Ben Hauke On Tour With King Krule!

This New Music Friday past (09.06.2023), King Krule released his brand new record ‘Space Heavy’. As per with Archie Marshall, it’s a set of fantastic songs that explore a range of emotions from existential anxiety through to the joy of newly found fatherhood. 

Centred largely on Archie’s lyrics, vocals & his guitar, the songs on ‘Space Heavy’ swim in a dense, impenetrable atmosphere.

To capture some of this better in his live shows, he’s nabbed our own Ben Hauke for a bit as they embark on nationwide shows and, more recently, the King Krule Maida Vale live session that aired earlier this week on BBC Radio 6.

Ben was kind enough to dive into some of the differences in working on SFX live vs. on your studio jobs:

“Live I have some very specific SFX cues that are needed to help the performance, although there is space for improvisation too, which requires a fine balance of listening to the other players & finding space for yourself…

“This is similar to working on projects in ProTools - it's about responding to what's in front of you on stage - or in a brief!"

If you’ve spent any time with Ben in the studio you will no doubt be able to vouch for him being a true collaborator; rather than overpowering and doing what he thinks is best, he’s there to facilitate and help elevate:

“Often doing less is more - there’s definitely truth in cliché; in both live & studio settings I’m there to enhance, not overpower and take the lead.

“You have a bigger crowd live - working with two creatives & a couple of producers is usually the biggest crowd you have in an audio post studio - so performing in front of thousands can definitely feel just a bit different..”

Both daunting prospects, surely, to any of us not up for those challenges but we’ve always got faith in Ben Hauke to step up unphased and deliver the goods.

You may - we hope - notice Ben’s absence here & there over the summer and into the autumn as he makes his way across Europe on tour with King Krule but, as we are, will also be sending your best to him.

If anyone catches the band live on any of the dates, make sure you cheer a tad louder on our behalf for Ben.