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Oh, to be young, talented and driven: a hope for many, yet so few are. When these young prodigies burst onto the scene, there’s nothing more interesting than watching them grow through their music and through life. Aaron Keylock was born in Oxford, England 19 years ago and, while we don’t want to put any pressure on him, you could say he’s the next big thing in blues and rock. With his debut album hitting stands earlier this year, Cut Against The Grain is the first foray of this young musician into his sparkling future. Aaron had a guitar in his hands by the time he was eight years old, and instead of playing with toys or doing regular kid things, he was stringing his Les Paul and developing an understanding of songwriting. By the time he was 11, he was playing in clubs almost every night of the week. “I kind of got taught how to jam at the age of 11 and I started going to blues jams and playing with people who had been doing it for 20 years,” Aaron explains. He was the kind of youngster who never had any trouble picking up chords or techniques, and learned a lot while up on stage. “…That was one of the best things I could’ve done, just got out there and did it the old school way,” Aaron says. Obviously being so consumed with music at such a young age—learning new things and listening to lots of Johnny Winter—there wasn’t much time for school. “I just got through it as well as I could,” Aaron admits. “It wasn’t really my thing.” And if you’re playing shows by the end of primary school and arguing with club doormen who won’t let you into venues you’re booked to play, sure, school might seem a little dull in comparison. While it’s easier to learn things at a young age, learning to improvise on stage is a skill worth mastering over time, and Aaron has definitely put in the hours in that area. He played with people he’d never met before and learned to improvise in the moment. “For me, it’s just being able to play different styles with how you feel on stage. It’s how you present yourself through your music in the space of a song,” he says. It can also become something that you can share with a stranger—just pulling up another blues player on to the stage and having a jam. And now, at 19 years of age, he has a record label behind him and his first full length album out. The title of the album Cut Against The Grain is a statement he wanted to make when he released the album, and the
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idea behind it sums up a lot of lyrical content. His writing style consists of piecing a lot of his song ideas together. For instance ‘Down’, whilst it has about three different time signatures, sounds like a blend of a Mississippi John Hurt riff, a Jimi Hendrix riff and a Johnny Winter riff all rolled into one country/blues song. He’s smashed through everything so far and left the pieces where they lay. With Mascot Label Group, he’s dodged the major issue most bands have, and found a record label that supports him and lets him make the music he wants to make. Aaron has known he wanted to make music and play shows since he saw The Black Crowes in London when he was 10, and he’s been stubborn enough to chase it. Cut Against The Grain is an inspired piece of work from an exciting young prodigy, and when you listen to it you should take some advice from Aaron himself and switch off the outside world; listen to it in the dark with headphones on, and immerse yourself in the moment.
FOLLOW AARON KEYLOCK
facebook.com/aaronkeylock instagram.com/aaronkeylock twitter.com/aaronkeylock aaronkeylock.com youtube.com/user/aaronkeylock
Ebony Story PHOTOGRAPHY Austin Hargrave WORDS
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