Interview with Kreye: ‘The whole idea of ‘The Overseer’ basically comes from a guy I know in the SAS’

Hull-based rock band Kreye (pronounced ‘cry’) have released their debut single ‘The Overseer’ and are working on their debut album Our Time Is Now, which will likely be released towards the end of this year or early 2025.

The band comprises Ben Miller (vocals and keys), Harrison Knight (guitar), Lily Lingwood (drums) and Kristopher Murphy (bass). Of their band name, Miller says: ‘Our drummer basically started after her grandad was in a band called ‘The Cry’. Our name gets people talking, they’re not sure how to pronounce it. In Haitian Creole, ‘kreye’ meets to create, or so I’ve read, so that fitted for us!’

‘The Overseer’ opens with a cinematic piano line, which quickly erupts into a stompy, flamboyant wall of guitars. It’s pure 70’s glam rock with the matching attitude: ‘The whole idea of ‘The Overseer’ basically comes from a guy I know in the SAS,’ Miller said. ‘I met him through doing a few courses, he’s such an interesting guy. The things he’s doing, they’re hidden in the song, like the piano bit at the beginning is just me messing around (laughs) but then the guitars come in big, like shots.’

As the track kicks off: “Woah, I am the overseer. You don’t even know I’m here. So don’t you look outside. And I’II promise you’ll be fine. Ain’t a man who lives in fear. ‘Cause I am the, I am the overseer.”

‘It’s got classic rock, soul influences, a bit of a Tom Odell feel on it’

The upcoming debut album will fuse his various influences: ‘We want to do that very classic thing of a 10-12 track album,’ he said. ‘It’s got classic rock, soul influences, a bit of a Tom Odell feel on it. ‘Our Time Is Now’ is an old one. ‘Sighs’ – the clip you saw – we always end our show with it, it’s probably my favourite. It was inspired by ‘Invincible’ an animated show on Amazon. (Based on the Image Comic series of the same name, it follows 17 year old Mark Grayson and his transformation into a superhero under the guidance of his father Omni-Man, the most powerful superhero on the planet.) There’s a song in it called ‘Tom Tom’, it’s really good but super simplistic and I thought: “Can we do something like that but which says something about the UK as a whole?” It’s a bit dark and edgy, there are references to knife crime, dark as that is, and to entitlement.’

Writing lyrics is Miller’s favourite part of songwriting: ‘I’m much better at lyrics, they tend to come first. The first part “I am the Overseer, you don’t know I’m here” came first. Those big 70’s sounds were a big influence. I’m a massive fan of Freddie Mercury, I looked at what influenced him and if I can do anything a bit like him,’ he said. ‘My stage persona is massively influenced by Freddie and glam rock and his movement on stage. I think there are two or three great people for stage presence – Michael Jackson, Tina Turner and Freddie, so let’s learn from them! Why does Freddie scrunch his nose up when he sings?!’ I say that I watched a clip of Kreye onstage and that he holds the microphone in a similar way to Freddie Mercury and he laughs: ‘The microphone is a Freddie pull and I tie a scarf around it like Steven Tyler, he’s such a great frontman, it’s been a conscious effort. I’ve been so focused on trying to do Freddie Mercury as a party trick but lately I’ve tried to move away from that.’

Growing up, Miller was a big fan of Spandau Ballet, Depeche Mode and The Beatles ‘and even Andrea Bocelli and some classical stuff’: ‘If it’s dramatic, I like it! I’m learning guitar (he shows me his guitar leaning on the wall behind him). Harrison Knight, in our band, he’s possibly the best guitarist I’ve seen our age. When I’m not singing, the guitar “is”, if you know what I mean? I’m kinda teaching myself a bit of guitar so that I can translate something I mean to something a guitarist understands (laughs).’ He started playing the piano first, around five years ago, and singing didn’t even come into it until 2019: ‘I ask myself: “Why do you think you were good then?!”,’ he said. ‘But I wrote sometimes on the piano and something had to go with it (laughs). I always really enjoyed doing creative writing at school. The best way I can describe my writing is storytelling that descends into poetry for a little bit. I never want to write two songs that are the same. If two songs get too close together, I’ll bin one of them. I like to combine different genres, it occurred to me I could try to sell the ones I don’t use?’

‘Everyone in their life at some point feels like an outcast’

One song he really wishes he’d written is ‘You’re the Voice’ by John Farnham: ‘That vocal range is completely mental,’ he said enthusiastically. ‘I have tried singing it, that ‘clear’ D5 note is very high (laughs).’ I ask him if he knows what his own vocal range is. ‘I think it’s C2 to C6, which is four octaves – not every day but on a good day!’

Last year, Miller, who is currently doing his A-levels, brought out his debut solo EP ‘Outcast’ which features him on piano and is more pared back, more balladic. ‘That EP, the song ‘Little Bird’ is the one people find most interesting. LADbible on YouTube, there was someone featured who jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge, that’s where the line “hope that you fly” comes from. With ‘Outcast’ (the EP closer), my dad said that everyone in their life at some point feels like an outcast. I was the only kid at school who liked older music, I don’t like the modern stuff. I felt like an outcast. The line “I’ve heard a million lies” came from people telling you how everything used to be. Everyone was more individual back in the day, weren’t they?’

If he could hear ‘The Overseer’ on any TV show or movie, he picks the ‘John Wick’ film franchise starring Keanu Reeves: ‘I’ve already put it to that,’ he said laughing. ‘I tried to match the gunshots to the drums in the song, it sounds kinda right! If they make a ‘John Wick’ five, we might pitch it to them!’

‘I want to ask him about the originality, it was off the scale!’

I have interviewed several brilliant bands from Hull and I ask him what he thinks makes his local music scene so good and so diverse. ‘I think it’s massively to do with the people, political influences, upbringing and the cultural diversity since we were the City of Culture (in 2017),’ he said. He has some advice for first-time visitors to his home city: ‘If people come to Hull, I’d suggest they come for the music – Humber Street Sesh – and also explore The Deep which really sums up Hull’s maritime history in a really fun way.’ Two venues he’d love to play are Wembley and Sphere in Las Vegas: ‘Wembley stadium for the history and then the Sphere, just to have just an amazing light show and a cool big screen behind us!’

They’ve had some fun moments onstage and recording, as Miller recounts: ‘Most of the funniest moments we’ve ever had happen in practice – changing lyrics normally – but on stage, probably the most amusing was getting so close to Kris and leaning in to see what he was doing that he messed up the bass line to ‘Our Time Is Now’. Admittedly, he recovered that super well! The whole recording studio experience for ‘The Overseer’ was also great. We got loads of funny clips, such as Harrison breaking strings, me dancing whilst recording vocals, Lily headbanging etc. When we were recording backing vocals, I had to be in an entirely different room so that there was a balance and everyone was the same level. The studio engineer kept telling me to step back every time we recorded one thing!’

If Miller could go for a drink with anyone, he is quick to say Freddie Mercury: ‘It’s got to be Freddie Mercury, doesn’t it? If they had to be alive, Brian May because he’s written the majority of Queen songs I love, like ‘Breakthrough’, ‘Hammer To Fall’ and ‘One Vision’. I want to ask him about the originality, it was off the scale! To Freddie: “How were you singing?!”‘ We get chatting about the Freddie Mercury statue in Montreux, Switzerland, which is not far from where I live, and it turns out that he also visited it recently: ‘I visited Switzerland last year, there is so much music history related to Montreux,’ he said. ‘When I saw Freddie, he had a flower bracelet and necklace, it was great!’

His dream line up would be a fantastic mash up of genres: ‘We have to open it! Tina Turner would be brilliant, Aretha Franklin after that, maybe Royal Blood. Sam Ryder is really quite good, he honours musicians of the past. I saw him play ‘Spaceman’ and thought “Wow, he is playing the guitar?” He’s really good! Then Queen!’