Mød Wichita Recordings and Management
Inden SPOT Festival 2019 introducerer vi dig til flere af de internationale branchepersoner, som har bekræftet deres deltagelse på årets SPOT Festival. Her kan du møde Ben Wileman fra Wichita. Du kan møde alle MXD’s internationale gæster til MXD’s Superbowl, vores årlige SPOT networking-arrangement mellem den internationale og danske musikbranche, som finder sted lørdag d. 4. maj i Aarhus Bowlinghal.
Name: Ben Wileman
Company: Wichita Recordings and Management
Title: General Manager
Based in: London, UK
Can you tell us a bit about the company’s history and its roster? After he sold Creation Records to Sony at the end of the 90s, Dick Green, along with Creation’s head of A&R at the time, Mark Bowen, decided to start a new label together and Wichita Recordings is the result. Beginning in 2000, the label’s early releases included albums from Bright Eyes, My Morning Jacket and Her Space Holiday. Since then we have been the home to the likes of Bloc Party, The Cribs, The Bronx, Kid606, Saul Williams, First Aid Kit, Simian Mobile Disco, Cloud Nothings and Ride, amongst many others. We also started a management company in 2009 and on that side we work with Gold Panda, Open Mike Eagle, Luke Abbott, Shigeto, Baba Ali and Drahla.
– and a bit about the acts you personally work with at this moment? I have worked here since 2005 and am currently working on recently released and forthcoming albums from Froth, Indoor Pets, Ride, Oscar, Health&Beauty amongst others. There is also new music to come soon from the wonderful Scent.
What was the moment you decided you wanted to work with music? I started working at a record shop in Nottingham whilst I was at university and very quickly was working there 5 or 6 days a week whilst not going to classes. I guess the writing was on the wall then…
What are your favourite Danish acts? Well, my music taste has been all over the place since the age of 10, so I have enjoyed Danish music from many different scenes… hip hop was my first love and around the time he was winning DMC championships, I was a big fan of DJ Noize (we even put on a show for him with Supernatural in Nottingham whilst I lived there), I have always enjoyed seeing Efterklang live – a fantastic band! Noxagt! And an excellent solo album by Kjetil D. Brandsdal from that band. When it comes to free music / jazz scene… John Tchicai is a legend – if you played with Trane, you’re good by me. And how could I forget my good friend and free-jazz drummer Ståle Liavik Solberg. Not so long ago I saw the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra at Ronnie Scott’s – that was a fantastic show. And how could I visit Aarhus without a shout out to the city’s fantastic Regelbau crew – Central, C.K., DJ Sports etc. Top notch house / techno / electronic music – some of my favourites of recent years.
Best show you’ve ever seen hands down? Very, very tough question! The most important was Main at Jacksons Lane Community Centre in Highgate in… 1994. That was the night I discovered Jim O’Rourke and he has been a hugely important figure in my music world ever since… that’s probably the show that started the dominos falling on the way to me working in music today. Beyond that… Gang Starr at the Astoria in 1999 ? NO! Tom Waits at Hammersmith Apollo in 2004. Yup, that one. There have been so many great shows! I could say This Is Not This Heat at EartH a few weeks back. I could say the Arkestra at Ronnie Scott’s last Friday!
