Today we’d like to introduce you to Ben Trickey.
Ben, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I’m originally from Alabama but moved to Atlanta for college. I started playing songwriter stuff when I lived in western New York while at grad school for art. I moved back to Atlanta and started playing small gigs at the EARL in East Atlanta. I’ve been releasing records over the years and slowly built up a small following by playing more and more shows around town and up and down the east coast. I usually do a couple of tours a year when work allows it and I continue to release records, most of which are recorded DIY style in my house.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I’ve had a lot of anxiety to get through to play in front of crowds. In the beginning, I would mess up a lot in the middle of songs on stage and stop and apologize profusely before trying again. After years of playing, I’ve learned to roll with the punches a bit and have fun. It just took a long time to get there. I’m also an independent artist that plays music I know not everyone is into, so the struggle to keep things going over the years sometimes gets to me. I get down on myself a lot, but I keep putting out records and booking tours/shows. I suffer from the same thing a lot of artists do, which is not listening to all the people that do like your stuff and instead focusing on the people not listening.
Please tell us more about what you do, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
I write, play, and release music under my own independent record label, Anthem Breath Records. The music I do is focused on heavier, introspective themes of the frailty of the human condition. There’s also some love songs mixed in. I feel like it definitely engages the audience in a different way than say, a band that plays more party or rocking music. I often joke that my music is super-slow, introspective music you can’t dance to. While I know you can probably dance to my stuff, I think it’s just a way of telling people what I do is different, so expect something different.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
My band is a big supporter of my stuff. I was very careful about picking my band, I had to find people that could deal with my need for control over dynamics in my songs. The line-up has changed a bit over the years, but they’ve always been great people who believe in my stuff more than I do, usually. It helps to get that push from them. The current line-up is Jonathan Griffin, Tiffany Leigh Blalock, Will Raines, Kelsey Wilson, Schuyler Clark, Jason Waller, and sometimes Gus Fernandez. The EARL in East Atlanta deserves a big thanks as well. They’ve always supported my music and continue to let me play one of the best music venues in town.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.bentrickey.com
- Instagram: bentrickey
- Twitter: bentrickey
Image Credit:
David Parham, Cait Carvarlho, Nicole Kibert, Kara Humphrey
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