How is everyone’s 2019 so far? Ben Scott here, the creator and performer of Ultimatum.
I wanted to take a moment to introduce you to some of my wider work within the music industry as a performer. As a signed-up and fully subscribed member of London’s professional musician community, I’m certainly not in a minority in having a great many projects ongoing at the same time.
In creating a project like Ultimatum, I had to call upon a vast array of skills, all of which have been honed through the diverse range of projects I’ve worked on over my years as a professional musician. Principally these can be boiled down into four categories:
Performance
Musical Direction
Frontmanship
Music Production
Let me explain…
Live Performance is perhaps the soul reason many musicians begin to study their craft in the first place. The feeling of moving thousands of people by expressing yourself on an instrument you’ve dedicated your life to is one that words are not fit to describe. Here’s one of my highlight gigs of 2018, when it was a huge privilege to play drums for Tom Walker in a show at Cardiff’s BBC Biggest Weekend.
I had the great pleasure of perfuming with The Beach for a number of years, and here is a video of us performing his hit single Bite My Tongue at Brixton Academy. During this period I came to know world-renown music director Kojo Samuel (Plan B, Jess Glynne, Jessie J), who in addition to the aforementioned artists, was the musical director for The Beach. I learned a huge amount during this time, and it led to me becoming a musical director in my own right, where in 2017/18 I was privileged to work with a selection of up-and-coming artists in ensuring their live show was the best in could possibly be.
What is a Musical Director?
The job of a musical director is to facilitate every possible element concerning the live music of an artist. It’s a huge responsibility. Whether that’s souring musicians for the artist, handling budgets on behalf of the label, or engaging with modern technology in order to boost the overall performance - the list is as endless as the musical director chooses!
And finally Music Production. Ever since I’ve known how to write a song, I’ve produced music; both for myself, with other artists, and of course - for Ultimatum! Here’s a great clip of Canadian-German artist Bülow who I perform with, and who I learned a great deal from in her masterful blend of music production, and her integration of it in a live music environment. While I didn’t produce this song - I wish I did!
When it comes to Frontmanship, it has been a great privilege to take this role, as well as band leader, for high-end events entertainment act Festival Sons. It’s a hugely enjoyable band to be a part of, and we’ve been lucky to perform all over the world t0 clients including Google, Topshop, and a great many happy couples!
Thank you once again for reading and discovering more about the Ultimatum story!