Not many freshers in a successful band would describe themselves as a “literally normal, fairly short guy from the Midlands,” but Ben Jackson is no ordinary fresher. His band, Fight The Dice, has a long list of achievements under their belt from releasing an album to performing on the main stage at the O2 Academy in Bristol and being booked for an upcoming slot at the Vaccines after-party to name a few. However, his modesty only added to his charm as he chatted to Her Campus about music, stalkers and uni life.
So to start off, how would you describe your band’s style?
Tough question! I try not to restrict myself; I’ll write what I feel is appropriate to the song so we end up with a range of stuff. We’ve been compared to The Foo Fighters and You Me at Six, so I guess I’d describe our style as alternative rock. Having said that, we do have a modern funk rock track on our album that we did as an experiment; it was different from what we usually do but people seemed to like it – it’s a good one to dance to!
Being in band of five boys must be difficult, what would you say are the highs and lows?
Half of the time we act like an over-enthusiastic bunch of kids so it can be pretty hard keeping tensions from rising and staying focussed – especially when everyone is wasted! But we’re all really good mates and we’ve done a lot together; as soon as we get on stage we forget everything else and just have a lot of fun.
I can imagine! So, any funny stories from the band that you’d like to share with us?
Probably nothing I can tell you… Hang on, let me have think of something that might be decent to share… No sorry, nothing that would be allowed to be published!
How does Exeter compare to that crazy lifestyle then?
It’s great! So. Many. Beautiful. People! I’m pleasantly surprised by how cool everyone is! I love my block, I’m staying in St German’s and we’ve become a little family. And more importantly, I love having a double bed. I’m still getting used to Exeter’s hills, but at least it will give me tight buns!
We saw some amusing photos from your video shoot (see above), would you say you’re the ‘ladies man’ of the band?
No I try to be a good boy, mostly, (why don’t we believe this?)… Let’s just say the rest of the band is very good looking. Even so, it was really weird filming the music video; some fans turned up to be in the live scene and were incredibly excited to see us. There were plenty of photos and tears and a few boobs may have been signed- I guess I must be doing something right!
Have you ever had anyone who’s been a little bit too enthusiastic?
Well without naming any names, we have had people, not always girls, who take a little bit too much of a shine to us. Very weird situations have occurred; it all comes with the territory I guess. It is worrying what it would be like if we ever made it though! At the moment I must admit it just adds to the fun of it all.
So there you have it; our campus celebrity of the week (and a possible future celebrity to watch out for!) To listen to any of Fight The Dice’s music – I have and it’s highly recommended – just search ‘Fight The Dice’ on iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter… You name it, they’re probably on it!
www.facebook.com/fightthedice – ‘Bad Decisions’ to be released 15th October 2012
Photos via facebook.com, KirstyBennettPhotography