Ben “ExP” Goodwin is a hip-hop musician based in West Yorkshire. He has received public support for his music from icons such as DJ Format, Frankie Boyle, Rob Da Bank & Romesh Ranganathan amongst others. His music has been featured on BBC 6 Music thanks to interest from Huey Morgan & Lauren Laverne and has also been used by Eurosport for various highlight sections.

His first self-produced solo album RemarkableUnremarkable was crowdfunded into existence in 2017 having reached its target in a week. His follow-up album in 2019 Fully Fledged Fraud was successfully crowdfunded in 22 hours. He has performed solo and as a part of Flame Griller & Tough Crowd throughout the UK, supporting artists like Sugarhill Gang, Bonobo, DJ Format, Chali 2na and more.

ExP is formerly the creator and manager behind Sinoptic Music, Tough Crowd and the WYcypher, and still works as part of Flame Griller.

We caught up with Ben and here’s how it went down:

Hi Ben, thanks for the opportunity to chat. We’re massive fans of Flame Griller and your solo project here at Wave. Can you tell us a bit about yourself and how you got into music?

Hello I’m ExP, a past-it rapper (born 1985) based in West Yorkshire. I grew up in nothing short of a musical household. My Dad had a very eclectic taste in music, a lot of focus on jazz and soul, and my Mum is a classically trained violin and viola player. My older sister (by 9 years) also plays the sax and cello to a very high level. I have grade 2 piano.

How did Flame Griller come about?

Me and JND worked together since we were both 18ish after meeting at a hip-hop night in Bradford, and we knew of Addverse through his crew Shedmen after gigging with them before. I’d worked with Addverse on a few different projects and me and JND had a song we wondered if Addverse would like to rap on. And that was Wuntathought.

Are you involved with any other projects?

No longer. I ran the label Sinoptic Music until 2012, and was in a live band called Tough Crowd until a few years ago. These days it’s just solo stuff (although appearing live usually with DJ O.P.1) and a smattering of Flame Griller.

Who are some of your biggest influences/inspirations?

Michael Jackson originally, then…I dunno man there’s millions. My Dad. My Wife. Herbie Hancock. Quincy Jones. Salaam Remi. DJ Format. We’re barely scraping the tip of the iceberg here.

What is your creative process like.. How do you get in the zone?

Putting aside some specific time to create is vital, even if nothing gets accomplished during that time. I go through phases of not being able to write a single lyric that I don’t hate but I can produce ok beats, and sometimes it’s the other way round, and sometimes I can’t do either and I buzz off being creative with promotion more. Responding to what feels natural and being ultimately responsible for the entire creation is the way I’ve found works.

What would you say was your biggest achievement in music is to date?

Owning my own studio was always the goal so that’s a big deal. But then my ego spilled into needing other things like a reasonably successful track or album and I’m proud of what Flame Griller accomplished and then I was obsessed with being able to put a vinyl out and sell out the first run, and that was a big deal for me when I did that. I still buzz off the fact Romesh got me on his podcast too, what a fella.

Outside of Hip-Hop/Rap, what is your favourite music genre and why?

That should read “outside of jazz, what is your favourite music genre…” and the answer still wouldn’t be hip-hop/rap. So yeah man jazz and funk/soul are my favourite genres, when they’re good they’re perfect. It’s possible to create more beautiful music with those.

How do you feel about the internet and the transition of the industry from people buying physical media such as CD’s, to buying digital music and the use of streaming platforms?

#SpotifyBeforeYouBuy – streaming should be a convenient way of listening to a physical product you own, whether it’s a gig ticket, t-shirt or vinyl that you’re supporting the artist with, streaming alone is not enough. But of course it’s abused and people just stick to streaming. At least Spotify kind of monetised it as the norm, previously people were just stealing music. How do I feel about it? Things change and we have to adapt. It’s now harder than ever to get yourself heard in a sea of artists, but you now have access to the whole world with your music, so it pans out. I don’t wish for the days of album releases backed by big labels and very little else going on.

Whats the best advice you could give to some one who was starting out?

If you’re just starting out then regular creation and destruction is really important. Make it, record it, move on to the next thing. Listen back and learn from what was good and what wasn’t, maybe keep a close group of people, who you trust the opinions of, around you that you can send your early stuff to. Keep moving, keep producing, be careful about what content goes out at first as (from personal experience) it’s a bitch to clear the internet of your older stuff as you improve and it can come back and haunt you. Be nice, work hard, back yourself. Comparison is the thief of joy.

Who would you most like to collaborate with in the future?

My collaboration’s often come to nowt but if I could competently write to some of these damn DJ O.P.1 beats we’d have a right album on our hands.

Whats next for you and have you got anything in the pipeline for future music?

Not sure what’s next, hopefully an instrumental album but we’ll see. I’m always working on the follow up to Fully Fledged Fraud and Flame Griller have two albums in the works. It’s all a way off.

Bigup!

Massive thanks to Ben for giving us the chance to have a chat! You can check out his material below.

https://www.youtube.com/user/Experimentality
https://experimentality.bandcamp.com/
https://twitter.com/ExPorBen
https://www.instagram.com/ExPorBen/
https://www.facebook.com/ExPorBen
https://open.spotify.com/artist/10MXiX0WFbo7Fct5aFPMGp
https://soundcloud.com/experimentality