In this episode Ben sits down with West End drummer and percussionist Dan Day to chat about a career that’s taken him from learning drums at age 3 to playing on major theatrical productions like Evita, Mean Girls, Sunset Boulevard, Come From Away just to name a few...

Ben and Dan chat about:

< Dan starting to learn drums aged 3

< Falling into musical theatre by accident

< Earning your chair through depping, being good and just being nice

< Life as a working drummer in the orchestra pit both in London and on tour

< Surviving high pressure auditions when you really want the job

< COVID

< Getting the gig and behind the scenes of Dear Evan Hansen, Come From Away, Sunset Boulevard and Evita

< Working with some of the biggest creative names in musical theatre today e.g. Pasek and Paul, Alex Lacamoire and Alan Williams MD

< Working on The Greatest Showman Musical

< His Crescendo

Strap yourselves in for nearly 2 hours of drum and musical theatre goodness.

Follow the podcast, Ben and the guest on social media:

Reaching The Crescendo Podcast:

https://www.instagram.com/reachingthecrescendopod

https://www.tiktok.com/@reachingcrescendopod

https://www.facebook.com/reachingthecrescendopod

Ben Mussell:

https://www.instagram.com/ben_mussell

https://www.linkedin.com/in/benmussell

Dan Day:

https://www.dandaymusic.com

https://instagram.com/danthedrummer12

Volunteer radio presenter, producer, music lover and all-round self proclaimed 'radio fanatic' Zinnia Bridgman joined me to chat about going from her lockdown student radio beginnings to co-presenting The South Coast Music Show on Voice FM.

We chatted about:

< Getting started in radio through university and student broadcasting,

< The thrill (and terror) of being live on air on Voice FM,

< Why volunteer community radio still matters in a de-localised industry,

< The concept of celebrities with platforms / high follower counts being able to cut the line for mainstream radio shows over people who have put in the hours,

< The goings on behind the desk and in the room where it happens,

< Supporting emerging south coast musicians and venues,

< Volunteering, passion projects, breaking into media, and other things...

Follow the podcast, Ben and the guest on social media:

Reaching The Crescendo Podcast:

https://www.instagram.com/reachingthecrescendopod/

https://www.tiktok.com/@reachingcrescendopod/

https://www.facebook.com/reachingthecrescendopod/

Ben Mussell:

https://www.instagram.com/ben_mussell/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/benmussell/

Zinnia Bridgman:

https://www.instagram.com/zinniaecbridgman/

https://linktr.ee/zinniaecbridgman

https://www.linkedin.com/in/zinnia-bridgman/

Voice FM:

https://www.voicefmradio.co.uk/

https://www.voicefmradio.co.uk/south-coast-music/south-coast-music-show/

Joe Hayes started out as a full time accountant with a massive photography hobby. Several businesses later and and a network of over 3000 people, Joe now facilitates photography, videography and more recently podcasting for some of the biggest brands on the south coast and in the UK in general.

Joe chats about how his unique path led him to where he is today, where he thinks the direction of podcasting as an industry is going, along with some advice on building networks, tech and how to get started in the 'content' industry.

Follow the podcast and guest on social media using the links below:

Reaching The Crescendo Podcast

https://linktr.ee/reachingthecrescendopod

Joe Hayes aka Kindful Creative

https://www.linkedin.com/in/joefernandohayes/

https://www.kindfulcreative.co.uk/

'kindfulcreative' on Instagram

Jose Ramos wanted to work in the news industry since he was young and used his Mum's phone as a camera to film his version of The News, and all these years later he is doing exactly that as a newly senior reporter.

Jose speaks about his journey from his self news tape all the way to now reporting on both local and national news, meeting and almost meeting a lot of interesting people, and his stories that have featured in some major UK newspapers along the way.

Follow the podcast and guest on social media using the links below:

Reaching The Crescendo Podcast

https://linktr.ee/reachingthecrescendopod

Jose Ramos

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jose-ramos-28493319b/

https://x.com/journo_jose

https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/author/profile/297715.Jose_Ramos/

David Catterall started his career as a drama teacher and then co-hosted Channel 4's third worst show of 2006. It wasn't until a friend of his introduced him to Photoshop and a chance encounter in a Food Hall that changed everything, and the rest as they say.... is history!

David chats about his unique journey to where he is today, how he turned his hobby into his job, and slightly peels back the curtain on his creative process in creating viral unofficial posters that have ended up on national television.

Follow the podcast and guest on social media using the links below:

Reaching The Crescendo Podcast

https://linktr.ee/reachingthecrescendopod

David Catterall

https://www.facebook.com/people/David-Catterall-Designs/100063850515860/

Tor Byrnes aka Tor Da Force has been an indie DJ for the last 15 years and over that time has become a staple of clubs, festivals and venues inbetween.

Her career as a DJ has since turned her into an events promoter with her company We Broke Free, making her a force to be reckoned with as a 'Good Time Dictator'.

Tor chats about how she got to where she is today, being a female DJ in a male dominated industry and her previous and present work at some of Europe's biggest festivals.

Follow the podcast and guest on social media using the links below:

Reaching The Crescendo Podcast

https://linktr.ee/reachingthecrescendopod

Tor Da Force

https://www.webrokefree.co.uk/

Will McNicol has been playing fingerstyle guitar since aged 6 and enjoyed it so much, he never stopped. It has taken him all over the world and counts his mentor Antonio Forcione as a friend.

Will chats about first picking up a guitar, his love of recording, his favourite gigs and his love of passing on his pearls of fingerstyle wisdom to his fellow guitar player through his workshops and online college.

Follow the podcast and guest on social media using the links below:

Reaching The Crescendo Podcast

https://linktr.ee/reachingthecrescendopod

Will McNicol

https://www.willmcnicol.co.uk/

https://www.willmcnicol.co.uk/teachingbooks

Elspeth McBain is the CEO of Lighthouse in Poole; the largest arts centre outside of London. However, if her parents had had their way, things would have been very different. So in true rebelious young adult fashion, she ended up at a holiday park in the Isle of Wight and the rest is history.

Elspeth speaks about her journey from the Isle of Wight - Croydon - London and ending up in Poole in 2009. She also details the behind the info on the year long preparation to put on a pantomime for young and old that runs for just 3 weeks.

Follow the podcast and guest on social media using the links below:

Reaching The Crescendo Podcast

https://linktr.ee/reachingthecrescendopod

Lighthouse, Poole website - https://www.lighthousepoole.co.uk/

Aladdin 2023 tickets - https://www.lighthousepoole.co.uk/event/aladdin/

Abi Logan started dancing lessons at age 3 and it all spiralled from there. The rest is history!

Abi chats about her beginnings at her local performing academy, getting the choreographer bug through the Rock Challenge competition, using the Covid lockdown as an excuse to start a dance troupe and now going full circle by choreographing her first panto (oh yes she is...)

Follow the podcast and guest on social media using the links below:

Reaching The Crescendo Podcast

https://linktr.ee/reachingthecrescendopod

Abi Logan

https://www.instagram.com/abilogann/

Tickets to Sleeping Beauty at South Hill Park - https://www.southhillpark.org.uk/shp-events/sleeping-beauty-2023-christmas-panto/

Emily Young has been a photographer since 2014, starting in portrait mode. Then at university, she switched to live music photography, created a specimen magazine for a group project and has run with it ever since. even as far as Texas.

Emily explains how her group uni project spiralled a tad out of control and in the process led her to meet some of her favourite bands, connected her to her now team of volunteer photographers both in the UK and across the pond, create PR connections that would make Scooter Braun's jaw drop and give her stance on the future/revival of physical music media.

Follow the podcast and guest on social media using the links below:

Reaching The Crescendo Podcast

https://linktr.ee/reachingthecrescendopod

Emily Young

https://www.squareonemagazine.co.uk/

https://www.instagram.com/itsSquareOne/

https://www.instagram.com/emilyjadephotos/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilyjadephoto/?originalSubdomain=uk

Tracey started Totally Music to act as a digital scrapbook to collate pictures from her gig experiences. However, when the Covid lockdown hit in March 2020, she saw an opportunity to use her blog to provide a platform to the best unseen and up-and-coming musical talent when they were not allowed to perform. It has been growing ever since.

Follow the podcast and the guest on social media:

Reaching The Crescendo Podcast

https://linktr.ee/reachingthecrescendopod

Totally Music

https://www.totallymusicofficial.com/blog

Lee Townsend saw his Dad in cover bands from a very early age so it was inevitable that he would pick up a guitar eventually. His parents then moved to Spain when he was 18, so he followed suit and the rest is history.

Since then, he has become a reputable wedding singer, has built a YouTube channel to nearly 12,000 subs being a go to guy for loop covers/tutorials and musical gadget reviews.

Lee chats about living in Spain, the life of a wedding singer, YouTube BTS, his opinion on AI entering the music space, having a hobby as your job and his plans for the future.

Follow the podcast and guest on social media using the links below:

Reaching The Crescendo Podcast

https://linktr.ee/reachingthecrescendopod

Lee Townsend

https://leetownsendmusic.com/

‘Kindful’ video editor Richard 'Ricky' Charlton joined me to chat about going from a young kid from Grimsby fiddling with cameras, to being a paid video editor who’s previously worked with cartoons and currently senior editing at the biggest content agency on the south coast of the UK.

We chatted about:

< How he became interested in videography,

< How he ended up in Bournemouth,

< The BTS of creating an animated kids TV show,

< How he met Joe Hayes, and ended up working for @KindfulCreative,

< The future of content agencies,

< The current and future impact of AI on content creation, and other things...

Follow the podcast, Ben and the guest on social media:

Reaching The Crescendo Podcast:

https://www.instagram.com/reachingthecrescendopod/

https://www.tiktok.com/@reachingcrescendopod/

https://www.facebook.com/reachingthecrescendopod/

Ben Mussell:

https://www.instagram.com/ben_mussell/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/benmussell/

Ricky Charlton:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-charlton-21753b255/

https://www.instagram.com/richardcharlton_/

Kindful Creative:

https://www.kindfulcreative.co.uk/

https://www.instagram.com/kindfulcreative/

https://www.tiktok.com/@kindfulcreative

https://www.linkedin.com/company/kindful-creative/

https://www.threads.net/@kindfulcreative

Imprints started off as a University project and spiralled from there as many bands do. Ever since then, they have found their unique gypsy/folk-rock sound, their space pirate hats, potentially invented the coolest fiddle playing style ever and even got Michael Eavis' (yes that Michael Eavis) phone number in the process!

Andy (frontman) and Vince (thrash fiddle) talk about their humble beginnings, inadvertently starting crowd fights, Feeder being their support act, wanting to headline Glastonbury and the all important next studio album.

Follow the podcast and the guest on social media:

Reaching The Crescendo Podcast

https://linktr.ee/reachingthecrescendopod

Imprints

https://www.imprintsuk.co.uk/

Edward Clark has spent his life in and around the Anglican church and has been in worship bands for around half of his life. So it was only a matter of time before he realised he was being called to become a worship pastor.

Ed speaks about going from the congregation to band member to pastor, the lost demographic in the church, working for a church during the pandemic and where he sees himself in the future.

Follow the podcast and the guest on social media:

Reaching The Crescendo Podcast

https://linktr.ee/reachingthecrescendopod

Edward Clark

https://www.instagram.com/jc_edward_/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/edward-clark-1720a7230/?originalSubdomain=uk

Chris Sherry first got involved with the Teddy Rocks Festival by helping a friend do the lighting when it was held at the Greyhound pub in Blandford Forum. A chance glance at the website and a message to the festival director and sound guy (it will make sense after listening) later and Chris created the first proper website you see when you type Teddy Rocks into a search engine.

Teddy Rocks has steadily grown year on year to a 5000 capacity and raising more and more money as the years have gone by, raising £60,000 in 2022 while bouncing back from a pandemic in the process.

Chris speaks about the non-linear way he became the digital lead for the festival, what goes into organising a festival primarily run by volunteers, winning Best Family Festival at the UK Festival Awards 2022 and a few of the bands gracing the stage in 2023.

Follow the podcast and the guest on social media:

Reaching The Crescendo Podcast

https://linktr.ee/reachingthecrescendopod

Get your tickets for Teddy Rocks Festival 2023

https://teddyrocks.co.uk/tickets

Chris' LinkedIn page - https://www.linkedin.com/in/%F0%9F%90%98-chris-sherry-ab091721/?originalSubdomain=uk

Luke James Shaffer started out just so he could be better at the guitar than one of his older brothers, the rest is history.

After gigging in his native Ohio and New York, Hollywood came calling in American Idol. After this experience of the mainstream music system, he went home and met his future wife. Together they ended up in Washington D.C for a decade, discovered live looping and grew a YouTube channel to 20k subscribers. Optimistic consistency defined!

In 2022, him and his wife fulfilled a life-long dream of living overseas and so they ended up in London.

Luke talks about his early gigging years, his experience on American Idol, how he discovered live looping, moving to London and the future of his YouTube channel and music (before ChatGPT takes over his job anyway).

Follow the podcast and the guest on social media:

Reaching The Crescendo Podcast

https://linktr.ee/reachingthecrescendopod

Luke James Shaffer

https://www.lukejamesshaffer.com/home

Katherine ‘Kadie’ Jacobs started out performing in talent shows in her native Birmingham, Alabama.

Everything changed when she moved to Nashville to attend Belmont University to study for her musical Bachelor’s degree.

Kadie quickly started getting involved in Nashville writer’s rounds and in a musical twist of fate became part of the Song House; a collective of songwriters found by YouTube music legend Tyler Ward who use social media to market test potentially viral songs. If the song goes the viral, they record and release it.

Kadie talks about her humble beginnings in Alabama, how moving to Nashville changed her life, the popularity of country music and her thoughts on social media adapting the journeys of the next Shania Twains and Garth Brooks' as well as her plans for 2023.

Follow the podcast and the guest on social media

Reaching The Crescendo Podcast

https://linktr.ee/reachingthecrescendopod

Kadie Jacobs

https://www.kadiejacobs.com/

Song House

https://songhouse.com/

From starting off as a solo act at 25 years old, to becoming a regular on the south coast festival circuit with his Merry Men collective 12 years later, Mischa Weston-Green has had a long journey to spreading his unique message of piece and love.

He is also the definition of hard-work from working in marketing/events by day and the leader of a 45 strong ethical musical collective at night and weekends.

Discussing everything from his humble beginnings as a solo artist performing at Chaplin’s Bar in Bournemouth, gigging stories, his mental festival summer of 2022, 2 recently released charity singles and where he sees the band direction going in 2023.

Follow the podcast and the guest on social media

Reaching The Crescendo Podcast

https://linktr.ee/reachingthecrescendopod

Mischa & His Merry Men

https://linktr.ee/MischaAndHisMerryMen

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mischawestongreen/?originalSubdomain=uk

Purchase tickets for Teddy Rocks Festival

https://teddyrocks.co.uk/tickets

Benjamin Button Tickets (before it closes): https://shorturl.at/vk8LE

Fiddler On The Roof UK Tour Tickets: https://shorturl.at/qg6Hd

Into The Woods Tickets: https://shorturl.at/35c9I

Award winning musical theatre maestro Mark Aspinall joined me to chat about his 15 year journey from being a music school assistant to becoming one of the best in the biz when putting the music into musical theatre.

We chatted about:

< Mark’s original career plans before he pivoted towards the theatre world

< How he got his foot in the metaphorical stage door of the industry

< His experiences of being on the creative team for both 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' and 'Fiddler On The Roof'

< Being x2 Olivier nominated in the same category, and winning his first award in the process

< Going ‘Into The Woods’ for his next project

< Advice for theatre up and comers

< The future of musical theatre both on and off stage 

Follow the podcast, Ben and the guest on social media:

Reaching The Crescendo Podcast:

https://www.instagram.com/reachingthecrescendopod/

https://www.tiktok.com/@reachingcrescendopod/

https://www.facebook.com/reachingthecrescendopod/

Ben Mussell:

https://www.instagram.com/ben_mussell/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/benmussell/

Mark Aspinall:

https://www.globalartists.co.uk/artists/composers/

https://www.instagram.com/masps_snaps/

Freelance Copywriter Amy Shepherd joined me to chat about the relatively unknown art of copywriting, so much so her Nan doesn’t really understand what she does for a living. 

We chat about:

< What copywriting is

< Brands she’s worked for in the past e.g. @thecalmzonenet and @LUSH  

<Life in the freelance world

< Her stance on AI

< What she's currently working on

< Brands she wants to work for and with in the future

< Her future Crescendo 

Follow the podcast, Ben and the guest on social media:

Reaching The Crescendo Podcast:

https://www.instagram.com/reachingthecrescendopod/

https://www.tiktok.com/@reachingcrescendopod/

https://www.facebook.com/reachingthecrescendopod/

Ben Mussell:

https://www.instagram.com/ben_mussell/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/benmussell/

Amy Shepherd:

https://www.amyshepherdfreelance.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-shepherd-172a391a1/

https://www.instagram.com/amy_shepherd_freelance/

Joshy Clements is the go-to drone guy on the south coast. He joined me to chat about how he discovered and mastered the drone, how he's using its situational versatility to run a "booming" drone side business 'Horizon Drone Specialists' with multiple clients, the future of drone usage with the addition of AI, and pitched his ideal drone features to DJI in the process.

Follow the podcast, Ben and the guest on social media:

Reaching The Crescendo Podcast:

https://www.instagram.com/reachingthecrescendopod/

https://www.tiktok.com/@reachingcrescendopod/

https://www.facebook.com/reachingthecrescendopod/

Ben Mussell:

https://www.instagram.com/ben_mussell/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/benmussell/

Joshy Clements:

https://www.horizonedronespecialists.com/

https://www.instagram.com/horizondronespecialists/

https://www.instagram.com/joshyclements/

Nate Williams is a multi-instrumentalist & podcaster who has worked with many well known artists. Nate joined me to chat about growing up in a musical family, playing musical instruments, life on and off stage as a gigging musician, working with Jamiroquai, Steve Winwood and others, as well as chatting with his industry friends and heros on his podcast 'In Session With...'

Follow the podcast, Ben and the guest on social media:

Reaching The Crescendo Podcast:

https://www.instagram.com/reachingthecrescendopod/

https://www.tiktok.com/@reachingcrescendopod/

https://www.facebook.com/reachingthecrescendopod/

Ben Mussell:

https://www.instagram.com/ben_mussell/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/benmussell/

Nate Williams:

https://www.instagram.com/nategroove/

https://open.spotify.com/show/5uEpi0tdYI7J25B3D6LuIG

https://www.tiktok.com/@/nategroove83/

PSA: Due to unforeseen circumstances, only a certain amount of guest video and audio was usable for this episode. As a result, the episode does end somewhat abrupt. Apologies, and enjoy the episode.

Lara is a violinist and composer/orchestrator originally from Liverpool, now based in London. Lara chats about her musical upbringing, deciding to learn the violin, life of a gigging musician & composer, and how she ended up in Abbey Road Studios with Rudamental and Nile Rodgers... at the same time.

Follow the podcast, Ben and the guest on social media:

Reaching The Crescendo Podcast:

https://www.instagram.com/reachingthecrescendopod/

https://www.tiktok.com/@reachingcrescendopod/

https://www.facebook.com/reachingthecrescendop0d/

Ben Mussell:

https://www.instagram.com/ben_mussell/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/benmussell/

Lara Simpson:

https://www.larasimpsonmusic.com/home2

https://www.instagram.com/larasimpsonmusic

https://www.tiktok.com/larasimpsonmusic

Simon Howard is an independent singer/songwriter and musician from Gosport. Originally, he though computer science was his calling. Then after it was too late to change, he decided to take himself to Texas, took his guitar with him and become a musician.

The rest is history…

Simon chats about his time in Texas, his song writing process, his popular single 'Cancellation' and about how he tries to maintain an online platform amongst other things.

Follow the podcast, Ben and the guest on socials:

Reaching The Crescendo Podcast:  

https://www.instagram.com/reachingthecrescendopod/

https://www.tiktok.com/@reachingcrescendopod/

https://www.facebook.com/reachingthecrescendop0d/

Ben Mussell:

https://www.instagram.com/ben_mussell/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/benmussell/

Simon Howard:

https://www.instagram.com/simonhowardmusic/

https://www.tiktok.com/@simonhowardhq/

https://www.facebook.com/simonhowardmusic/

https://www.lastminutemusicians.com/members/simonhoward.html

Elspeth McBain is back for a second chat. This time, we chat about everything Panto 2024, the financial reality of a touring production, and she gives a brief rundown of that is coming to the venue in 2024.

Find out what is on at Lighthouse Poole in 2025: https://www.lighthousepoole.co.uk/whats-on/

Follow the podcast, Ben and the guest on socials:

Reaching The Crescendo Podcast:  

https://www.instagram.com/reachingthecrescendopod/

https://www.tiktok.com/@reachingcrescendopod/

https://www.facebook.com/reachingthecrescendop0d/

Ben Mussell:

https://www.instagram.com/ben_mussell/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/benmussell/

Lighthouse Poole:

https://www.lighthousepoole.co.uk/

https://www.instagram.com/lighthousepoole/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/poole-arts-trust-limited/posts/