It's more productive than doomscrolling': film-maker Ben Wheatley on his secret life as musician Dave Welder

"Dave Welder may just be the most prolific musician you've never heard of. In a little more than a year, he has released a staggering 26 records spanning electronica, dub, ambient, kosmische and drone."

"I've always wanted to make music, says Wheatley, whose films include the independent movies High-Rise, Kill List and Sightseers, along with big-budget Hollywood flicks such as the shark thriller Meg 2: The Trench. I wanted to do it for my films but there was a dissonance. Of all the art forms, I couldn't really understand it. I would dream that I could play, but then it was like, no, I can't. After he started tinkering with GarageBand a few years ago, it quickly became an obsession."

"It's this weird flow state where you sit at the machine and then this tune pops out and it's like, Oh, fuck,' he says. I listen back and I don't even know how I've done some of it. Music-making can be a healthy distraction: I might have a job to do but I'm like, I don't want to do that', so I'll do some music and then go back to it. Or alternatively, a reward for doing stuff, whereas before it might have been playing games or doomscrolling. It's a more productive and creative way of calming down."

Ben Wheatley records and releases music under the name Dave Welder, issuing 26 albums in just over a year across electronica, dub, ambient, kosmische and drone. One album, Thunderdrone, exceeds four hours in length. The project is presented as a rotating group but is primarily Wheatley working alone from Brighton and Hove. Wheatley began experimenting with GarageBand and developed an obsessive, productive music-making practice. Music provides a flow state, a healthier distraction or reward than previous habits like gaming or doomscrolling. Wheatley composed the soundtrack for his experimental sci-fi film Bulk, streamlining director-composer feedback by doing both roles himself.

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