We’re supporting creatives like you to connect with who and what you need. We’re gonna feature local talent needing some know-how to get them to the next level. Let’s look out for each other. Keep dropping in to see who can help you.
We’ll be talking to a new creative every week. This week we’re chatting with Ben, guitarist in the band The Sparrows, based in Dudley. If you wanna work with Ben, or get involved with a project get in contact with him @ben_oakley_ts on instagram.
Tell me a little bit about yourself and what you do…
I’m a guitarist, in the small band The Sparrows. I’m also studying music at college and helping out a few groups around the area.
As a young band, what would you need for more people to find out about you?
We need more opportunities and exposure. If we intend on performing somewhere we need to make sure if they have the right licensing for the music. Most of the time if you want to find out if venues have the right licensing you have to into them. Sometimes we’re not able to do that due to our age. If we want to play at a pub or something, we have to get one of our older members to help us get in to perform.
Ben is looking for more venues where he and his band, The Sparrows, can perform.
What issues are there within Dudley that you’d change?
There isn’t really a network in Dudley for creative people to meet; almost like a talent exchange. As for the social media side, human interaction would do wonders and would benefit creative people more.
Could you expand a bit more on that for us?
I think there should be more open spaces for socialising, as there’s not really any places like that around here. I’d always hang out with my friends, and find that wherever I go, it’s often crowded, so more places like that would definitely be good for the area.
How did COVID affect your life?
Being inside all the time affected me a lot and led to me being unhealthy, as usually I’d be walking 2 miles to school, 5-days a week and then out of nowhere, everything gets shut down and I stopped exercising all together.
In some ways, it did help and in other ways it was worse mentally. I had to start getting help for mental health online over calls, rather than in-person so it lost a bit of the human touch to it. However, being away from all the problems I had before COVID gave me some room to breathe and think about things.
If you’re interested in what Ben has spoken about, drop her a DM on @ben_oakley_ts or contact Lyfeproof UK to connect you.
