Benjamin Speed

Born In Adelaide, Australia in 1979, Benjamin started his music career as solo artist Mister Speed, performing shows alongside Ben Frost (Frost). In 2001 he formed The New Pollutants with Tyson Hopprich (DJ Tr!p), a hip-hop/electro duo influenced by lo-fi industrial sounds, 8-bit computer games and 50's/60's pop. (Mister) Benjamin Speed then spent his formative years as MC/vocalist, song writer and an exuberant live performer playing such places as The Big Day Out and Falls Festivals. After he graduated from the Adelaide Conservatorium in 2004, The New Pollutants composed and performed a score for Fritz Lang's 1927 silent film Metropolis. Incorporating electronic downtempo industrial sounds with classical cello and soprano vocals, the Metropolis Rescore was performed at The Sydney Opera House, ACMI and MONA FOMA festival among others. In 2011, the rescore was updated to coincide with the 2010 restoration release of Metropolis and was re-premiered at the 2011 Adelaide Film Festival. In 2006, Benjamin released his debut album 'The Dreamer' and in 2007 attended AFTRS in Sydney where he graduated with a Masters Degree in Screen Composition. Since then he has won one and been nominated for three Australian (APRA) Screen Music Awards and among others, has scored the Nick Cave narrated, AFI and IF award winning film 'The Cat Piano' (2009), the Australian Documentary Prize winning 'The Snowman' (2010), The AFI Award winning documentary 'A Northern Town'(2008), The MTV 180 Project winning film 'Dungoona' (2009), the Comic-Con winning 'Street Angel' (2009) and has scored 3 Tropfest finalists, 'Carnivore Reflux' (2006), 'Glass' (2008) and 'The Maestro' (2011). He has also won Best Score at the St Kilda Shorts Festival and was nominated for a MPSE Golden Reel Award.