I write:

• songs
• Shakespeare's Monkeys, the musical
• ihatemornings.com, a blog about music and Oxford
• Coping, a novel
• Something For Everyone, a free 10-song album from 2006

I play:

• gigs as myself
• Power Cut at the Jericho Tavern (occasionally)
  
• weddings as The Legendary Swordsmen
• piano, guitar and other stuff

My third person biog

Ben Walker was born in Oxford in 1980, and hasn't really left yet. He started playing piano when he was about 5, clarinet at 10, guitar at 13, sax at 16, and the rest at various points in between.

He played lots of classical piano, more Debussy than Mozart, until he got bored of that and discovered pop chords during a long summer holiday in about 1990. His love of quality pop drove him to study music through school and then at Oxford, where he was rather disappointed to discover that music history finished in about 1912.

Ben has played in loads of bands over the years:

• Helium Goldfish (covers – Cream, Dire Straits, the usual)
• Groove On (ambitious, lofi comedy songs)
• Papa Yam & The Moose (quality pop with massive harmonies)
• Shouting Myke (tenor sax as part of guest horn section)
• The Robbie Hart Experience (covers again – the Under Pressure/Ice Ice Baby mash-up is a highlight)
• The Elected (briefly on Mercury, renamed as Radio 2 pop sensation Kubb without me)
• The Wallpaper Jazz Band (does what it says on the tin)
• Peter Parker (funky jazz trio – resident at the QI Club, Oxford)
• Rouge Morte (guested on Farfisa Compact at Cornbury Festival)
• A Silent Film (guested on synth strings at Truck Festival)
• Another Lost Leader (acoustic trio, Simon & Garfunkel style)
• The Legendary Swordsmen (more covers – 60s singles)

...and is now performing as himself. Ben's first solo album, Something For Everyone, has been released online at ihatemornings.com, and CD copies are rumoured to exist.

‘A great ecelectic mix that takes the listener on a varied journey both in heart, mind and sound. 5 stars'. (Amber Byrnes, DJ)

Ben is an entertaining performer, and his ability to play any request (or make up a new song with the same name) has left crowds baying for more in pubs and clubs around the country for years. His solo set combines his own compositions, freely interpreted at the piano and/or guitar, and a few choice covers of obscure pop gems (early Scott Walker, mid Julian Cope, late Dennis Wilson, etc.).