Ben Blackwell


Ben Blackwell is the creator and director of Cass Records, one of two drummers in the Detroit-based rock band the Dirtbombs, a music writer, and a vinyl record collector. He's a co-founder and minority owner at Third Man Records and the official archivist of the White Stripes.

Early life

Ben Blackwell was born in Detroit, Michigan on June 12, 1982 to Maureen Gillis and Morris Blackwell. He is John Gillis' Jack White's nephew. He attended Wayne State University for three years, with a concentration in journalism, before withdrawing.

Recording career

The Dirtbombs

Blackwell debuted live with the Dirtbombs on December 18, 1999 when he was only 17 years old. According to Blackwell, Mick called Jack White and let him know they were looking for a drummer; White put his nephew on the phone. Blackwell has since become one of the longest-serving members of the band, having played on four studio albums and having toured extensively all over the world.

Cass records

Beginning in 2003 with money given to him by his mother, Blackwell has put out over 50 releases on his Cass Records imprint. Instead of signing artists, he makes one-time deals to release their songs as singles. His label received some fame with the release of the song "Who's to Say..." from the country-rock band Blanche. Through his label he has also released records from such artists as The Mooney Suzuki, The Waxwings, The Trachtenburg Family Slide Show Players, The Sights, The Muldoons, Kelley Stoltz, Dan Sartain, Turbo Fruits, Cheap Time, The Go, the Black Lips and many others.
In 2007, Blackwell was selected by Crain's Detroit Business magazine as one of their "Twenty in Their 20s", a yearly designation given to twenty emerging entrepreneurs in southeastern Michigan. Blackwell was selected because of his work with his Cass Records label and was recognized for his commitment to the 7-inch vinyl format.

Solo career

In November 2010, Blackwell self-released his debut solo album "I Remember When All This Was Trees" on his imprint. Blackwell wrote, recorded and performed all the music on the album.
In March 2011 Blackwell participated in Esquire magazine's annual songwriting challenge along with Dierks Bentley, Dhani Harrison, Raphael Saadiq and Brendan Benson. Each performer was asked to write a song using the lyric "Last night in Detroit" and Blackwell's song "Bury My Body at Elmwood" is based around Elmwood Cemetery on the east side of Detroit.

Writing

Blackwell has written content for many magazines including Creem Magazine Online, Careless Talk Costs Lives, the Metro Times, Chunklet Magazine, Ugly Things, Arthur, Plan B and others.
Blackwell has also contributed work to the following books:
Blackwell won Rolling Stone magazine's 2004 College Journalism Award in the field of entertainment for two tour diaries he wrote for Wayne State University's The South End paper in March 2003.
In November 2006 Blackwell started his own blog titled Tremble Under Boom Lights named after an EP by the band Jonathan Fire*Eater.
Blackwell's poem The World's Most Important Swimmers was selected by members of the Guerilla Poetics Project to be printed as a letterpressed broadside for the November 2008 installment of their program.
Since 2007 Blackwell has been a frequent contributor to Bagazine, a Mail Art "magazine in a bag" that focuses on "assemblage, handwork and print making, photography, painting, chapbooks, graphic design, typography, letterpress, Visual Poetry and the unusual."
In March 2010 an anonymous guerilla stickering campaign was started in Detroit asking "Where is Ben Blackwell?" Bumper stickers with this message can still be found in the Midtown neighborhood.
On March 1, 2014, Blackwell gave a lecture at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston titled "A Contemporary Record of Rock 'n' Roll" covering topics ranging from vinyl records, archiving, musical archeology and his personal experiences relating to them.

Work with The White Stripes

From the beginning of the Stripes' existence, Blackwell worked as the band's roadie and wrote much of the group's website content. Although he is not an accredited professional archivist, he is the "White Stripes' official archivist". He wrote the liner notes to Under Blackpool Lights. He also appears in The White Stripes' feature-length documentary Under Great White Northern Lights, conducting the interview that is interlaced throughout the film.
Currently, Blackwell oversees vinyl record production at Jack White's Third Man Records in Nashville, Tennessee where his official job title "Pinball Wizard and Director of Operations." He is involved in the program School Choirs & Bands at Third Man: A Vinyl Recording Experience, and initiative which, according to the website, offers "students behind-the-scenes access to Jack White’s Third Man Records in Nashville, TN, as well as the chance to record their own " 45rpm vinyl records."

Discography

With the Dirtbombs

Albums

YearTitleLabelNotes
2001Ultraglide in BlackIn The Red Records
2003Dangerous Magical NoiseIn The Red Records
2008We Have You SurroundedIn The Red Records
2011Party StoreIn The Red Records

Compilations

YearTitleLabelNotes
2005If You Don't Already Have a LookIn The Red Records
2013Consistency is the EnemyCass Records

7" singles

Collaborations

Footnotes