Benjamin is a passionate and active member of the music and arts industry, with a diverse background in music and creative design. He is a creative designer, advisor and project manager by trade, but his true passion lies within the music and arts industry, where he is an active musician, artist manager and creative. Currently, he manages and plays in the band Howlite, and is working with a great team of creatives to help bring their latest EP release to life.

Our recent chat with Benjamin discusses his favourite campaigns and talks about the overlaps between visual creativity and music.

IM LOVING

I've always been impressed by the calibre of Australian artists, in particular at the moment I'm loving Patricia Piccinini. The way Patricia is able to create her own world through her quirky, yet uncomfortably familiar sculptures is fascinating to me.

Petrina Hicks is yet another who's photography manages to create an otherworldly space for you to explore. Her imagery is initially stunning and glossy, yet as you look closer you start to develop a more emotional connection to the stories behind the image.

Lastly though, I would have to say Darren Sylvester is my absolute favourite creative, and one that I've secretly dreamt of working with for such a long time! I'm always amazed by multidisciplinary artists, and the way Darren immerses himself in all aspects of his projects is mind boggling. Their videography and photography work in the music space is something I aspire to be a part of one day with my band Howlite.

FAVOURITE VIDEO

My all-time favourite music video is "Angel" by Massive Attack. The song itself defines a musical genre and movement that is so impactful and influential on my musical career, and the music video had a similar impact on my creative approach to music video creation. The story falls into that same category of artistry I really enjoy, one in which a story is told with no context or explanation, and allows you to build your own narrative around. The underlying emotion is so strong throughout, and it simply leaves you wanting to know more about the characters and their individual stories, as well as how they happened to connect within this moment in time.

BEST ARTWORK

The album "XX" by The XX is my all time favourite album cover. Creating simplicity in any artform is one of the hardest and most complex things to achieve, yet it's impact is so strong when done properly. This album cover has such a strong impact, yet is so simple in it's design. The power behind the cover for me is the way that it draws you in, creating a feeling that you're looking through an X-shaped keyhole, to expose the music and creativity within. Similar to Massive Attack, the artwork connects so strongly with the music itself, which again helped define a new genre and movement within the industry. The artwork and music initially feels so paired back and simple, yet as you start to immerse yourself within it, you quickly realise the genius behind it all, and how emotionally connected and impactful it is.

RECENT CAMPAIGN

I'm currently working on a new music video campaign for my band Howlite, which will span three music videos that will be shot in unison. The music video trio is in support of our soon to be released EP "Everything Will Happen", and the idea behind it all is to create that immersive, otherwordly environment for the listener to lose themselves in. There will be one underlying core story, with the three separate videos following the path of separate characters caught up within it. The characters and storylines follow different directions, yet are unified by the one underlying narrative, and often cross paths throughout.

We're fortunate enough to be working with Michael Ridley and Guy Perkins, who also happen to be musicians in the band Grand Pine. They've previously worked with some amazing artists such as Rolling Blackouts CF, Budjerah, Gordi and Pinch Points.

COLLABORATION

The recent CHVRCHES and John Carpenter collaboration has to be one of my favourite cross over projects. Bringing together the big synths and melodies of CHVRCHES with the legendary John Carpenter, who's movies such as "Escape From New York" list in my all time favourites, was such a fun idea.

HOTTEST RECENT VIDEO

The music video for "Fruit" by Hideous Bastard really stood out to me this year. Oliver Sim is such a creative genius, and it's been so amazing to watch him flourish outside of The XX as Hideous Bastard. The way that Oliver interacts with the characters and storyline is so magical, and you truly connect with how the background characters respond to him within the video. You start to feel like you're a part of the story, and you can't help but hit repeat to pick up the hidden gem details throughout. The cinematography and treatment is simply stunning as well, and only adds to the immersive power of the whole video.

LOGO LOVE

I adore Cut Copy and their branding. Simple, clean and always evolving alongside their releases and music.

GO FOLLOW

You have to follow Marc Rebillet who single-handedly motivated me through lock down. He's simply a musical genius, and you can't help but smile and lose yourself in his moments of genius

ICONIC PHOTO

The most iconic music photograph has to be the black and white photo of Iggy Pop standing atop a crowd of people, after being lifted up by them, covered in peanut butter. It's such an amazing photo, and truly capture the chaotic era that was Iggy and The Stooges.