All The Right Moves: Introducing Aaron Keylock

Anyone with an IQ  larger than a mushy cucumber knows how stupid the whole ‘rock is dead’ argument sounds. Yet, after the last 12 months, we’re increasingly aware that the genre’s icons, those who built its foundations and shaped its sound, are not impervious to the grim reaper’s merciless scythe. We need new heroes to worship, new blood to carry the music into the future without losing the roots of the past. Step forward 19-year-old Aaron Keylock.

A gifted songwriter and guitarist from Oxford whose heart clearly belongs to the 1970s, Keylock’s pumped up blues-rock and classic southern balladry have already seen him land coveted support slots with the likes of Wilko Johnson and Blackberry Smoke. Not to mention appearances at Download and Ramblin’ Man Fair. Anticipation was therefore high for the young gun’s recently released, and suitably impressive, debut album ‘Cut Against The Grain’.

We spoke to Keylock about that record, his already impressive backstory and how a bit of advice from a modern day great helped kick start his blossoming career.

Tell me about how you got into playing and performing?

My dad was always playing music around the house growing up and I started playing guitar once a week when I was eight. I got introduced to the blues by my guitar teacher when I was nine and liked that because you can jam and improvise to it. So I started going to go to blues jams about eleven, just in Oxford, and then to ones in London, made friends and jammed with their bands. It progressed to putting my own band together and I’ve basically been doing it ever since.   

Which records had the biggest impact on you growing up?

The earliest ones I remember were things like Lynyrd Skynyrd, the ‘Pronounced’ album I really liked, and the blues, ‘Electric Mud’, the first Muddy Waters album, got me into it. I went to see The Black Crowes at Brixton Academy, that was my first live experience, so ‘Southern Harmony and Musical Companion’. Songwriting-wise, ‘Freewheelin’ by Bob Dylan got me into that.

How were you viewed at school as you must have stood out, both with your tastes and the fact you were already playing gigs at such a young age?

I was definitely the different kid. I never went there and sat down and spoke about my songs or about playing shows or anything. I just went and got through it but it wasn’t something I liked. Obviously I was the one kid at school who listened to Leon Russell records. I was doing things my way and being different, doing things how I wanted to rather than the normal way of life. It found me a voice I guess.

How supportive have your parents been?

My parents were both music fans and my dad was big into it. The fact that I took it seriously, it wasn’t just to get out of doing school work, it was something I obviously wanted to do and threw everything I had into it. I basically went out and did all the shows with my dad, just me and him in a van, and he drove me to blues jams and bought me guitars for Christmas presents every year since the age of eight. So I couldn’t really ask for any more support.   

You received a lot of praise before even releasing a record. Were you conscious of that hype and did it put any pressure on the recording of your album?

You don’t really think about it. As soon as you start to think about it or put tricks on to make it something else, that’s the only time you’re ever going to feel pressure. To me it was just find the best songs that you’ve got at that time, take them into the studio and capture them how you want to capture them.  The main thing was to make sure I liked it and would listen to it at home. You can make albums to try and get more press or to try and sell more tickets, but it will show that it’s false and people won’t like it.

You’ve said the title track of your album is your story in a nutshell. Can you explain that?

I wrote that when I was coming to the end of school and it was basically about going out there and doing it my way, being arrogant enough to not let anybody tell you you’re wrong, doing something you want to do and not really caring what anybody says. It was about the struggles of being a young musician trying to find my way in rock ‘n’ roll.

You’ve been praised for you guitar playing but the record shows you to be a songwriter first, guitarist second.

Songwriting was a big thing from when I started. I still work on improving and finding other things to say, but I think I found my voice as a songwriter when I was about 14 or 15, when I got happy with my songs, had something to say and got my own style. I like guitarists who play for the song because that’s what you’re presenting. That’s your message and your expression. I was influenced more by bands with great songs and songwriters so I’ve always played guitar for the music.

How do you construct solos – is it on the spot or do you work them out beforehand?   

I can never write a solo. I tried and it never works. The music should change each time because it’s like a change of how you feel and it just sounds robotic if you have it all set out. Even with the album, I just went in and played it different every time. I didn’t even try to improve it. If it felt right and it fitted the song it just stayed.

The slide seems to be a major part of your arsenal too.

I got into that about 12 through the obvious blues guys: Elmore James and Son House. Then I discovered Johnny Winter and that was huge for me as a slide player. Duane Allman, Derek Trucks too. I always loved the sound of it, but I discovered it again at the same time I discovered Nick Drake and that you could write songs in different tunings and mess around with that. It was just another path, another direction to go.

Try is a special song – what can you tell me about that one?

That was the first ballad I’ve ever written. I had all the parts written at different times and it was lucky they fit together. It was a bit of a Frankenstein song at first but with the arrangements and everything I did to it, when we demoed it, it sounded cool. I thought it had sort of the early Rolling Stones type vibe with a gospel kind of vocal.

There’s so much emotion in the soloing on Just One Question. Where does that come from as there’s a belief you have to be old and weathered to summon up those reserves of feeling?

People are always saying that with blues. It’s a happy music in my eyes because the blues guys always used to have hard times but they’d play the music to get those thoughts out and have fun with it. They used to have entertainment with it and turn into a big thing. There’s happy blues and there’s sad blues in the lyrical sense, but it’s more to do with the feeling of it, having the heart and just being honest and playing naturally, rather than having to lose 10 wives or whatever to play it.

Are you an old soul?  

I guess. It’s funny because people are always saying you were meant to be born years ago but I’m the person I am because I’m born now. I look back and appreciate the history of the music because everything I love about it is what I’m about. At the same time I guess the time that you grow up also has an effect on who you are as well.  

Do you think you’ve grown up faster because you’ve been on the road for nearly half your life?

I’d imagine so. You spend a lot of time as a young kid in clubs playing with adult bands. I was 13 and my band were 55 year old session musicians. That was also really good because it took me away from comfort zones of having bands my own age where I had rehearsals twice a week and a gig once every two months where everybody knew what they were doing. Rather than that, it was listening to the songs for the first time in sound check or on the way to the gig and just winging it. Which was good for me because, first of all, it taught me how to lead a band and, secondly, it taught me how to improvise, jam and play live.

You’ve played festivals and some really special support slots. What’s the best gig you’ve done so far?

For me the gigs are all so different. I really enjoy support slots and festivals.  Nobody really knows who you are and you have to go out there and win people over. That’s your job. It keeps you focussed on putting on better shows. When you’re playing your own headline shows and you’ve got your own people there it’s like your group of friends all coming together and having a party. So it’s a hard one. For me it would be between my signing party, a headline show at the Black Heart in Camden, and Shepherd’s Bush Empire with Blackberry Smoke because I got to see Johnny Winters there just before he died. So that was cool, playing on the same stage.

Any nightmare gigging experience?

At the time I would have said yes, but now I think they’ve made me able to cope in any situation. The bad gigs where nobody cares or things fall apart, it kind of strengthens you to play better shows. We played biker rallies where we’d be on stage and all of a sudden there’d be Harleys riding on stage doing burn outs behind us which we didn’t expect. I’m pretty sure that’s prepared me for any situation. I can’t imagine anything stranger than that. It’s all been a learning experience.

In terms of learning, Joe Bonamassa gave you some good advice early on in your career. What did he tell you?

I got to meet Joe four times between 12 and 13. Every year he came over I went to a show and the last time, that was the turning point. I think I was at Hammersmith and was telling him how much I’m playing and he was like: ‘You’ve been doing that for years. You can’t keep just playing every gig you can get because that’s not necessarily good for you now. You’ll just burn yourself out.’ He suggested looking for new management and perfecting each gig we do and trying to just move it on. That was the time that I went and I got a management contract.

Are you happy just playing great rock ‘n’ roll for fans of the genre or would you like to make a dent in the mainstream?

I’ve never really thought of my music in that way. My ambition is to write the best record that I can and write my favourite kind of music and become as good as I can. My ambition’s never been to get as many t-shirts sold at the merch desk or to get as many radio plays because, if that comes it that’s maybe a great thing, but it’s the same mentality Joe had, where the main thing is that you like what you do and can wake up in the morning and say you love the record you recorded last and you keep trying to better yourself as an artist and musician.    

You’ve already been hailed as the future of blues and rock, as well as one of the best young guitarists on the scene. Do you feel any responsibility because of that?

I don’t really think you can think about that too much. People throw lots of labels on you but all you can do is keep trying to improve and make every record better than the last. Like, some people would say ‘you’re the next Rory Gallagher’. I don’t feel any pressure because I’m not Rory Gallagher. It’s a nice thing that you appreciate but you never try to be him so never really let it get to you.

Do you envisage yourself as an AC/DC type of artist who has a sound and style and sticks to it, or are you keen to evolve and push your boundaries?

Again, it’s down to being honest as a songwriter. You have people who, every record they make you can see where they’ve grown as a person, where they’ve improved. If you’re writing about your life, you change what you think and that should come out in your songwriting. But I don’t want to say I’m going to write a different album every time or I’m going to write the same album. For me the only way I can write is to sit down and just let it happen. Do it as it comes, try and write the best song but not really worry what sound it is because each different song is a different journey, a different path.  

‘Cut Against The Grain’ is out now on Mascot.

Related News