We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ben Hoagland. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ben below.

Ben, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

My story starts very early in life. When I was 7 years old I was attending my first concert with my family. That concert was Warped Tour 2005 at the Gorge Amphitheater in Washington state. We watched bands like Underoath, The Offspring, Atreyu, My Chemical Romance, MxPX, Saosin and many more. My family raised me on Rock & Metal music growing up and attending a festival tour such as Warped tour for my first concert felt so surreal at the time, especially as a child. This was my first exposure to the “alternative” music scene(s). I fell in love with the sub-culture immediately, I grew up in a small town in North Idaho called Spirit Lake and most of the population was more on the redneck side of things so I was sort of the “oddball” in town. So once I attended my first concert I felt like I found a place where I belonged. I remember walking by all the stages, merch tents, and half pipes with all the skate punks and seeing all the people wearing metal band merch and just wanting to immerse myself in it completely. Back then Warped Tour had a few dates where it was a weekend-long camping trip and we were fortunate enough to be located near one of those dates. I remember the field was just a seemingly never-ending party as far as the eye could see. My family didn’t let me partake in the partying of course considering I was only 7 years old and they of course protected me from seeing too many things that I shouldn’t. But we walked around and watched the chaos unfold around us and I also thoroughly enjoyed being a spectator. But I remember when I decided that this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. We were walking by the Hurley stage and Underoath was on, We didn’t stay and watch long because my family wanted to go see a different band and we were just passing by but I remember hearing Spencer Chamberlain screaming and seeing the band’s energetic stage presence and thinking to myself. “This is what I want to do and one day I am going to play on Warped Tour.” Fast forward to 2018, I got the opportunity to play one of the last days of Warped tour at the Usana Amphitheater in West Valley City, Utah.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Ben Hoagland and I am the lead vocalist of the metal band Extortionist, and also a graphic designer in the music industry of 15+ years.

I mention both pursuits because they go hand in hand with each other and I wouldn’t have started being a graphic designer if it wasn’t for my dream of becoming a touring musician.

So it all started even before I attended my first concert. I started playing drums around the age of 6 years old and guitar not very long after. There wasn’t much to do in the woods in Idaho but our household had a lot of instruments lying around because my stepdad & step-brothers played music and had bands of their own. So that’s how I learned to start playing music. And like I said before my parents raised me on rock and metal. They had magazine subscriptions from a bunch of different music news publications that published bands in those genres. So I’d look through these zines and I became very fascinated by all of the band logos I saw in the articles or in the center-folds. I wanted to know how they were made and I thought it would be the coolest thing ever to see a logo I drew on a T-shirt. So 3rd-4th grade came around and I started drawing during class and I was always trying to draw my favorite band’s logos all the time on all my papers/binders etc.

Fast forward to 5th grade. I went to the high school’s Battle of the Bands to watch my step-brother’s band play. But then I discovered another local band that was playing called A Pyrrhic Victory. I fell in love with this band. Even though I was so much younger than these guys, they were kind enough to take me under their wing & they invited me to see them play shows in WA. My sister also had met these guys so she would drive us out to Spokane, WA to see them perform. The band was always so enthusiastic when they saw us at the shows and would always let us hang out with them and also introduced us to everyone in the local scene. From that point forward, we all became best friends and that was our introduction to the scene. The band would take me with them everywhere including their regional runs of shows so I met and saw many new bands and was introduced to many local musicians and by age 11 I played my first show.

I began playing in various metal bands in the area / started a couple and began doing regional runs of shows by age 12-13. We were broke and didn’t get paid much so then I really began thinking about ways I could make money even if it was just a quick $20 for McDonalds so I could eat for a couple of days. Then one day, I was visiting my mom at work, and I noticed a copy of Photoshop lying on her desk. I took it as a sign that I should try to make band logos etc. I asked her if I could take it, she said yes and I took it home and that’s when my graphic design pursuit had begun.

I started learning how to make very bad logos, T-shirt designs, and album covers at the time and sold them to local bands online for $25-$50. As I got better the money also began to increase and I started doing quite well for myself at a young age with no bills. But all of this was so I didn’t have to get a “real job” and so that I could keep supplementing income for the band and myself while I was out playing shows & doing smaller tours.
I spent countless hours for years learning all things design-related and it eventually paid off and became my full-time job/career. I began working for some of my favorite bands, making their album covers, designing their T-shirts, and creating their logos/branding. I did that by networking at shows and online. Meeting people at their merch tables and presenting my work. I still do that to this day & luckily now many record labels outsource to me to be involved in many artists’ record releases.

Designing for record labels is also how I got a good start to becoming a touring musician. One day in my small town, my neighbor and I were jamming in his shed for fun and decided to randomly invite various other musicians from other bands over. We wrote a song very quickly and it was still fairly early in the day. We had a vocalist, 2 guitar players, a bass player, and a drummer in the room. We called our friend Dawson Scholz from a band called The Ongoing Concept because he produced music. He was free and we booked a last-minute recording session with him and recorded the song we wrote. It was supposed to be just for fun but we named the project and gave the song a title and uploaded it to Youtube the next day. That same day we unexpectedly got contacted by a record label I previously worked with and we began the process of signing our first record deal and also got a handful of show offers right away. We played many shows in the first 6 months playing both locally and regionally and then within the first year, we embarked on our first actual tour now 11 years later, Touring and Graphic Design have been my full-time jobs ever since, and have grown by networking them both simultaneously.

Services I provide are Creative direction, Merchandise design, Logo/Branding, Album artwork, Web Design, Press kit building, Social media graphics, advertisements, etc. I help artists, brands, businesses/companies develop the overall look and creative direction for their products/pursuits and make sure to uphold cohesion & quality control throughout their record releases, merch drops, or campaigns of any kind. I think what sets me apart is my capabilities to achieve many different styles. Whether it is a corporate job or extreme death metal artwork, I am skilled in most art styles and am confident I can achieve almost any project that is presented to me.

Some accomplishments I’m most proud of in the graphic design field are working with celebrities such as Mike Epps & designing for billboard charting artists such as Falling In Reverse, Bad Omens, Lorna Shore, Knocked Loose and more. Some accomplishments I’m most proud of in the music industry would be charting on the billboard at #30 in hard music charts, #41 in top new artist charts, and touring all of the USA, EU/UK, CAD numerous times and playing an arena festival in front of thousands of attendants in Manchester, UK.

I want my potential clients/followers to know that I am passionate about what I do in both fields and nothing makes me happier than achieving a vision and creating something great that we all can enjoy together.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I think the most rewarding aspect of being an artist or creative is creating a piece of art that people can relate & connect with. Whether it’s art or music. It makes the world feel a little less dark and lonely. I’m just grateful for anyone who’s supported me in my journey or simply taken the time to view or listen to what I create. Everything else is just a bonus and I am just happy to know there are some people out there who enjoy what I create.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Buy the art, support the artist, show up to the events, and don’t ask for discounts. Many people don’t understand the emotional, physical, and financial burdens it takes to be successful in art/music. Artists & creatives make up such a small portion of the population and it feels like every day is a battle in so many ways. They are taking on what feels like “the impossible” and putting themselves through hell just to entertain you or create something you enjoy. Just show up and support in any way that you can. A little goes a long way.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.benhoaglanddesign.com
• Instagram: @benhoagland_
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/benhoagland12/

Image Credits

Feature photo by Kvsh Productions
Live photos by Caleb Joshua
Designs by Ben Hoagland