Meet Ben Peverall of Belle Meade, TN

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ben Peverall

Hi Ben, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Kicked off my music career as a young teen songwriter in Wilmington, NC but there wasn’t much of a scene or industry for it there when I graduated high school and moved into the college era. I quickly learned I didn’t want to attend college, rather that I wanted to work full time and pursue music as a career in Nashville. I had only visited once in May of 2015 from Friday-Sunday. I was only in town for like 40 hours but I fell in love with it. I was completely in awe of how everything, every little detail was centred around my addiction. Music. Even the bike rack on Demonbreun St. is shaped like a microphone. I remember that vividly from when I skated downtown from Belmont on that trip. So on the way home, as a 19yr old, I texted my whole family in a group text that I was moving, and 4 months later I was gone. In my 1996 Ford Taurus I packed what gear I had, clothes, and bedding. I didn’t even have a bed, a place to live, and knew 2 people in Nashville. Somehow though, every single inch of my instinct knew I was making the right call and I was riddled with inspiration and excitement.

July 25, 2015 I got to Nashville, found a place to live within 3 days and began my journey in a place I still call home nearly 10 years later. I moved having accepted a job where I’d make 9.25hr as a shipping associate at the UPS store on West End Ave. My rent was 400 a month. LOL. Different times, different economy. My first 7-10 songs were progressive hard rock. Riffy, loud, angry, etc. I was fresh off a breakup and a life change so my head was filled lyrical ideas that later I’d cringe to even think about haha, but it did what it needed to do. I was able to demo some songs and find a couple guys to write with. Our rehearsal spot was the band room in the TN school for the blind in the Hermitage. An absolute ghost town of a school on Sunday afternoons and easily the most haunted place on earth. Some shady Sh*t had to have gone down there.

Months of that turned into years of band member exchanges and more and more demos. Eventually, I had a strong community of musicians who absolutely ripped. Dudes that blew my mind with their ability, but somehow found fascination and were impressed in my songs. This helped when building that community. Made it easy to pop in and meet new people. In 2017 I hit the hardest year I had to date. An abusive relationship was crashing at the same time I was grieving one of my closest friends taking their life.

As a songwriter you cope through your songs. You grieve in notes and words. It is your vice, your shoulder to cry on, your hearts resting place, and your greatest challenge. You become obsessed with songwriting when you hit something you love. Something YOU love, not necessarily something others do. Nashville is a town of songwriters, people who story tell and speak into the universal language of music through their brains creative and emotion. Which delivers satisfaction and connection to others. It is why this cities history is so radically famous. There is a cloud of creativity that permanently sits over Nashville and it’s beautiful. It is unlike any place on earth. No city is Nashville. Similar cities produce similar qualities, but they double in other crafts. Nashville IS music city.

In 2018 I wrote a record with 5 other musicians in the style of cinematic Indie-rock entirely inspired by my life, but strongly focused on 2017 and what I witnessed. The songs were my coping mechanism which excited me for many reasons. I had the largest music space I may ever own. A massive, musty, spider filled basement in a house from the 50s in Antioch which I filled with rugs and blankets from goodwill to “Sound proof”. For 3 years I wrote, recorded, rehearsed, cried, partied, etc. in that space and out of it came one of the proudest songwriting experiences I’ve ever had. This was the 2020 release “Afterall,” by my previous Artist name “Peverall”. We were a 6 piece rock band consisting of a violinist and cellist. My musicians challenged me so hard which was amazing. I had a Harvard Grad and Berkley Grad in my band so the nerding in music was REAL.. We did the whole local scene stuff for a while. Shows, sessions, podcasts, nothing major but enough to give us momentum and power up to the release of that 2020 record in February of 2020. Well 2020 flopped. Us, like many other local Nashville bands did not make it through the pandemic as a complete piece. All of our shows were cancelled and everyone needed to focus on the world’s direction at that time, reasonably so.

When things began to open up, the 4 remaining members had written a handful of tracks which we played out for awhile but eventually the energy was dead. I was burned, they probably were to. The artist direction is far more tough then people realise. That was in 2022.

I got married late that year and since then have become a music producer. My heart has and always will be in the process of writing and crafting a track. Spending hours arranging and writing songs in full production is life giving to me. I now have my hands full of my own upcoming music in 2025 as well as multiple songs in progress with others. My current project, Epoxy Shades, released in 2024 with the opening single “Triangles Within a Box” introducing a very new sound to me and my small group of followers. The ethereal and cinematic focused sound had inspired me so much as a songwriter. Often compared to the likes of Tame Impala, the essence of synths and pads has steered me into really understanding how to make a statement with song arrangement and sound. Having become obsessed with the studio world and all that is available to our own hands these days is like a rebirth of musicianship. In addition to producing, I’m currently learning the social media workhorse and designing my business as Ben Peverall the producer, while still continuing to release music under Epoxy Shades. In 2025 I’ll also be dropping a few tracks with friends for currently unnamed projects but of unique style. My studio is growing, my married life is everything, and I still walk out my front door to this city feeling like you never really can peak in it. Simply because the pace, the musicianship, and the cloud of creativity that sits over it is not meant to be reached but rather a foundation for motivation. It’s meant to inspire for the purpose of bettering your craft. It can burn you out but it has too in order to really feel the effects of what. it. takes. Nashville is music city.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Plenty of struggles, I’d say the first being the demand for more. It has the best the best. The best studios, the best musicians, the best songwriters. It’s an inspiration but a challenge when you want to stand out and city is also rapidly growing.

It’s become quite pricy.

Being 10 hours away from my family, and a country away from my wife’s does not make it easy at all. We’re both incredibly family oriented so we want that greatly. The separation does take a toll when you visit your family and people have changed. Having relationships through a cellphone is not ideal.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m a music producer and artist. I spend most of my time in my studio and songwriting as well, both on my own and with others. My specialisation is probably songwriting. I’m a multi-instrumentalist and have been writing music for 15 years. Mostly in the rock world as this has been what I’ve filled my ears with most, but most recently my music has been focused on ethereal and cinematic soundscapes blended with catchy hooks and riffs Trying to find that medium to keep the songs interesting and not too off the rails.

Known within my group as Ben. Simply try and be helpful and friend. Those are the most important qualities you can have here. Be kind, be helpful, be known for both. People will want to work together.

Most proud of my smoking hot wife. Definitely proud of the way I’ve grown as a musician and writer. I have like no following, maybe a small one, but when one person hits me up from somewhere in the world and they love a track or video or something, that means the world to me.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_benpeverall/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@EpoxyShades