Interview with Ben Harwood: ‘A lot of my songs are somewhere between me and a character’

Northumberland singer and guitarist Ben Harwood has released his haunting and poetic debut single ‘Fault Lines’.

‘Fault Lines’ is an extremely accomplished debut, with huge echoes of Bruce Springsteen, from the underlying guitar line, poetic lyrics and melody that reminds me of ‘The Streets of Philadelphia’ and it turns out that Harwood is a big fan: ‘The Springsteen thing is massive,’ he said excitedly. ‘That riff is similar to his in ‘I’m On Fire’. It must’ve been around Christmas time, the one before, when I wrote that riff. I hadn’t written a song before and just started putting lyrics into it. I put “fault lines” into it, I’m not sure where it came from and I started thinking about what that could mean. The song’s about two people with bigger things going on but it comes back to them in the end. With the ‘fault lines’ being a metaphor, it could represent general, everyday struggles or it could represent much larger scale problems. I would say that the fault lines – where earthquakes generally occur – as a metaphor appealed to me as, although it is related to natural disasters, I was interested in how it could link to more emotional or mental struggles.’

As the track goes: “The fault lines rose across the land, I felt the tremors on my way back home. I thought of you and how you’d be alone. A seismic shift from what we’re used to knowing and a different land from the one we used to roam.”

Springsteen’s influence can be felt throughout: ‘That Americana, or heartland rock, definitely came into it,’ he said. ‘Lyrically, it’s a love song but it doesn’t have to be romantic, it could be about two friends or family. I’m a big fan of The 1975 and Matt Healey writes songs that aren’t always about what you think. You can make a song what you want it to be. I worked on it with Lyndon from Lime Tree Studios, it was great, he got what I was going for and had loads of his own ideas as well. On YouTube, there’s an acoustic version I did for a podcast.’ I go and look for it after our chat and am blown away by just how beautiful it is. The track gains a new depth and cinematic feel when stripped back to Harwood’s warm vocals and the guitar.

There are new songs in the works, although he admits that he wants to let ‘Fault Lines’ ‘sit for a little bit’: ‘I’ve got that many songs or ideas for songs. ‘Fault Lines’ was my favourite, that’s why I released it first, but I really like ‘A Long Time’ – my grandad wrote the chord progression, it’s really nice, a bit out of key. It’s most famously used in the ET theme song, it is the major 2 chord in the key of G (A major) as opposed to what would normally be the A minor chord. He started playing it on the acoustic guitar and I said: “You know, grandad, I think I’ll steal that! I had a single release gig for ‘Fault Lines’ at one of the pubs locally and got my grandad up to do one of his songs. We’ll say to each other: “I’ve been writing this song, do you want to have a listen?” He’s a fantastic songwriter, my grandad. We go to a lot of open mic/busk nights together. He taught us the base level stuff and he knew a teacher, Pete, from the open mic, who I went to. I suspect I wouldn’t have put anything out without him.’

‘I’ve always known his stuff but I reverse discovered him’

‘A Long Time’ is a love song that is essentially about choices: ‘I wrote it and then I realised what it was about, this has happened before (laughs). A lot of my songs are somewhere between me and a character, like in this song. It’s more of a romantic song. The narrator talks about this person, I’ve seen this person I used to be with but I want to be with the person I’m with now. It’s almost like therapy writing songs. ‘A Long Time’ is a bit slower than ‘Fault Lines’, I’ve got some slower songs and ones that are more upbeat.’

As ‘A Long Time’ kicks off: “I’ve just seen a face that I haven’t seen in a long time. Reminds me of a place, that I haven’t been there in a long time. I’ve just had a drink that I haven’t had in a long time. And it made me think, made me think of you.”

Interestingly, the way he came to Springsteen was not what I expected, having assumed he heard his music at home: ‘I’ve always known his stuff but I reverse discovered him (laughs). I’m 17, obviously I love Sam Fender, so I went from Sam Fender, who’s inspired by Springsteen, to him. The first song I played at an open mic was ‘Dancing In The Dark’. It’s one of my faves of all time, and songs of his like ‘Thunder Road’ and ‘Atlantic City’, those songs from the 70’s and 80’s.’

We chat for a bit about the album of soul covers ‘Only The Strong Survive’ that Springsteen released last year and how good it is and how he can turn his hand to anything: ‘You can’t get bigger than Springsteen, if he wants to do an album like that, who’s going to stop him?!,’ he said. ‘He probably stays fit as well. He does just shy of 30 songs in a set – I’d need an intermission to sit down!’

‘He was such a clever lyricist, a proper poet, a gritty songwriter’

Harwood is also a big fan of Phoebe Bridgers and Elliott Smith and Frightened Rabbit’s The Midnight Organ Fight album: ‘I find out what inspires them and listen to that – it’s a great rabbit hole! I’d love to write a song with Phoebe Bridgers, one of the things that makes me love her as an artist is how successful she is in her own music, as well as her with collaboration with others. Boygenius and Better Oblivion Community Centre, her ‘supergroups’, are fantastic, and I also love the songs she worked on with Noah Gundersen as well as The 1975.’

Recently, he has got into Birmingham-based singer, Nieve Ella: ‘I have been following her for a few years, she started posting music to TikTok in lockdown, but she has just started to emerge on the festival scene this year and I absolutely love her music. Out of stuff I have just recently discovered, I saw Rianne Downey filling in for Jacqui Abbot at TRNSMT festival about a month ago, and I think she’s great!’ 

He’s mulling who he’d like to go for a pint with: ‘Springsteen would be up there but I think I’d go with Elliott Smith – I’d let him have a soft drink, he’s got a song about that (laughs). I’d love his advice about songwriting and lyrics from him, he was such a clever lyricist, a proper poet, a gritty songwriter, He’s one of the ones I’m gutted I didn’t see, him and Bowie. The best gig I’ve been to was Sam Fender at St. James Park. I had standing tickets for the Friday and got restricted view tickets for the second night. It’s funny, I was just five rows from the front the first night but the second night was the best, even though I was all the way at the back. He’s something else, it was a fantastic performance. The venue I’d most like to play is St. James Park, without doubt. I’m a Newcastle United season ticket holder, so to me it is literally the centre of the planet, and the link to music there, particularly with the recent Fender gigs, has only strengthened how much I love that place!’

Of his dream line up, he says: ‘I don’t know if I’d play, I’d just want to watch them! Springsteen, I still haven’t seen him yet. Elliott Smith, Bowie, Boygenius. And The Beatles, you might as well!’ Until a few weeks ago, Harwood was in the band, Sheds, which he waxes lyrical about: ‘Our guitarist is moving away and as it’s a labour of love, we decided to pack in rather than continue without him. It’s one of the most fun experiences I’ve had in my life, let alone in music. It’s all been a huge laugh, but if anything sticks out it’s probably just the looks Frank gives Tom whenever he makes a mistake, never fails to make me laugh!’