Ben Fein

This is me.

I was born in Germany in 1986 and raised in a family with a huge love for music of every genre. I took my first guitar lesson at four and played my first concert at five. Piano followed a few years later, and a teacher introduced me to computers, which started a lifelong love of synthesising sound. As a teenager I explored more and more instruments, and the drum kit opened my eyes to rhythm, letting me put the beats I felt inside out into the world.

Alongside the music I finished school and a university degree, but I was having fun too. A decade in Europe’s techno and trance scene, dancing at Nature One, Love Family Park and Dance Valley, opened my ears and heart to electronic music and shaped the way I read a dancefloor today. In 2011 a friend and I stepped onto the stage as Tailgate Chamber and played live all over Germany, from Heidelberg to Hannover, loving every moment of it.

Then it was time to move on. I left Europe behind and spent years travelling the world, with my guitar and laptop always close. Along the way I’ve played in more than ten countries, including Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Canada, Australia, Switzerland, Norway and Thailand. Those journeys also became a six-album series, each record a stage of my life. The final album, Life, tells of wandering nearly fifty countries, meeting my partner, and welcoming a new addition to our family.

Today I call Ōtautahi Christchurch, Aotearoa, home. These days you’ll find me behind the decks, mixing eclectic sounds rooted in techno and trance and always playing for the people in front of me. Just as important, I’m taking time to be present with my family.

With the album series complete, I’m back in the studio, making music for the joy of it again. New tracks are taking shape, and some of them may find their way out into the world when the time feels right.