Blaenavon:
‘Everything That Makes You Happy’
photo by Luke Farely
Blaenavon is an English indie rock band based out of Hampshire. The band is composed of Ben Gregory (vocals), Frank Wright (bass) and Harris McMillan (drums). The band formed in 2013, and released their first album in 2017.
The band came together when they were 14 years old and attending their local secondary school. The band grew from being a simple pastime as the boys won their final year talent contest in 2013 - performing a cover of Muse's "Knights of Cydonia". They played their first London gig at the Camden Assembly and penned a recording deal with Transgressive Records. They released their debut, Koso EP, in 2013 and produced their second, Miss World EP, by the end of 2015.
The band released their debut album through Transgressive in 2017. The album was made up of 12 tracks and received generally positive reviews. They worked with producer Jim Abbiss (Arctic Monkeys, Adele, Bombay Bicycle Club) to record the album.
Blaenavon released their second album, Everything That Makes You Happy, on October 25th 2019.
Ben recently spoke in an open letter to fans, offering them an update on what the band have been up to, and to explain more specifically his health following a turbulent and challenging year. The letter also unveiled the new album title for the first time. Ben felt it appropriate to share this now to help fans better understand the album’s context ahead of anything being released.
In Ben’s own words, “The song is about isolation. Cutting oneself off from the world to engage in fruitless sensual pleasures and pretending everything is ok. Watching fucking Netflix and drinking a bottle of wine when you should probably instead be in therapy. But there’s a way out. Art, friendship, love. You don’t have to be a catatonic skinbag. Lol.”