Drummer, Song Writer, Programmer, Producer...
Ben was born on 12th November 1981 in Neath, South Wales. He was brought up by Jane and Anthony Stone in Port Talbot which is a costal town in Wales. Music was an integral part of his life from a very early age and Ben was exposed to musicians and great music daily by his father, also an accomplished drummer. Watching his father play drums and listening to his multi instrumentalist recordings inspired Ben to devote his life to music. Ben's great grandfather was a singer in London and regularly performed in front of royalty, singing in many different musical styles...Music seems to run in the family!
Ben started playing drums at age 9 after having a lesson from his father and since that day it has been an exiting musical journey that continues to push him further and further into his life’s passion. From playing his first gig at age 11, joining his fathers touring band at age 14, and being booked for recording sessions in and around Wales/Great Britain by age 15, he learnt things pretty quickly.
At 15 years old Ben started playing a number of UK festivals (Big Top, Children in need etc...) to audiences of up to 8,000 people. At age 17 Ben moved on to become Roland UK's first and only official UK V-Drums demonstrator along side international players such as Tommy Snyder, Michael Schack, Steve Fisher and later on Omar Hakim and Thomas Lang.
As Roland UK's official demonstrator/clinician Ben performs (Independently) all over the UK and at major music shows and independent clinics. Past shows have included - Music Live, British Music Fair (BMF) The Rock & Pop Festival, Namm Show, PLASA, Drummer Live and the Swindon Drum Day to name a few. Ben has also performed a countless number of clinics in store for Roland including two successful V-Drums tours with Belgian drummer Michael Schack. Ben has been fortunate enough to also work with Roland UK's education department and has performed a number of tours as part of the Roland Demo Band for schools and universities around the UK.
Ben's recent work with Roland has included R&D for the new TD-9 V-Drums kit that came out at the 2008 winter Namm show (Los Angeles). Ben's songs where also used in the production model that has shipped worldwide to great reception. Ben was also asked to record a DVD with Roland to promote V-Drums to would be drummers, for which he wrote both the script and music. The DVD includes drum performances on various kits. Other Roland work has included writing for PowerOn Magazine and performing video interviews with friends and drummers including, Gary Wallis (Pink Floyd, Mike & The Mechanics, Il Divo etc...) and Gilson Lavis (Squeeze, Jools Holland etc...)2008 - After composing and producing the music for S4C's biggest TV promotion of 2008 (Haf 08') which went out over the summer period Ben was asked by musical director Sion Llwyd to work with Elin Fflur on a number of televised shows. The shows were to promote her 2008 album Hafana. A short tour for the TV company Boomerang was also undertaken. TV's included Uned 5 (Antenna Productions) and Nodyn (Boomerang TV) Both shows aired in late 2008 with great viewing figures.
Ben also opened the “Ben Stone Music School†in 2008 which is a teaching facility aimed at teaching all age groups to play the drums, guitar , bass guitar, keyboards and singing. Phase 1 is open and welcoming lots of players through it's doors. Sponsorship is greatly appreciated and is given by the following companies – Roland V-Drums, Tama Drums, Protection Racket, and Baskey.com.
Ben currently has a busy touring schedule as well as writing sessions, producing, and mixing in his own Pro Tools equipped studio. For more information on Ben Stone log onto www.ben-stone.com or www.roland.co.uk for a list of Roland events that Ben will be performing at.
Ben Stone with Elin Fflur on the TV show Nodyn during November 2008.