By Feature Editor: Hannah Snyder
As high school comes to an end for Howell High seniors, there is one person who has left his impression on so many people these past four years. Ben Friend has been making people smile, laugh, and feel accepted since the first day of his freshman classes. Probably even since his first day of preschool.
Friend has a last name that fits his personality very well. Because in fact, he really is everybody’s friend. He strives to radiate happiness between all the people he’s around and continuously has a positive attitude.
Besides his great personality, motivating outlook on life, and contagious laugh, Friend has his own secret talents not many people are aware of. Those talents revolve around anything involving music. That’s right, Friend does it all. Well, basically. You may have seen him around the halls of HHS; he’s the kid always representing his favorite band’s apparel.
His main hobby is playing the guitar. And he doesn’t just have one that he plays – he currently owns six. One of the guitars is very personal to Friend. He recently took the initiative to build his own guitar and make it exactly how he wanted it. This is a task that only a select number of musicians can take on.
“I took a solid wood base and basically refurbished it to make it how I wanted it. So, the body is the only thing that isn’t original, but all the rest is,” says Friend.
Although his other five guitars aren’t made with the same dedication that Friend put into his original, they are still some of his prize possessions. In the future he plans on designing and constructing more original guitars and adding them to his collection. Not many people can say they have the same amount of dedication and motivation Friend does.
“It’s just something I enjoy doing. I loved making it (the guitar) look the way it does. It really looks great!” says Friend.
Friend may have only been playing guitar since freshman year, but he has had a passion for music since he was nine-years-old. He used to spend time with his father listening to classic rock bands and learning about rock and roll and metal.
According to Friend, his two brothers, Nick and Ethan never got into music the way he did. Meaning it was something just Friend could enjoy with his father. It created a special bond between the two of them.
“I’m the only one. Trust me they (Nick and Ethan) couldn’t play music to even save their lives,” says Friend.
After learning all the knowledge of rock and roll from his father, Friend eventually got into actually playing and creating the music himself. He decided to take guitar lessons but after eight short months, he decided he was better off alone. Friend explained that although he did take lessons for a short period of time, he considers himself self-taught. He was recently in a band made up of three other HHS students: Zach Noonan, Nick Siep, and Dylan Richards. Although, due to the busy lives of typical high school students, they decided to break up.
“I would love to be in another band soon. I just want it to be chill,” says Friend.
Friend explained that his favorite genre of music to play, as well as listen to, is heavy metal. Now this genre could be a little intimidating for some people, but it’s what Friend listens to basically 24 hours a day, seven days a week. His favorite band is currently, Trivium. Being a close friend of him, I can assure you that he may own every T-shirt the band has ever made. Some of his musical inspirations include Josh Middleton, Paul Gilbert, and Jimmy Page.
“Metal makes me calm; I can get all my aggression out from it. It’s so intense I just love it,” says Friend.
As a graduating senior, Friend really does have a lot on his plate right now. That doesn’t slow him down though. He explained that his love for guitar, and music in general, will never die. He currently practices for easily three hours a day straight.
“It’s like people and their drugs – it’s an addiction. This is a healthy addiction though,” says Friend.
As for the future, Friend plans to eventually attend business school. Don’t worry, his love for music is going to follow right behind him. He dreams of creating his own guitar workshop and eventually having his own brand.
“It will always be my obsession,” says Friend.
