Ben Ottewell (Gomez) & Bella Spinks

We're delighted to welcome Brighton-based Ben Ottewell back to Hilltop Sessions. Ben is a founding member of Gomez, the British rock act whose debut album, Bring It On, won the Mercury Music Prize in 1998. Gomez never had a designated frontman -- Ottewell, Ian Ball, and Tom Gray all sang, and the band’s albums usually included several vocal performances from each -- but Ottewell took the helm more than his bandmates, making him one of the group's most prominent members. After releasing the band's sixth album in 2009, he began paving the way for a solo career, making his debut with the release of 2011's Shapes & Shadows. His second album, Rattlebag, followed in 2014. In early 2017, Ottewell released the single "Watcher" in anticipation of the release of his third full-length outing, Man Apart, which dropped later that May.

Ben will be supported by Bella Spinks, the Lewes-based singer/songwriter whose debut album 'Homeostasis' was released September 2018. She played her first gig at Brighton's Concorde 2 at only 12 years of age. Her latest single, 'Mother or Muse', is her first release after spending some time away mothering a young family. The song is written about the pressure that some women feel in having to make a choice between becoming a mother or pursuing an artistic career. And how it's entirely possible to do both!

Her characteristic piano style and inventive vocals have drawn comparisons to Joni Mitchell, Kate Bush, Carole King and Regina Spektor.

We're delighted to have her back after her stunning opening set at last year's Hilltop Sessions Festival. 

'Bella has the true instincts of every born poet, lyricist or writer that ever breathed' - Tom Robinson 6music