe a bit of electric. I won’t be playing with a band.”

But that’s not the only time he’ll be in Manchester; there will be another opportunity to see him live at this year’s Dot-to-Dot festival at the end of May.

Leftwich is already a big fan of Manchester’s nightlife; “It’s funny, there’s so many different things going on. It’s a bit of a mish-mash which is cool”. We can only hope we’ll be seeing more of Ben enjoying the Manchester scene in the future.

With a whole summer packed with different festivals, I was keen to find out which one he was looking forward to most and, unsurprisingly, it was Glastonbury.

“Um, I would have to say Glastonbury, I’m looking forward to all of them a lot, but I’ve never been [to Glastonbury] before, it will be really cool to be there.”

So those of you who have festival tickets this year, Mr Leftwich will be performing at LOADS, let’s hope he’s at one of yours. A live performance from Benjamin Francis Leftwich is guaranteed to win you over in seconds; his performances are equally as delightful as his interviews.

By Kelly Greene