"It was spiralling out of control. You find yourself in some dodgy situations waiting outside train stations at three in the morning": How Orange Goblin's Ben Ward turned his life around

Orange Goblin superimposed on the Northern Lights.

In January 2023, Orange Goblin frontman Ben Ward cut off his hair. The dark, arse-length locks that he’d flung around for 30 years, while spurting mouthfuls of beer and roaring into the faces of happy metalheads at Orange Goblin gigs, were no more. The end of an era had come. 

“The main reason was because it was really getting in my way at the gym!” he says in softly spoken tones, accompanied by a chuckle. “It got annoying to the point where I was like: “You know what? I’m just gonna shave my head.’”