Interviews

Benjamin J Smith aka B.J. Smith, is a producer, composer, remixer and multi-instrumentalist whose career and varied musical projects include Akwaaba and Fug and more recently, White Elephant. He has worked closely with Chris Todd and Jim Baron and with Claremont 56’s Paul Murphy. Perhaps best known for his solo work, as Ben Smith with longtime collaborator Matt Klose of Crazy P, his Dedications To The Greats series on Phil Cooper’s legendary Balearic imprint, has seen him interpretate tracks by Pharcyde, Mos’ Def, Outkast, Prefab Sprout and Soul II Soul. This month he returns to NuNorthern Soul with ‘Don’t Be Cruel’, a cover of a cover of the Elvis Presley original. Here we sit down for a chimney side chat with the inimitable B.J. Smith.

Thank you for taking the time to talk. Where are you this moment and how are you spending the today?

I'm at home in Edinburgh and will be going out to sweep up autumn leaves that have formed a blanket over everything.

What is it you love most about the place in which you live?

We love being closer to nature.

How is the health of the music scene where you are?

Everyone helps each other out so I would say it's very healthy and full of talented individuals.

How is the health of the music scene generally in your opinion?

Generally, the industry of music will always grow strong so long as humans interact with humans.

Who are the icons who have inspired the music that you make?

"We stand on the shoulders of giants”. There are too many icons to count. Some stand taller than others. CNSY, JJ Cale, Dave Axelrod, Brian Eno.

How long has B.J. Smith been going?

I have been releasing music under this moniker since 2012.

What were you doing musically before this moniker?

Before the monicker B.J. Smith I was exclusively in bands or collaborations, which I am still part of to this day.

Tell us about the other projects are you involved in?

I release music as Smith & Mudd alongside Paul 'Mudd' Murphy, as Bison alongside Holger Czukay and as White Elephant alongside Chris Todd and James Baron from Crazy P. Currently I write for original soundtracks for screen and music library.

This isn't your first release on NNS. But how did you get to know Phil Cooper? Why did you feel that NuNorthern Soul was the right home for your release?

A mutual friend connected NuNorthern Soul and me. He was setting up his label and was interested in my catalogue. We met a couple times in my studio to listen through my dusty box of unfinished things and with his selector hat on he picked out an album's worth of material. His enthusiasm, support and motivation was infectious.

Tell us about the ‘Greats series’.

NuNorthern Soul had this concept initially for all artists on his label, but I have perhaps dominated the space. I saw it as a challenge in reworking a song from the ground up. Finding the bones of it and adding my own flesh. A range of tunes were suggested by NuNorthern Soul and I would spend time with them before choosing which to develop.

Why has it taken you so long to come out with a new one?

The pandemic gave us all a lot of time. I spent mine developing my music library catalogue for EMI KPM and Ultraphonic. Also I spent a lot of time finishing off albums I had forgotten about, such as my B.J. Smith mini album HEARD and my collaborative White Elephant album, a single from which is out now.

Don’t Be Cruel is a cover inside a cover.. tell us about the original cover if you can call it that..

The cover of Don’t Be Cruel that caught my ear was Billy Swan’s version and I first heard it on the film for Wild. The soundtrack is wonderful.

You have covered the Pharcyde and Mos Def. How did you stumble across this track and decide to work it, and what was it about it that made you want to reinterpret something by the King?

NuNorthern Soul brought the tune to me. He is great at picking interesting tunes for me to look at. As it happens it was actually Otis Blackwell who wrote Don’t Be Cruel and Presley made it famous. In my opinion I was never reinterpreting the King, obviously the legacy of the song is what it is and can’t be ignored but for me it was Billy Swan’s musical arrangement of the song that got me interested.

How long did it take to come together? Did it flow easily, or did it take some time to perfect?

When starting new projects, I sketch several versions out on one page and work them all up to see which one stands strong. Sometimes all the sketches become one new idea. This project ended up with 3 alternate ideas I couldn’t let go of and thankfully NuNorthern Soul agreed all three should get released. The process was long because three tunes were getting baked but the process was also fluid.

Do you take some time - after you have made a track – to leave it alone for a while to evaluate?

Always – I work on multiple jobs at once which gives my brain a chance to hear things fresh.

Do you find the feedback of others is important to you in the production process?

Working in isolation is great but eventually you need to bounce off someone else. Someone to hold you to account … someone with a deadline … someone to challenge you.

What are some of the challenges in putting out music currently?

I think we need to see release schedules as episodic rather than a block buster event. Harness the public and bring them on a journey of discovery. I see this happening already and it’s a great way to maintain engagement.

What drives you to create music do you think?

For me it’s storytelling and painting pictures in the mind.

What other artists do you think are making great music right now?

There’s something new every day that catches my ear. Let’s talk about what I listened to this morning … Modern Studies ‘Curlew’, The JMC ‘Hung on You’, The Olympians ‘Pluto’s Lament’. Then I settled into the 30th anniversary release of DJ Cam’s ‘Underground’. The rest of my day I’ve had on repeat the new Joe Harvey-Whyte & Paul Cousins album ‘in a fugue state’. Joe and I meet for the first time working on this Don’t Be Cruel project, and we have gone on to work together on other exciting things too.

What was the last record you purchased?

Tom Waits ‘Nighthawks At The Diner’

What has been a highlight of the last year for you?

A big highlight of 2025 was seeing Pixies play. They were the band that got me through the teens and seeing them live was super emotional.

What can we expect next from B.J. Smith?

More music for film, a compilation that I am curating with some noteworthy musical pioneers, new library music projects and new commercial releases from me and my collaborators.

Check out the spotify playlist from B.J. Smith.

Check out the latest release from B.J. Smith.