19-year-old Ewan McKenna releases his fluid, soaring, debut single ‘Like Us’ on March 20^th, its corner shops, bills to pay and dreams of a ‘six figure holiday’ yearning for something special to break the monotony. Like Ewan’s own story, there’s a little bit of magic to it, but he wouldn’t say so himself.

Bored at home in Airdrie near Glasgow during lockdown, he picked up the guitar his uncle lent him and “mucked about on it ‘til it started sounding alright.” His family’s considerable vinyl collection gave him plenty of inspiration and, if he got stuck, he’d find performances on YouTube and work out what they were doing by “copying their fingers”. 

At fifteen he joined a band as lead guitarist and, when the singer left, Ewan stepped up. “I’d never really sung before, but nobody else wanted to do it, so I gave it a bash. The more I did it the more confident I got.” A stint at music college was “too much like being at school,” so, needing to earn some money, he went round the local pubs seeing if they would give him a gig. “If they had a gap when the usual singer was off, they’d give me a try and usually I’d end up getting a regular slot.” Soon he was playing seven gigs a week, three or four hours a night, and posting covers to a growing following on TikTok. 

When he heard about a search for a new artist to support local hero Nathan Evans at Glasgow’s 14,000 capacity Hydro Arena, he was reluctant to enter because “people like me don’t win these things, do they?” But, of course, he did win. “If nobody had filmed it, I don’t think I would believe I was there.” He’d put the hours in though, so the crowd got a great show, like he was meant to be on the big stage. In fact, it helped put him on the shortlist for ‘Newcomer of the Year’ at this year’s Scottish Live Music Awards.

Ewan’s first release ‘Like Us’ shows why there’s such a buzz around his voice and song writing but new fans shouldn’t expect him to over-share about its meaning. “I try to make my songs as real as possible but what they’re actually about doesn’t really matter. Hopefully people can get their own meaning out of them.” 

“I just want to be able to do this as a job,” says Ewan. “Everyone comes out of school and wants to get a trade or whatever. I’ve found mine and I’ve put a lot into it. I don’t want to stop now.”