mt: Give me five facts about you!

Ben: Five facts...hmmm...(laughs)

mt: It can be any kind of facts, it can be that you like scarves. It doesn't matter...anything.

Ben: Let's start with I really like cats and kittens and my mum is a cat breeder, ummm, hang on and let me really quickly think. (Laughs) When I was 10, I had a denim jacket which I still have, like a jean jacket, which had, actually, I can look at right now, it had about 11 Def Leppard patches on the back and some AC/DC ones and Judas Priest ones and I still have it now and it was like when I was 10 years old, I used to get my mum to sew all the badges on...it is pretty cool, I even have a Metallica one on there as well, so I am tough as well.

mt: You can't still wear it now can you?

Ben: It is kind of small, but I do sometimes take it out on nights because it always creates a lot of hilarity. Sometimes when I DJ in a couple of places I bring it along and hang it up at the back of the DJ booth as like a tribute to really give it the rock vibe.

mt: So that is three.

Ben: When I was 7 years old there was a dare that my cousins dared me, you know at a play park there is a slide and I had to go down the slide on a skateboard and the reason was for initiation to the cool gang and if I could do it without hurting myself I could be in the cool gang. So a couple of kids, did it before me and did it fine and I wanted to be in the cool gang, so I did it and got busted up, fell off and really badly hurt my head to the point of stitches and staples to hold it back together. I still have a scar back there now. Moral of the story is don't ever try to be in the cool gang. Don't try too hard to worry about what people think of you because you end up getting hurt. A great lesson to us all.

mt: One more...

Ben: So we have the cats, the jacket, the slide and the skateboard...and when I was 17 I took part in a Viking re-enactment weekend. I didn't want it to happen, but it ended up sort of happening. I had a friend who wanted to do it and I said I would go along for the weekend. After much arguing I was allowed to take part in this Viking re-enactment thing. I am not sure if you are familiar and if you have stuff like that in America...

mt: Yea, I am aware of it. Not Viking, but they do have that sort of thing. (laughs)

Ben: Well there were...well let's not be abusive...individuals decide to dress up like Vikings and have massive fights and I remember I don't know why I was doing it...but when I got there I was taken to the head of the Vikings and my friend said "this is my friend Ben can he be a take part in the fight as a Viking" and he was like, "well probably a bit too young to take part as a warrior so we will let him be a peasant, which means he can do village work...and I was like "for fuck's sake if I am going to be a loser for the weekend, I might as well be a loser that gets to fight instead of sewing up bags and making shoes."

mt: I am going to be a loser, you are so funny. (both laugh)

Ben: I was finally allowed to take part, but only as a peasant so I had to wear a sack and have a spear. I got killed in like the seventh second of the battle by a class II Knight who has been doing it every weekend since 1981.

mt: That is so funny, well it takes all kinds of people.

Ben: So the fact there is once I was a Viking Peasant and I was killed by a Knight.

mt: How would you describe your music to someone not familiar with it?

Ben: It's a combination of...it comes from a real passion of Classic Rock a lot of 80's rock bands, not so much the sleazy side like Crue or Poison, but the more melodic side of things...and the song writing structure side of things like the three part vocal harmonies and a lot of the sensibilities of the song writing that came with that era of music. The combination of those kinds of 80's bands with modern contemporary, darker music with a bit more of an edge to it. Because as well as being into a lot of 80's bands from Bon Jovi to The Cult, Toto, Cheap Trick we are also into heavier bands that almost border hard core, but if you listen to our music, both of those elements are evident in the music.

mt: How did you come up with the name of the band?

Ben: A lot of bands go through all their favorite albums and look for a song name that inspires them. I was looking through a bunch of records and this name came up twice. Once on a Dokken record and once on a Steely Dan record and it really struck me as the perfect name for my band. It totally summed up for me, what the songs for this band are about. It is a turn on the phrase, Day By Day...the experience which is usually boring. Going to the post office and having buy a new sock or something whereas the Night By Night experience are the high emotions...a lot of excitement or fear or lust or happiness, really strong emotions occur in the night I find. It captured that and visually it has symmetry to it...but more from a thematic point of view because it fit in with what I wanted the songs to be about.

mt: If you could meet any one person dead or alive who would it be and why?

Ben: Great question...one person. I don't know because there is this constant reminder...there is this old saying that you should never meet your hero because what you see of your hero is usually the greatest stuff they did. They are immortalized by a great movie or a great song, and that is your perception of them. Perhaps if you were to meet them perhaps they weren't what you thought them to be...and what could you really say to them? Wow, I really like the guitar solo on that song, the scene in the movie, the chapter in the book. It might just be weird and awkward. So it is a real difficult question answer. So if I could put those worries aside and I could meet the person and thank them for their influence on me, I think it would probably be Steve Clark, the original guitarist from Def Leppard who died in 1991. He was a massive inspiration on me.

mt: If you could be invisible, fly or stop time, which would you pick and why?

Ben: Probably not be invisible because I like people looking at me.

mt: (laughs) That's great.

Ben: What would be the point in me buying all the new scarves, belts and hats? (laughs)

mt: That's true...(both laugh)

Ben: Unless...it were some weird invisible man thing were my clothes could be seen, but I couldn't be seen....and I could wear a hat and belt and that's all, but what if it wears off...ok let's not be invisible. (both laugh) Ummm...I think it would have to be stop time because, I hate to be technical about this, but the other two would have possible repercussions that might be detrimental. It is very complicated Jo...I will say stop time and figure out the small print later.

mt: What would you be doing if you weren't a musician?

Ben: Strangely enough I have had three other vocations at a young age presented to me and I wondered if I wanted to pursue them or not. One of them as football/soccer, artist, and I studied drama. I don't think I ever would have been an actor, but maybe writing and directing of productions. That is something I would have definitely pursued if I didn't have music. I could still create and express emotions that is very important to me.

mt: Take me through the song writing process of the band.

hen: Someone will come up with a riff or a melody and then from that point everyone else will come in and add or take away and bring their experience to the process.

mt: Give me one word to describe each person in the band.

The drummer, Moyanno, I would say: inspirational

The bassist, Johnny: impassioned

Iain: indestructible

They all begin with an I!

mt: They do!

Ben: Nice!

mt: How about yourself?

Ben: Ummm...(laughs) amazing, unbelievable...

mt: great, wonderful...

Ben: I would say, the one word would be, hang out, I need the dictionary again...I would say friendly...that would be me.

mt: That's true...now let's dig a little deeper...your worst habit and best trait.

Ben: Oh nice, nice, very nice...real searching questions. I never ever lose my temper and my worst habit is probably I would say, now and then I have one or two drinks too many, not a lot, not always, but I have a habit every now and then I should probably go home, but I don't.

mt: Well these things happen, there are far worse things in life. As far as the band is concerned, can you give me your goals for the next 6-12 months.

Ben: Get an album out and then get on the road in the next year supporting that with a really good band. That is the key aim.

mt: If you could put the ultimate tour together who would you want to tour with?

Ben: I would love to support, Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, but more realistic? That is a real difficult question. I think really to support the bands that inspired me to play.

Fast Facts about Ben

Height: 5' 10"

Shoe Size: 9.5

Fave Food: Sushi

Fave Color: Red

Fave Scent: Coconut

Fave Drink: White Russian

Fave Movie: Probably, fuck...Spinal Tap, because it never stops being funny.

Fave Place: English Countryside

Fave Band: Def Leppard

Fave Indulgence: To play a video game for 3 days!