Interview with Owen Killey: ”Hooked’ is more about the danger of love but ‘Celestial’ is more about falling into it’

Hull teenage singer-songwriter Owen Killey will release his debut EP this summer.

His latest single ‘Hooked’ opens with a cinematic Wild West guitar riff before his rocky vocals kick in: ‘That one I had written a year ago,’ he said. ‘The Wild West stuff, I do use it, I don’t know why (laughs). I started with that riff. I can’t write lyrics, I have to sing them.’ It’s clearly a track about being hooked on someone: ‘What I think songs do, they’re subconsciously in your head,’ he said. ‘I don’t have a clue at the time. ‘Hooked’ is about falling in love, getting hooked on someone but it can be toxic. I don’t think love’s all good.’

As the song erupts: “You fall from the sky, oblivion, on your side…you’re my Juliet, my Marie-Antoinette, you’re gonna get me burned at the stake.”

The guitars intensify as the song progresses, especially around the three minute mark, where they layer up: ‘I like making walls of guitars, I’m a big fan of Oasis,’ he said. ‘What I did, I started with open chords – power chords and layered them. People talk to me about writing songs, I’ve got a lot of friends who are talented musicians, I can’t say that I am.’

‘I took a shine to acting when I was six’

Anyone who has heard ‘Hooked’ will disagree, it’s as hooky as the title implies, with a level of musicianship that belies his years. It’s not a coincidence that it’s as cinematic and evocative as it is and it turns out that acting was his first love: ‘I’ve always been performing,’ he said. ‘I took a shine to acting when I was six and I’m now in my first year of college doing performing arts at the Northern Academy of Performing Arts (in Hull). I couldn’t get into the guitar at all. I tried the drums, I was in a band but I was shite, it was awful (laughs). Then I got a few friends together when I was 15 and started singing and thought I’d better try and learn a few chords! My friends Alfie and Max (in the band), I just look at them and try to replicate it.’

He is booked to go back into the studio later this month and hopes to release his debut EP around June: ‘We did a gig at Brid Spa on Saturday, it was a massive venue. We met Alan Raw from BBC Introducing, who said we should do an EP, so that’s what we’d like do next. My favourite of the new songs that could go on it is ‘Cruising’, it was done drunk (laughs), it’s hilarious live. It’s very simple but incredibly fun, just two chords, nonsense lyrics and, when live, a massive drum solo! Another one is ‘Coming Around’ that’ll be on the EP. It’s very Pulp-like, a bit of old Arctic Monkeys. It’s kind of about falling out with people and getting back with them. The beat’s class, I wrote it on Christmas Day on my new guitar!’ He grabs it to show me, it’s a beautiful black PRS with a red tortoiseshell pickguard. I ask him what his dream guitar would be. ‘It always changes but I’d love a Fender Stratocaster in midnight blue, it’s gorgeous. I’d be happy if I woke up with one of those in my hands!’ Other songs have been inspired by one of his favourite young bands, The Lathums, of whom I am also a big fan: ‘There’s another new song, I call it ‘If You Could Play In My Mind’, it’s acoustic like The Lathums. I’ve seen them live a few times, they’re class, Alex has such a unique voice.’

His performing arts studies are taking him in new directions: ‘I’m doing dance, which I’m awful at (laughs), singing and acting. With the singing, there’s theory, I don’t have a clue! It’s hard but it’s fun,’ he said enthusiastically.

‘I did the guitar solo in one take, just improvised and from the gut’

Other tracks, such as ‘Celestial’, which he released as a single last year, go further back. It’s a big song, powered along by some seriously catchy riffs: ‘I’m not sure what pedals we used but I did the guitar solo in one take, just improvised and from the gut,’ he said. It’s heartfelt and introspective and turns out to be one of the first songs he wrote: ‘I just had the lyrics, it was two years ago, I didn’t play the guitar. My friend George who lives in Africa liked it, he said: “When’s it coming out?”. My friend Lucas came over, we did it in one night – he plays the piano, he’s in the band. ‘Hooked’ is more about the danger of love but ‘Celestial’ is more about falling into it, about self-worth, wanting to live forever and being remembered.’

As it kicks off: ‘When I see your face, words cannot retrace the world behind in your mind. If me and you could fly, we could fly by the rolling sky that drifts on by beside your mind.”

Killey finds songwriting therapeutic and his influences shine through, from Oasis to Foo Fighters, The Beatles and The Lathums. Songs like ‘Estate Escape’ reference how he wants to escape the council estate he grew up on, with the memorable line “I wanna live until I’m 98 with my guitar and my voice, I’ll pay for an escape”. I tell him that it’s my favourite line in the song: ‘I do want to live until I’m 98 with my guitar,’ he said happily. ‘It’s my dream to still play with people then. My family’s very working class but with acting, I see people who are better off than me but also worse off than me. You see it all.’

He’s also a big fan of punk band The Mounts: ‘They’re right up my alley, I like them a lot,’ he said enthusiastically. ‘Our bassist Jack goes down a different route, he likes Elliott Smith. There’s a band in Hull called Ketamine Kow (a post-punk band), I enjoy the vibe they bring to the stage.’

I ask him who he’d most like to go for a pint with: ‘I’m going to have to choose someone dead because if it’s someone alive, it could still happen one day,’ he said. ‘It would have to be John Lennon, that’d be class. I’d ask him “What do you think of Liam Gallagher?!” You could ask him about LSD (laughs).’ His dream line up would be a crowd pleaser: ‘If Oasis reformed, they’d be my top. Foo Fighters, The Who, The Lathums – they’re insane. I’ll put Bob Dylan in there. Dave Grohl is a machine. He seems very friendly, Mr. Grohl. He’s lived an interesting life, hasn’t he? He’s a musical genius.’

(Top photo from left to right: Jack Wednesday, Owen and Ben Chance.)