Benn Down (born Jan 27, 1982) is a British singer, songwriter, musician, record producer and composer. He is the founder, lead vocalist and principle songwriter in various bands including; Benn, Portraits, Two Down, Pressure Fashions Diamonds and Diplomat. His first release was the album ‘Origins?’ under the band Two Down, which he founded in 2007 with long time-collaborator Callum Richardson. He has since released a vast number of albums, EPs and singles. Benn Down was an independent recording artist until signing with Hurt Records in 2014. In previous years Down was involved with iTunes, Sony, Universal Music Group, Vevo and Tunecore and came to the conclusion that not only did these companies tie up their artists in uncompromising contracts, but their percentage share of the artist’s revenue was appalling. Benn decided to step down from these companies and invest his time in creating a ‘contract-less’ Record Label that focused purely on the integrity of the sound recordings and bringing the artist’s visions to life.

At the beginning of 2017 Down embarked on a ten-year-long ambition to release his anticipated ‘Z’ story in audio form. The story being widely received as cryptic, intriguing and dark. Down is recognised for making his listeners work to understand the form that the story takes. Down maintains that the Z series of albums isn’t made for everyone, instead limiting its comprehendible exposure to a few thousand listeners.

Down is the owner of Hurt Records, a UK based independent record label. Hurt Records’ primary focus is to create extremely high quality music for it’s listenership. Hurt Records is unique in the fact that all of the releases on the label pass through a single studio complex; ‘Hurt Studios’. Down maintains that “the purpose of the ‘single studio’ mindset is that complete control over the entire process of an album’s creation is attained and artistic integrity is maintained at a high standard.”

Down’s music is currently licensed through both Hurt Records, UK and Create Music Group, US.

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Formed in 1994 in Lekunberri (Nafarroa, Basque Country), BERRI TXARRAK boasts a discography currently featuring seven records and a documentary film, each of them a milestone in the band’s unstoppable progression. BERRI TXARRAK (translation: Bad News) has set out from the Basque rock scene to conquer the world through constant international touring, including Europe, Asia, Southamerica, USA…
The band’s line-up, from its formation until 2003, included Gorka Urbizu (vocals and guitar), Aitor Goikoetxea (drums), Mikel “Rubio” Lopez (bass) and Aitor Oreja (guitar). During that period they published their first four works, all of them sung in Basque and under the independent label GOR: Berri Txarrak (1997), Ikasten (1999), Eskuak / Ukabilak (2001) and Libre © (2003).
While their first two albums earned them a considerable local fan base, it was with the third one, and especially with Libre ©, that they succeeded in making a place for themselves throughout Spain, with major reviews in the specialised press (their fourth album was ranked the best release of the year by the editorial team of Rock Sound). This album features the hit ‘Denak ez du balio’, with guest vocals by Tim McIlrath from Rise Against, band with whom they toured all over Europe in 2006. 
In 2004 Aitor Oreja decided to leave the group, and BERRI TXARRAK ventured forward as a threesome, devoting their efforts to composing what would become the key release in their extensive career up to that point: Jaio.Musika.Hil (GOR, 2005). Recorded in a farmhouse in Eraso (Navarra) by Karlos Osinaga (Lisabö) and mixed by Ed Rose in Kansas (USA), this album was very well received by both the public and the press, as evidenced by the fact that publications like Mondosonoro and Entzun lauded it as the “best record of the year”. With this work BERRI TXARRAK exploited the international inroads it had made in previous years, embarking on a mega-tour lasting three years, with over 200 concerts throughout the world: Japan, Taiwan, Nicaragua, USA, Mexico and countless tours around Europe. 
BERRI TXARRAK filmed a 70-minute documentary depicting their feelings and experiences during this mega-tour, together with filmmaker Ibon A. Totorika. The result was Zertarako Amestu (GOR, 2007), a rockumentary shortlisted in several film festivals including London’s Portobello Film Festival (UK) and Zinemastea in Vitoria-Gasteiz (Basque Country).
Upon completing this tour, the original bass player, Rubio, left the band and was replaced by David Gonzalez. After devoting 2008 to the composition of new pieces, interspersed with short international outings (Fujirock Festival – Japan, Maifest – Switzerland…), in April 2009 BERRI TXARRAK flew to Chicago’s Electrical Audio studios to record their sixth album with one of the biggest names in sound recording, Steve Albini (Nirvana, Pixies, PJ Harvey, Neurosis…). Entitled ‘Payola’, this was the threesome’s first album on Roadrunner Records – Only In Dreams, published in CD and vinyl format in September 2009. The first song of the album,  ‘Folklore’, won the ‘Best Punk Song Vox Pop’ award at INDEPENDENT MUSIC AWARDS 2010, with Tom Waits or Ozzy Osbourne as judges among others. 
The band (with new drummer Galder Izagirre) chose Ross Robinson (Slipknot, At The Drive-In, The Cure, Sepultura...) to produce their 7th studio album, called 'Haria' ('The Thread'), released in late 2011 by Kaiwoas-Graviton – Only In Dreams. Twelve brand new tracks full of emotion, power and attitude as 'Albo-kalteak', 'Harra' or 'Makuluak' (with lyrics based on a poem by Bertolt Brecht). This album features backing vocals by Matt Sharp (The Rentals, Weezer), on the track 'FAQ'.  This album got really good reviews and brought them to perform at such important events as HELLFEST 2013 in France. 


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