Mt.Eliah
Ben Howells has been creating musical communities on the West Coast for over 15 years. Howells founded and co-produces Pachena Bay Music Festival, Cumberland Wild festival, Atmosphere Gathering festival, Project Intent, the Big Top Circus Tent, as well as countless concert series, and annual events. Howells also offers event production services, rentals, as well as the teams that bring dreams to fruition. After many years as a sole proprietor, Howells incorporated in Jan 2020 as Long Shot Events Inc. Working with communities, tourism bodies, economic development agencies, local government and First Nations, Long Shot Events has set the bar for event production in the mid to north island.
In the early days Howells formed and performed with one of Vancouver Island’s most infamous DJ groups, The NakedDJs. Over the course of 10 years they produced various adventure festivals, community music festivals, and partook in a multitude of community projects and fundraisers throughout mid to north Vancouver Island region including Comox Valley, Campbell River, and all of the surrounding Islands. Over the years Howells has stayed the course in bringing people together and creating moments worth remembering. His artistry as Mt. Eliah is legendary. His productions have a wide following; attracting enormous audiences, drawing crowds from around the world, flooding social media feeds, inspiring trends, and most importantly bringing those audiences to the dance floor to experience a diverse lineup of the best of local, regional, and national emerging and professional talent.
As Mt.Eliah he has had the pleasure of opening and sharing the stage with artists such as, Beats Antique, Dubfx, Mad Professor, Dj Vadim, the skatalites, Adham shaikh, Neighbour, The Funk Hunters, Love and Light, Michael Red, The Cat Empire, Nicodemus, Westerly, Chali 2na, Gaudi, and many many more. Multi-tempo, multi-genre DJ performances fuse much of the world’s most passionate, pleasing, cultural music with the best of underground electronica’s dance beats. Skillfully blending 4/4 dance tempos you can sleep or sweat to. Gypsy, Latin and African influences, stir that up with a generous helping of conscious reggae, reggaeton, dancehall, cumbia and other bass-heavy, mid-tempo beats, for a feast of extremely fun, danceable music.
Today Howells is operating out of Port Alberni and has a deep connection and commitment to the Central & North Vancouver Island area. He believes in engaging at the community level and offering opportunities for people to gather and celebrate, creating a strong bond that builds the capacity for action, and in valuing those communities engages residents, community organizations, and harm reduction teams to develop awareness of relevant social issues, transform standards, and address opportunities at the ground level. He actively listens and responds to his audiences and you can bet he will be right alongside you on the dance floor.
