Getting Focused

Browsing through a Saturday magazine last week I was confronted by a Ford advert, entitled.... 'Own The Road... Unplugged!'. It features a fresh faced young acoustic type by the name of Ben Griffiths. Ben who? "Well, I'm a singer/songwriter from Brighton and I'm starting out, which means loads of gigs, so I need a decent car as much as a good guitar" reads the ad.

More important than a decent guitar and a nice shiny car, is something glaringly obvious in its ommission. Decent songs?

Now, how many budding musical types just starting out can really afford a new car? Never mind one that costs £13,000. Promoters at these acoustic nights tend to not pay very much, if anything at all. So Ben, what do you really do? Rob banks on the way to the gig? Work in a call centre in Hove? People smuggling? No, that would require a Galaxy.

Also of some irritation on his myspace site, is the statement that his is the "Soundtrack to the Ford radio and press adverts". Soundtrack to a press ad? I must be missing out on some new technology.

Come on Ben, get a shit white van and get on the road proper with some crusty guitar tech. Sack the job off and lose the Ford ads, embrace the rock ethic, get out there, get your electric guitar out and some effects pedals and crank the distortion up.

Even better, write a song dissing Ford, or talking about the problems with the central locking not working. Or some kind of eco-rock anthem about electric cars, something interesting and rebellious. Or you might end up being the next James Blunt, and no-one wants that.