Metal Contraband’s Chelsea recently spoke with Ben Lumber of Acres, to discuss the new album The Host, their tours, TikTok, and more. Check it out below:
Chelsea here, happy to be joined virtually by Ben Lumber of Acres. How are you doing today?
Hey. What’s up? I’m good, thank you.
Awesome, you’ve got so much going on in your world right now, and I’m excited to talk with you about it all. So to start things off, you recently had a few tour dates. So has everything been going on the road?
Yeah, well they were U.S., we haven’t done the UK in quite a while, which is a surprise. So yeah, UK we haven’t been to for quite a while, but we’ve just done the US with The Plot In You, Boundaries, and Holding Absence. It was great, like we’re still kind of pinching ourselves right now that…it’s wild, a couple of years ago we were like, oh, we’d love to go and tour the States, and now this is, in a couple of weeks will be our third time coming over in two years. So yeah, the tour was great. Most dates were sold out. Love The Plot guys. And so, yeah. Awesome tour.
Very cool. Well, it’s your third time coming to the U.S. in two years, and also your third album, The Host that’s coming out very soon, and is actually produced by Landon of The Plot In You who, like you said, you toured with not that long ago. So something tells me some creative fun conversations must’ve come out of that tour.
Yeah, we did actually do Europe with them as well. And, yeah, I mean, just talking to him and meeting him and the guys for the first time. Just like, Landon’s Landon. He’s so good at everything he does. Like, I’m a big fan of Plot, even before we did tour with them. So like, his songwriting skills and just his production. And he is just like a musical wit, you know? I mean, he’s so good at whatever he touches. So, yeah, when we first met up and started speaking about the record, I was very stoked to be able to get in with him.
Now, tell me more about the actual production process and what he brought to it, what you guys brought to it, how that all went.
Yeah, for the first time on a record ever, we went with like nothing. So normally with our last two albums, we’ve been so prepared, like all the demos have been done and the best we can physically get them. And, this time we went out with two half done instrumentals, just rough, just literally two. And the whole point of that was to really go there and almost lean on Landon as well. I’ve always wanted a fifth member, a producer, to be like a fifth member of the band. So we purposely went with like nothing, just to really just see what we could create in this month we went over there and yeah, just really push ourselves. And we’ve always wanted to change sounds with each record and kind of evolve. So that was the whole point. We didn’t want to write the same thing twice and we’ve always said that. So yeah, just literally going with with no box, no ceiling, no specific ideas in mind. Let’s just see what we make.
So awesome, and you made some great stuff as well. What we’ve heard of The Host so far is really cool. And it also, like you said, it does seem like you guys are evolving. It seems like you do tend to get a little heavier with each album, so can you talk about that decision musically? Is it something that’s just kind of happening naturally as you go along?
Yeah, I think so, because every record, every time we do an album, we say, oh, this is the heaviest Acres have ever been. And then it just seems to get heavier, which is why, if you go back to a few years ago after Lonely World and having discussions of record two, I wanted to become a pop band. Initially I came out and was just like, yeah, I think we should go poppier, not rockier. Like, I don’t want to shout anymore. And, yeah, it’s just wild how that changes. And now every time we say this is the heaviest, heaviest stuff we’ve ever done and the next release, we come back in and it’s changed and almost got heavier.
You’re like, “Actually, THIS one is, and the next one is too”. Yeah, that’s funny. So the thing is, you said about wanting to go more poppy, that’s kind of a fine line. I feel like the metalcore genre kind of toes that line anyway, because there is that combo of the harsh vocals with the melodic, and there’s always opportunities to push it more in either direction.
Yeah, and especially with us, because I love pop music. I’m a sucker for pop music. And I always, especially when I’m writing the choruses, they have to be the best choruses I can write, and half of the time I’m writing pop choruses just over rock songs and Burning Throne, it was a rock album, but you can definitely call it pop at points. So then we have Lonely World, so it’s very much like after Lonely World, do we go a poppier direction and just become a pop rock band, or do we just…yeah, see what happens? And I mean, we wrote the second record in Covid and Alex, who wrote all the instrumentals, is a big post-hardcore guy. So with him writing, there was no way it was going to be pop. And I’m glad we didn’t go that way, because I love the second record we did, and it’s allowed us to evolve into what has become The Host And I mean, even The Host, I don’t think you can just call it a Metalcore record. There are some poppy elements on there. There’s really, the poppy song we’ve ever done. So yeah, it’s cool just to be able to be a little diverse. And I feel like with this record, we are showing just different sides to the band.
Definitely. I think that’s also a cool aspect of the modern metal world, is that things aren’t too strictly in boxes where it’s like, if you’re a thrash band, you have to be a thrash band. And if you go outside of that, people are going to be like, “What are they doing”? You know, I feel like you have a little more opportunity to experiment. And especially in a genre that’s, you know, “metalcore” kind of used loosely, you can have some some different pop and even a little bit prog and just different elements coming in. I feel like you guys do a really good job with that.
Yeah, it was super fun. And, as I said, just going with no grand idea in mind enabled us to do that a bit more this time. I feel like we didn’t do it enough on Burning Throne, and now this time, having not gone out with everything prepared and “Right, this is what we have to do”, that just allowed us to write and really get creative with the whole process and then churn out ideas as we wanted them to turn out.
And it also makes me curious about your background as a vocalist as well, since you do have that kind of pop inclination, but you also do such a great job with harsh vocals. We all know and love you in your Acres era, but what was the pre-Acres era like, and when did you first realize you had that ability to switch and have the balance with the harsh and the clean?
Yeah, I mean, so I was…I sung in a band called Out For Tomorrow, my first ever band, and I think I joined that when I was 17. And it was just like kind of like You Me At Six. You might say at the time, we were all into You Me At Six and, kind of post-hardcore-y, poppy rock and that band broke up, and I had a message from Acres who had lost their vocalist because they had a guy before me for about a year, and they showed me one of their songs, and it was all shouting. And then originally I was just like, I’ve never done shouting or screamed in my life. So I don’t think this is for me. But they said, no, we want to branch out to singing, and we have all this material ready to go, which was our first EP with me, which was In Sickness. So yeah, then I kind of thought about it and demoed the song “Miles Apart”, and I just kind of went from there. And then two weeks later, I jumped on tour with them and we did a month in Europe, and I only got to sing one of my songs and the rest was shouting. So I had to totally blew my voice out on like, day two and had no voice the whole tour. And that was kind of how I shouted. And I guess I just learned to do it over time. I was never taught or I didn’t get lessons, just I guess, adapted the technique, which I’m still trying to get down to this day. So yeah, it was definitely a hard transition.
Pretty much just thrown into the fire there. Like, “You’re doing this now, that’s it”.
Yeah, it was wild. It was a headline tour as well. So I think that was like 10, 11 songs and only one had singing. And it was so new to me. But I guess kind of cool just to be thrown straight in there and just start, the best way was just to get on with it.
Definitely, yeah. Sometimes it’s one of those things where the situation just presents itself and it’s like, you could give it a try and you never know, you might discover something new about yourself. And in this case, you really did. So that worked out.
So yeah, I’ve been trying to learn ever since. *laughs*
*laughs* Well you’re doing a great job so far, and the most recent music video we’ve seen from you guys is for “Bloodlust”, which is an incredible song. Also has that good balance between the harsh and clean. So can you tell me about the making of the video and the track?
Yeah, the track was like one of the first songs we cooked up in the studio, and straight away it was like, it had that dark, kind of sexy vibe to it, I think. And even with the lyrics, Jack wrote that song, lyrics, the melodies, because we both did the album together and, yeah, we both agreed it was kind of dark and sexy and when I first heard it, I just had like, I don’t know why, Just like cannibalism and things like that in my mind. And I was just like, this could be cool. And yeah, Jamie, who directed the video, really did a good job of bringing it to life. And one thing Acres has never done is have a running theme for an album, and even just the ideas that we had turned into this horror film, and we managed to get every video to run into each other and just have a whole campaign based around it, which we’ve never done. So yeah, Jamie and his team worked so hard that day to get that video done. And I’m super stoked with how it turned out.
And I love that idea. I mean, obviously horror and metal go hand in hand so nicely, and it’s not necessarily a concept album per se, but just having a theme and a little bit of storytelling going on behind it, I think is really cool.
Yeah. Like I said, we’ve never thought about, or had a team to help us think about that. So we’ve just shot a music video and then that guy, we’ve gone to reshoot another one and that guy’s not free, so we’ve gone with somebody else. So it’s just all of it jumbled. Whereas yeah, this time we we hired Jamie to do everything. He did the artwork, he did all the videos and everything runs together, which is pretty cool. So it’s been really cool just to have a lot of that, and especially for content and things, just to play with, and it seems to be working nicely.
I mean, speaking of content, it’s definitely important for any band to have a social media presence, but I think you’ve probably got a little more than the average metal vocalist from your social media, especially your TikTok. I mean, as big of a following as metal has, it feels like there’s still not a ton of metal on TikTok, but you definitely make the balance of, TikTok-friendly family kind of content, tying in with also promoting Acres, showcasing your music, and also Harper’s Music too. So can you talk to me about that whole thing?
Yeah, my wife’s a big TikToker here in the – you know, not big big, but she’s a TikToker in the UK who’s pretty popular and it just seemed fun, like, it’s just cool to make family content. And especially, I had this chat with someone the other day, I don’t have a lot of videos or photos of me as a kid. And it’s always nice that, to always be filming and having these moments of your kids and your family, and it’s something that they’ll always be able to look back on. So yeah, TikTok’s just a fun thing. And I’m still learning to balance the family stuff, because my audience on TikTok is family. So when I do post Acres and metal, they’re just like, what the fuck is this? Yeah, some people get it. And yeah, we have Harper as well. Harper’s killing it. Super fun kind of being on the other side of the industry and helping her grow and develop and even showing her new music. All of that has been really fun.
Definitely, I would like to ask you more about Harper as well. I mean, first off, when when did you first discover her incredible vocals? And then also, you brought up a good point that you as a vocalist are now kind of stepping behind the scenes and having someone else shine as a vocalist as well. So you are seeing both sides of the industry, literally in that case.
Yeah. So we, I was demoing Burning Throne because of Covid, I couldn’t go to a studio and demo vocals like we were for Lonely World, so the band bought me like a small recording setup like a mic, and I had to teach myself how to record vocals and start demoing at home for the whole of Covid and Harper kept coming in and being like, “Can I sing a song? Can I sing a song?” And I remember “Holy Roller” at the time had just come out. So I said, I’ll show you a band. I played her Spiritbox, and she was just like, yeah, I could do that. And I was like, sure, okay, let’s do it. And yeah, we recorded like 30 seconds of it. And I remember listening back and just being like, this sounds incredible for someone who’s just jumped on the microphone and done it, and I showed it to Alex in our band, and he was like, dude, you have to finish that and put it on YouTube. And that’s exactly what we did. And I mean, Harper’s like…I’ve been with Harper’s mum since Harper was like 18 months old. So even when I’d come out of the studio and show Hannah demos and I would say to Harper, like, “Oh, sing the alphabet, or this nursery rhyme like Ben”, and she would end up screaming it when she was like four. We just learned the technique over time. And then it was only when we did this, yeah, I discovered, like “your voice is great”, and just literally went, and she’s been doing it ever since.
That’s so amazing. Just naturally came out, born to be a metal vocalist. That’s fantastic!
Yeah. She’s so good. And she does things even when we’re recording here or demoing and she’s able to do things with her voice that I still can’t, and almost like elite level vocalists who can scream and shout can do, and I’m just…yeah, she’s just good. *laughs*
Learning some lessons from her as well, I guess.
Yeah, because when she started, Melissa Cross got in touch, and she had lessons with Melissa. So it was super interesting just sitting in and watching those guys, and hearing Melissa’s take on it, which was really cool. And, yeah, I mean, as for being on the other side, it’s just nice to show her bands and kind of help her in everything she wants to do, if she comes to me with an idea, I kind of can help initiate it. So yes it’s cool.
Very cool. Yes, I did also want to ask you about Melissa Cross. I saw that you’ve connected with her, and she’s a legend, there’s no doubt that must be amazing. But are there any specific kind of stories or lessons that you’ve taken away from any experiences with her?
Yeah, I’ve met her twice now. She came to New York and she’s so lovely and we spoke all the time on the phone over Zoom when she was doing, like, Harper’s school or Harper’s lessons. I would end up sitting and talking to her just for an hour or two, sometimes, after. And even my son and the rest of my family would run into the into here and she’d start talking to them. So we just grew this really nice connection and she always says to me, anything you need, like you guys, you, Garrett from Silent Planet, a bunch of other vocalists, she’s always like, “I’ve always got you”. So she’s so nice, she’s really kind in everything she’s done for Harper, like she’s been with Harper every step of the way. As soon as the cover of Holy Roller come out, she got in touch, she wanted to help. She did America’s Got Talent, she was warming her up every morning, and, Download Festival we had, she was going over the sets, so yeah, she’s just been like, so kind to all of us. And I always tell her how much I appreciate her and everything she’s done for us.
That’s awesome. I definitely want to dig a little more into Acres while we still have time, but while we’re still on the topic of your TikTok, tell me about the frogs real quick. The “Frog Saga”.
*laughs* Yeah, I don’t think they’re doing too good, I’m not sure how they’re doing, and I’m not…yeah, I found the frog and all this frog spawn, and we went from putting them in a bucket to putting them into, like, a paddling pool to, now I have a full blown pond in the garden.
You basically adopted them.
Yeah! But they’re just not doing anything. There’s no telling what’s going on. And we’ve been trying our best, but, yeah, I’m still waiting for them to hatch or do anything, but the mama frogs gone, so I don’t know where she’s gone.
Oh no, well, hopefully everything turns out okay.
Yeah, I’m playing mama frog right now.
Basically, yeah! That’s great. So back to Acres, you also did some shows with Currents and Miss May I not that long ago, and I’ve always been a fan of both those bands. So I’d love to hear about your experience from that tour.
Yeah, they’re really cool. Like, Currents are like the nicest dudes. We had a couple of problems, we were due to swap busses over between Europe and Ireland, and the drivers got it all wrong and we were pretty much stranded. And Currents were just like, yo, just come with us on our bus. And they didn’t charge us anything, they were super accommodating. And I know Chris from, he worked on a Harper song with me years ago, so it was just cool to really meet them, and they’re such a great band as well.
Definitely, that’s awesome. Now, besides this preview of The Host that we’ve gotten so far with the music videos and everything, what else can you tell us right now about what to expect from the album, or about what you’re looking forward to getting out there once the album is fully released?
Yeah. So we have a song coming out on Friday, the one I’ve been super excited for, which is called “Built to Bleed”. We were playing on The Plot In You tour, and it seemed to be going down really well, and even had like people saying, “When’s this song dropping? You played a song, when’s this one coming out?” So I’m really excited for that one. And also there’s a song on the record called “Around Again”, which is the one I mentioned, was like the poppiest song Acres have ever done. It sounds nothing like Acres and I personally love that song. And those two are like the ones I’ve been really excited to come out so they’re the next two to come.
Very cool, no, I always love when bands do that, just kind of slip a new song in on the setlist that makes people turn their heads and go, “wait, I don’t know that one”. And that’s just the perfect thing to build the hype for the album coming out.
Yeah, we’ve done it a few times, we did it on this tour, “Built to Bleed” and on, I think on the last tour, the one in Europe we did, we closed on “Leave You To Rot”, which wasn’t even out yet. And, a few people were like, “That’s stupid, closing on a song which isn’t out”, and then a few people are like, “That’s kind of ballsy”. So it’s been fun just playing, because we’ve had so much material we’ve been writing and coming out with at the moment. It’s been fun just to chuck new ones in that no one knows and see how people react to them, especially live, and how it’s going to go down.
Definitely, live is the best way because you get that instant interaction, and you’ll see exactly how they’re reacting in the moment.
Yeah. “Built To Bleed” on The Plot tour was really fun to play and I’m excited for Friday.
It’s a great song, so we’re all excited to hear it too, and it looks like you’ve got a pretty crazy touring schedule for the spring. You’re heading out on the road soon with Beartooth, Gideon, Until I Wake, The Callous Daoboys, that’s a great lineup right there with you guys too. So how are you feeling going towards that tour and what else is coming up for Acres right now?
Yeah, really stoked for this tour. We’ve got the first half with Devil Wears Prada and then we do some Beartooth shows and it’s kind of become like a running joke in the Acres camp because our manager is…he does tour managing and sometimes sound for Beartooth, so every month we’re like, when are we going to get a Beartooth tour? We need to get a Beartooth tour, and he’s like, yeah, it’s not up to me. We played a show in London with Miss May I, and Caleb came to see us, and, yeah, super scary, but we were just stoked after that to get an offer for a couple of Beartooth shows. So super stoked for that. And then for the rest of the year, we have The Host coming out, and then we just confirmed another US tour for the fall, which I’m excited for.
Lots of exciting things. The Host coming out, the new single coming out, all these tour dates coming up for you, especially in the US. We all appreciate that. So it’ll be great to see you guys coming out here and touring. So thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me. This has been awesome getting to know more about you, and your music, and your family, and best of luck with everything. Thank you so much for your time.
Hell yeah, thank you for having me on.