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Spotlight – Flyctory.com meets Ben Moske (July 2024)

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Ben / Benjamin Moske is a quite well-known artist in the Northern German singer-songwriter scene. His songs are influenced by country, Americana folk – and gospel. Nowadays, he is majorly active with the Ben Moske Band. I had the opportunity to chat with him about his career, his music, his latest single release

 

Flyctory.com meets Ben Moske

FLYC: Ben, you are doing a blend of country music and folk. Your first steps, however, have been rather in gospel music. How did you get into that?

Ben: I’ve been listening to music a lot since my childhood years. My parents also showed me a lot of interesting artists. My mother made me listen to Michael Jackson, Tina Turner or Whitney Houston. My father very early introduced me to Johnny Cash and Elvis. I also listened to a lot of Elvis gospel songs, I loved them and they touched me. I then more and more got deeper into gospel. At the age of 18, I joined the gospel choir Power of Joy in Oldendorf. The energy and intensity gospel is creating still catches me until today. In parallel, I am a big fan of country music. Three chords and the truth in music always fascinated me.

FLYC: Has gospel and spiritual music always the kind of music you liked in your childhood years? Or did you rather fancy other genres?

Ben: Yeah, I always liked gospel and spiritual music. The message and the hope these genres spread have always been good to me. However, I am very open-minded to any genre and really enjoy any of good music. Generally, gospel, country and Americana folk are the main genres I am listening to.

FLYC: How did you then transist to Americana sounds?

Ben: Johnny Cash’s music made me enjoy Americana folk. I like the way music is telling stories. As I enjoy writing music about life and what it is about, I felt that the Americana just suits my music best.

FLYC: Has there been an idol or somebody who guided you along the way?

Ben: My biggest idols have always been Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley. Additionally, Chris Stapleton and Luke Combs are other idols of mine. I listen to them every day of my life. They also inspire me in songwriting. Generally, I am somebody who is always surrounded by music 🙂

FLYC: You also stayed in Nashville for a while. How did that influence your musical career?

Ben: Yeah, that’s right. My wife and I have been very lucky to travel the USA for five and a half weeks in 2017. During that time, we have been staying in Nashville for a week. We have been very fortunate to spend a night at the Grand Ole Opry and see some amazing artists. The evening in the Bluebird Cafe was even more intense. It is an atmosphere you cannot describe, you have to be there. Great songwriters present their songs, play them and tell their stories beforehand. It has been a very touching, but also inspiring moment of my life. I also liked hanging out on Broadway in the evening. There are bars everywhere, with bars featuring live music of great artists. This week has simply been wonderful. During that time in the USA I also wrote Traveller, the title track of my 2021 album.

The Ben Moske Band

FLYC: In 2017, you formed the Ben Moske Band. Could you tell us a bit about this project?

Ben: In early 2017, the Emergenza band contest contacted me and invited me to join the contest. At that time, I contacted some musician friends of mine, whether they would like to participate there as a band. They all agreed and we made it to the semifinal. We had a lot of fun and continued working together. Later we released the EP Take My Hand and the Traveller album. The band still exists today, in a slightly different line-up.

FLYC: What is a Ben Moske Band concert like? Which genres and kind of music do you prefer to play live on stage?

Ben: People who love to dream and want to be inspired will enjoy a Ben Moske Band concert the most. However, also people you like to rock and have fun, will have an enjoyable evening. My motto is Music gives people the chance to give space to the topics of their own soul. This also describes my music very well. Almost any song is autobiographical and describes situations in my life. This leads to emotional as well as happy moments during our concerts, which are typically in a relaxed and easy atmosphere.

FLYC: In 2021, you released your only Ben Moske Band album so far, Traveller. What is the story of the album?

Ben: The album is a small concept album, which intensively deals with travels we did in all the years. However, it is also about the inner travel you did in your life so far.

FLYC: Do you have a favorite song or a song you definitely would ask people to listen to on that album?

Ben: Oh, that’s a good question. I would have to name a few. Definitely the title song Traveller, but also Only Heaven Knows, Strong and On my Way.

Some Releases and a Special Honor

FLYC: On the early Ben Moske Band days, on the 2018 EP “Take My Hand”, there is even a song in German, “Setz mich frei”. However, you generally sing in English. Do you feel there might be some German lyrics song coming up in the future?

Ben: On top of that track, there are other songs I wrote in German as well. However, they just did not make it to be published, also because they did not fit too well into the context of the other songs. However, there is a good chance that there will be a German release one day again.

FLYC: Coming back to current times. In April, you released the single Friday Night. What is that song about?

Ben: Friday Night describes and enjoyable, relaxed evening with friends. It is about stop worrying for a moment and simply have a good party and having fun together.

FLYC: What was the feedback on this song alike?

Ben: We received a lot of postive feedback. Many wrote us and stated that they added the song to their playlist. It maks them really happy. Additionally, two German country music portals had features about the song, which made us very happy. One really cool thing is that one of our best friends, Frank van der Brüggen of the Dance Motion dancing school in Stade did a designated choreography about it. It even won the Lower Saxony State Championships of the Country and Western Dancing Association.

FLYC: As you already stated – I saw some very special reaction on this song: a local dancing school made a choreography to this song – which even won a state-wide competition. How is that like for an artist like you?

Ben: This has been a very touching story. I loved how a lovely person made intense thoughts about your song and puts up such a great choreography. On top, he even won the contest. This was overwhelming, I was really proud about it.

A Special Tour To Crete

FLYC: You just returned from a very special tour, having six shows on Crete in Greece. How did that idea come up?

Ben: The idea came up last year. Our sound engineer regularly toured Crete with his former band each year. The contacts still remained. As we wanted generally wanted to tour with our music, he came up with that idea. He talked with his former band mate Hannes Gehring, who arranged the contacts. This lead to the tour dates and we rather quickly had a set of six shows. Unfortunately two of the shows had to be cancelled du to unfortunate private events on the location side. Nonetheless, the people in Crete were very special and very open-minded on music, which helped us a lot. It has been a wonderful time on the Greek island.

FLYC: Part of financing the tour was by crowdfunding, which was quite a success. Do you feel that this is generally a good way to support and drive genres which have less popularity in countries like Germany?

Ben: W were very lucky and absolutely thankful for everybody who supported our crowdfunding campaign. The backing was massive, many even just used the donation button to support us with a certain amount of money. I feel that crrowdfunding is a good way to support your project. By having the packages you offer, you can also give back something to the people who support you. This also creates link between you and the funding people. If you are transparent, they can also see what they are support and what has been set up due to their support.

FLYC: Has there been a special moment during these days in Crete you would like to share?

Ben: The whole time on this beautiful island was already outstanding. There have been many special moments. When I think about this question a bit more, I first think about our gig in Rethymno. We played the Chaplinspubcafe. Before our gig a beat boxer approached us and asked whether he could perform a song with us. We immediately agreed and improvised a song together. The audience loved it. After the show we had a long chat with him and the owner of the venue. It was lovely to see how music brings people together and creates links between them.

FLYC: Looking forward: what are the plans for you and your band in 2024? Any tours or new releases?

Ben: There are a couple of dates this year we look forward to. The second single of our 2025 EP will be released on 25th August 2024. It will be the title track of the EP, Horizon. The song nicely describes the awakening after Covid-19 and all the changes we all felt. Towards the end of the year, we are planning to have the final recordings for our EP. We are really looking forward to it.

FLYC: Finally, if you could choose one artist to have a duet with during one of your shows, who would that be – and why?

Ben: Definitely Chris Stapleton. No other artist is influencing and inspiring me that much currently. That would have been an amazing dream. But, hey, you are allowed to dream, aren’t you? 🙂

 

 

All pictures have been provided by the artist. The interview was held in German and then translated to English by flyctory.com.

 

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