What do you think of when you read the word ‘magician’? A rabbit being pulled from a top hat? An assistant being sawn in half? ‘Pick a card, any card’?
It’s unlikely you think of anything resembling Ben Taylor – The Magic Mod, member of the esteemed Magic Circle society and self-professed “rock ‘n’ roll’s favourite magician”. Creator of a live performance and persona equal parts magic circle and Mod subculture, Taylor is something original, and has been described as “in league with the devil” by Echo & the Bunnymen‘s Will Sergeant. Inspired by, and erstwhile friend of, musical icons such as Paul Weller and Shaun Ryder, he sat down with The Mancunion to discuss his background, his love of music, and his upcoming Manchester appearance.
How did you get into magic?
The Magic Mod: “At six years old, I ended up getting a Paul Daniels magic set, and that just changed everything for me. When I first got it, I didn’t really want it, if that makes sense. I wasn’t ungrateful, but I was like, how am I supposed to put this on the TV and play Pac-Man? or something like that, because that’s what I wanted. It’s probably the best gift that my mum and dad have ever given me, to be honest, because it’s then led on to everything that’s happened, what’s happening now in the career. Never in a million years did I think that I would end up becoming a magician. I thought it’d just be like something to play about with”.
“There’s only a select few who dedicate their whole life to it, you know, and then go on and do it, it’s not something you can just pick up and one day end up doing gigs and shows. You’ve got to really dedicate a lot of time and effort – you have to live magic, you know what I mean?”
How did it all start?
The Magic Mod: “it’s a funny story actually: as I said, once I learned a few tricks, I was hooked on it. Honestly, absolutely hooked. And I I tried to learn as many tricks as I could to the point where I’d learned five or six and then at the end of the week I would try put on a show for my mum and dad; I would charge them to watch me. I remember one time I was in this bar and I showed this gentleman a trick and he actually happened to be the owner of this bar and he asked if I’d like to be their magician the next evening. And I’m thinking, shit, I’ve never done this before. Fucking bricking it mate. And then what I did was I practiced. I think I was up all night the night before, practicing, practicing, practicing”.
“Now I could do these tricks with my eyes closed, but it’s one thing performing to yourself in the mirror. Secondly, you know, you do a trick to your parents, they’re always going to be like, oh, that was brilliant. Of course they are, they’re your parents, but you need to learn how to do it in front of people who don’t know you. So that was the scary thing because I knew these tricks were good, it was just how would other people see them”.
“I had a little routine. I think I set myself up with about twenty to thirty tricks that I knew I could go around the bar and easily freely mingle in. And you know what? It went down really well. And at the end of the night, the manager asked if I’d come again the next Saturday and Sunday – it ended up being similar to like a residency. The more gigs I did, the more confident I got. And the more confident I got, the more I would get outside of my comfort zone and learn different tricks”.
“The next thing you know, this is mental, I ended up going into gigs and I used to take a deck of cards. I blagged my way into a Beady Eye afterparty at Hammersmith Apollo once because everyone thought I looked a bit like Liam Gallagher – I just had my hood on and my glasses and walked straight in. I pulled out a deck of cards and I was showing tricks to the band. There was a load of people, and I just had them all like around me and they were like, mate, this is fucking brilliant, then I just thought: well, I love my magic, I love my music. If I could somehow try and bring both of my passions together, this would be the best of both worlds. Do you know what I mean?”
How did the magic meet the Mod?
The Magic Mod: “Well, The Jam are the first ever band I really understood and listened to religiously and then Quadrophenia, [the sixth album by The Who] of course, is like the shrine for a mod. You watch that and that’s it – that’s like your Bible. I just thought, you know what, there’s no one doing it the way that I would want to do it, which is the way I’m doing it now. And that’s not an arrogant thing or a cocky thing, it’s just that how many other magicians have you seen walking around with a parka, looking like a front man and doing tricks?”
“With my sort of style comes the attitude which works so well. I ended up going to every gig I went to, whether it be The Stone Roses at Finsbury Park, which I think really hit off then, – remember doing a trick for this bloke, and the next thing you know, I looked up and there was this big circle of people around me. Must have been about fourty or fifty people all surrounding me. Then there was pictures on the internet and all these other musicians were thinking, right, who’s this?”
“It just sort of snowballed to the point where I ended up like supporting my heroes, like Paul Weller, The Libertines, Pete Docherty’s solo career – more recently doing a full UK and Ireland tour with The Brian Jonestown Massacre. Never in a million years I thought I’d end up doing three shows with my hero, Paul Weller – I even ended up on his album as well, On Sunset, I did the clapping on ‘Old Father Time’ and I got the credits for it in in the album, which was surreal.
What can we expect at your Manchester gig?
The Magic Mod: “I’ve been doing this since I was about eighteen, I’m 34 and I’m just coming into clicking now where I just feel I’m literally at the top of my game if that makes sense, the best I’ve ever been. It’s like an emotional rollercoaster – one minute you’ll be shocked, next minute you’ll be laughing. There are times you’ll probably be crying and there’s times when you’ll be gasping as well because there’s a lot of tricks with an element of danger in. I’ve always liked the idea of a trick going wrong, so wrong that you could end up getting hurt. But that’s what makes it so exciting”.
“One thing I will tell you is what makes my show so different to everyone else’s who’s doing magic is I get everyone involved. There’ll be a point where everyone in the crowd will be part of a magic trick, whether it be one to one or as a whole group, but everyone who buys a ticket and is in the venue will be part of a trick. There’s a trick I’ve done where everyone in the room is doing it at the same time. And the result at the end is mind-blowing. The reactions are always the same at the end, it’s mental”.
Catch The Magic Mod at 53two on Saturday the 3rd of May, tickets here.
