Ben and Lex
South West creative types seem to do more than stick together round these parts according to Ben and Lex!!

One thing than can definitely be said about Ben and Lex, they certainly are very, very busy boys. DJing and producing collectively for over 10 years. This pair have certainly ticked a lot off their ever more ambitious musical 'to do' list. Producing a back catalog of awesome tunes, launching and successfully running their own record label Ape music. Within their home grown record label finding time to nurture new talent under their creative well and truly gigged wings. As well as produce their own tracks and remixed an abundance of masterpieces.

Offering up probably the best live breakbeat sets in the South West. Ben and Lex are certainly well traveled playing with International DJs such as Rennie Pilgrem, Freq Nasty and The Freestylers along the way. Being unofficially crowned King and errm King of South West Breakbeat Ben and Lex have quite a collection of awards.
Bagging awards 2 years running at the South West drum n bass awards for 'Best Breaks DJ' and 'Outstanding Contribution to the Breaks scene' as well as a Breakspoll for their bi-weekly radio show.

With this being the very first issue of SWU Magazine we thought it was only fair to ask these two local legends a few questions.

So, you have been playing as Ben & Lex for over 10 years. When did you first hook up and how did you become a double act?

Ben: "We met at university down here, Lexy had no decks so used to come and use mine. He was DJing hip-hop at the time and I was playing more DnB & techno. We decided we wanted to DJ together and kinda settled on the (at the time) brand new & blossoming NuSkool breaks scene as it let us meet in the middle tempo wise. Then we got our residency at Beatz & Bobz which was a big honor for us as it is one of the first ever breaks nights in the country."

Lex: "Ignore what he said, it was when he finally answered my lonely hearts advert in the back of DJ mag."

10 plus years is a long time to be working so closely together, it must get intense at times. Has it ever come to blows?

Lex: "Yep" He laughs "I have thrown him down a flight of stairs at six in the morning and kicked him down the high street. Generally copious amounts of booze quash any man argument... normally."

Ben: "Yes. What an asshole...

Lex what annoys you about Ben?

"I hate it when he steals the duvet and won't let me snuggle."

What would you say is Lex's most irritating habit Ben?

"He snores loudly, sometimes even when he is awake. Most of the time he makes me drive to and from gigs."

Tell us about the funniest thing that's happened in your career?

Ben: "We both agree that it was when Lex went crowd jumping at the front of our headlining Thursday night set at the Glade last year. He was moshing away when some lass in the front row put her hands in the air. That would normally be a great reaction to a set but this time it resulted in Lex being punched in the face and getting a massive black eye! Ha ha!"

Lex: "Hmmmmm"

So Ape music, how was that idea born? Who is currently signed to Ape? Are there any new talent signings on the horizon?

Ben: "It was born after the club night we ran of the same name. We had loads of tunes that we wanted released that we had played there and just decided the best way to do that was to start our own label."

Lex: "We currently have the massively awesome Freerange DJ's signed to the label who have been topping out the download charts in all the shops. As well as international act Enough Weapons from South Africa. As the year goes on you can expect to see some more new blood, local producers like Pulsar and Fred V and some top notch no expense spared remixes from some of the scenes biggest players. And of course, us."

2010 diary seems to be filling up nicely for you both, with sets at Glastonbury, Aeon, and stepping onto foreign soil. How has it been since signing to Cut La Roc's agency? How did that come about?

Ben: "I think he just asked us to join." He laughs

Lex: "Yeah basically he grabbed us one day at a gig we were doing with him and said he liked the cut of our jib and asked 'did we want to join his agency'. Which, to be honest was pretty mental as he was one of the people that got me into the Big Beat/ Breaks sound in the first place and is a bit of a legend."

You have picked up various awards at the South West Drum & Bass awards did you expect this? Did you write a speech just in case?

Ben: "I didn't write a speech. I make Lex do all the talking if we collect awards."

Lex: "It was really cool to win as DJ's the first year we won an award, but we weren't expecting to win the Outstanding Contribution award this year. That was ace, and quite rightly so." He says grinning.

So Lex, you have stepped towards to the digital side and now mix it up on CDJ's, how did that happen? Are you happy you made the move? Does that make life easier for you Ben?

Lex: "It was more of a necessity than a desire really. I am still a proper vinyl junkie and collect to the point of having a spare room completely full of them. Which my wife loves obviously". He says with a slight hint of sarcasm. "It was just really difficult to get sent upfront tunes on vinyl because as the market dwindled so did the money to press vinyl promos. I do now have to say that I love CDJ's as they let you do so much more than just straight beat mixes."

Ben: "It makes it really easy for us to burn tunes from our studio the same day as we finishes them so that is definitely a big plus."

I heard you drop a Rage Against The Machine track into your set a while back, whose record box did that come from? What's the idea behind mixing it up and stepping away from Breakbeat to other genres?

Ben: "We have always played other genres from day one, because the whole idea of breaks was that it drew influence from all styles of music which let you totally mix and match styles in our sets."

Lex: "I dropped that tune coz it was the week they went to No.1 due to the Facebook campaign so I knew it would go down a storm and the Devon crowd is always up for a good mosh."

You have both done your time working in a record shop. If I gave you a quid to put in a jukebox and choose any 4 tracks what would they be?

Ben: "Boards of Canada 'Happy Cycling', Plasticman, 'Spastik', Jeff Mills 'The Bells' and Autechre 'Yulquen'."

Lex: "Jeebus... Too hard...That's basically the hardest question for me. Depends pon de mood." He pauses for quite some time. "Albums maybe... something from Stevie Wonder's 'Songs In the Key of Life', 'As' probably." He pauses "Something by Biggie, probably 'Party & Bullshit." He pauses, again. "Hmmm... then maybe 'Sweet Child of Mine' by Guns'n'Roses and then I reckon 'The Thrill is Gone' by BB King. Phew." Phew indeed!

What's in the pipeline for Ben and Lex? C'mon you can tell us!

Ben: "Oooooh I can't tell you that.... Oh all right then. We have a stupidly busy year still to come and quite a few new Ben & Lex originals on the horizon which is cool as it's been a lot of remixing so far this year. It's a hard life!

Lex: "Depends on what I've eaten."


Go figure - benandlex.co.uk