Ben Ottewell plays The Coach House April 28
Ben Ottewell, one of the three-singers from the indie group, Gomez, will play an acoustic show at The Coach House on Sunday, April 28th.
“It probably won’t be that loud. But that’s a good thing,” he explains, “I’m kind of weary of drums after standing in front of a drummer for 15 years. It’s nice to just get out the acoustic guitar and be able to hear at the end of the night.”
This will be Ottewell’s first visit to the Coach House having previously played in Anaheim with his band, Gomez. He will be playing a mix of Gomez songs, possibly fan favorites, like “Get Miles” or “Revolutionary Kind, along with some of his solo songs and a few covers.
Ottewell’s powerful tenor voice has been described in a variety of ways but he says “the best thing I’ve ever read that’s been written about my voice is that I sounded like a buffalo being back-ended into a wood chipper. I think it was intended as an insult, but, I think that sounds great!”
His first solo album, “Shapes & Shadows,” was released in 2011 and he is halfway through writing the follow-up which should be out this time next year. Once again he is collaborating with his childhood friend, Sam Genders, who grew up in the same small village in the U.K. “We don’t mind telling each other when things are bad (lyrically) which is important,” Ottewell said.
Although Ottewell still considers himself a music fan, he’s not as much as when he first started. “I think being a musician does kind of ruin music for you because you have to be so critical of your own stuff. For it to be any good you kind of end up turning on other people as well. It’s a shame, really.”
However, he did just buy a CD titled, “Great Lakes” by John Smith. “It’s very good. He’s a British guy but he sings a bit like John Martin. At the moment he’s a bit like Ray Lamontagne meets John Martin. It’s good stuff.”
Ottewell promises the show will be excellent including the direct support, Buddy. “He’s acoustic but I think he may have a keyboard, maybe even more since he lives in LA. Maybe we’ll even see a drummer!” he cautioned.