Ben Jelen

Ben Jelen (born 8 July 1979), born Benjamin Ivan Jelen in Edinburgh, Scotland, is a singer-songwriter who plays the piano, violin, and guitar. He has lived in Scotland, England, Texas, New Jersey, and New York.  Jelen was discovered by Joseph Janus of Fearless Management, who originally wanted to sign him as a model. Instead, Jelen handed him a demo, and shortly thereafter, he was signed to a label and released his debut album Give It All Away in May 2004, promoted by appearances on TRL, AOL Breakers and Rock the Vote.

The album also debuted at #13 on the Top Internet Albums chart, #120 on the Billboard Comprehensive Albums chart and #113 on the Billboard 200 albums chart in the United States, making it eligible for the Top Heatseekers chart, a chart of artists who have never entered the top 100 of the Billboard 200. The album debuted at #1 on the Top Heatseekers chart.

Debut single "Come On" was a hit, reaching the MTV top 20. It also debuted at #58 on the Hot Singles Sales chart. Apart from "Give It All Away" being included as a B-side to the "Come On" single, no other track from the album was released as a single.

Following his debut album, Jelen left Maverick Records and independently released the EP Rejected through Fearless Management Records in 2005. He wrote and recorded a song for a compilation album for Tori Amos' RAINN organization and joined the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and Wildlife Works. Jelen also appeared on the compilation albumBreaking for the Holidays in 2006 with his self-produced cover of Joni Mitchell's "River" through Breaking Records

Jelen performed at the 2007 South by Southwest (SXSW) conference and music festival in Austin, Texas, in a lineup that also included Taylor Hicks, Amy Winehouse, Tom Morello, Mika,Martina Topley Bird, The Fratellis, Bloc Party, Paolo Nutini, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Mogwai and Spoon.

Jelen's second full-length album, Ex-Sensitive, was released on July 17, 2007. The album, formerly titled East and Pulse, was produced by Linda Perry and mixed by Bill Bottrell.

Jelen's music has been featured on the TV shows One Tree Hill, Smallville and Las Vegas, and was used to promote the Academy Award-nominated Finding Neverland starring Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet. "Come On" also features in the film Love Wrecked with Amanda Bynes and more recently, the instrumental version of "Come On" was featured in a trailer for The Bucket List.

Jelen also guest starred in an episode of House as a doctor applying for a fellowship in the episode "Kids".

Sounds Like April

An acoustic duo from Benbecula in the Western Isles of Scotland composing of Paul Sloss on lead guitar and Ryan Dempsey singing and playing rhythm guitar.

Their songs are simple and stripped down but that is not a criticism as sometimes the simpler things are, the better they are…as this duo prove.

They Say “We're influenced by lots of people big and small, our main influences are the likes of my wife Sam and our kids, jose gonzalez, Beaker, bright eyes, the charlatans, billy bragg, tim burgess, the boy who trapped the sun, our small capital, gordon giltrapp, the beatles, oasis, razorlight, the future heads, tom macrae, the stones, the inspiral carpets, steve vai everbody basically ...”

Interview with Luke Williams of 'The October Game'

1. How did you come up with the name The October Game?

I was wandering around at Glastonbury a few years ago and stumbled across a sign which had 'The October Game' written on it, I immediately thought, "that’s a great name for a band!" so I wrote it down. At the time we were in a band called 'insomnia' and had no plans to change the name but when that band fell apart some strange things happened. In October 2005, Nick and I were at a 'Fourtet' gig in Cambridge and bumped into the support act 'Fuzzy Lights' who were nice people and a good band. After the gig, scrolling through their site, listening to their music and reading about them it turned out they had done a one-off gig on the band stand at Glastonbury under the name 'The October Game' hence how I saw the sign, from then on in I think it was sealed that it would be our new name.

2. What are you biggest influences?

We draw influences from all over the place; life experiences, films, books, music, photographs, art..anything really.

3. What bands (if any) do you compare yourselves to?

I think a lot of what we do and the way we go about things is a reflection of the respect we have for independent artists or rather, bands that have built slowly but surely over a number of years, honing their craft and building up a rich tapestry of work and a solid fan base. Bands like 'Death Cab For Cutie', 'Modest Mouse' & 'dEUS'.

4. What's one of the best gigs you have played?

I think one that really sticks out in our minds is one of our gigs from a little tour we did in Iceland. We supported a band called 'Benny Crespo's Gang' at an amazing little place called 'Dillon' in 101 Reykjavik. We'd been interviewed on the radio that day and seen ourselves in the national papers whilst having breakfast that morning and then the gig was absolutely brilliant in the evening so it was good day for TOG!

5. What's the name of your new album?

ooh, we have a tentative title for the album but I'm afraid it won’t be confirmed until the last note has been played, the final brush of paint!

6. What can we expect from it? And when is it out?

Whereas (our first album) 'Box Of A Billion Lights' was quite introverted in a way, coming from the ashes of our previous band no one really even knew we had a new band going. It was essentially 3 guys locked away in houses recording over the winter. Ollie joined on drums in 2007 and it really kind of turned the band inside out, it was like we could come out of our shells a bit, we had a permanent 4th member and a new and exciting live setup. The subsequent songs
reflected this new state of the band and that is what you can expect to hear from album No.2!  It will be out when we think it sounds kickass!

7. Where would you want to be in 5 years time?

Still alive, healthy, happy, making music together.

8. Any last words?
We Wish You A Merry Christmas And A Happy New Year! 'Concrete (When We Were Invincible) is available as a free download from
www.theoctobergame.com. Our next gig is at Bush Hall in London, Thursday 15th January. Tickets from www.wegottickets.com and www.ticketweb.co.uk

www.myspace.com/theoctobergame
www.theoctobergame.com
www.carmandierecords.com

I am really liking this band at the moment and think you should check them out. They are a amazing band and I do think you should check them out.   

Will