More about: Katie Wood

Everywhere you look in the music industry, there are musicians channelling the ‘80s in their work. From the burgeoning post-punk revival to artists as big as Dua Lipa bringing back retro pop, it’s one of the biggest musical trends around right now.

But there’s something special about the way Katie Wood is doing it: their songs ‘Where Have You Been’ and ‘Steve’ find a delicate balance between goth rock and pop that always leaves you wanting more. You can see the artists they’re inspired by, but there’s a distinctive edge that we just can’t get enough of. We caught up with Katie to hear all about the new single, ‘Enemies To Lovers’.

“I love anything otherworldly”, she says of her striking visuals. “I think that there’s something so inherently beautiful about darker things and that’s why I’ve gone down this route. It’s how I wanted to express myself as a teenager and I wasn’t allowed to. I’m going through a second puberty, if you will”.

Musically, they’re going with the term goth-pop – for now, at least. “I feel I was so influenced by post-punk music but I know that my music doesn’t sound like that”. The obvious ‘80s influence in ‘Steve’ might not be around forever, either. “It sounds really ‘80s but I don’t want to always use the decade or be defined by one decade because I’d love to have the option to change as I change. We all change over time. It’s the same with art, it’s just a reflection of who you are in that time”.

Brand new single ‘Enemies To Lovers’ (out 16 July) fully embraces these gothic tendencies, taking inspiration from a lockdown binge of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. “I was inspired by the relationship between Buffy and Spike. I know that’s such a huge trope within the show anyway and a lot of people dislike that but there’s something about Spike’s character that’s like, the ability to feel love without a soul, it just really inspired me. I also could relate to elements of his character, maybe the childish elements and I wanted to write a song that not only feels like that but captures that whole essence. That sounds kind of weird because I’m not a vampire,” they add hastily, “but I do kind of look like one”.

To get here, Katie took a similar route to most artists – she got a guitar, played it, and started writing songs. But when we talk about that one formative moment when they knew this was going to be their life, the story takes a sharp turn – an injury sustained at a young age. “My sister was chasing me, she’s like 10 or 11 years older than me and I turned back to see if she was still chasing me. When I turned back the other way, the hinge of an old Victorian door went through my forehead. I had to be rushed to hospital and there was blood everywhere”. On the way there, Travis’ ‘Sing’ was playing on the radio, sparking an epiphany: “I had this weird, almost spiritual experience of ‘I wanna be a singer’. And then I was obsessed with music from then on”.

Now, Katie's in Essex with a new home studio, having taken the step that many musicians have taken this year and moving out of London. “The industry in London is so diluted now. You can say you live in London, but what is living in London actually doing to benefit you other than being near some sort of venues”. A few years ago, leaving London for your music career might have been unthinkable, but the pandemic has changed what it means to be a musician. “It’s such a capitalist mindset because being in London isn’t actually doing anything for my career. I’m originally from Kent and I wasn’t going to go back there so this seems like the best place. Right by the sea, it’s a really nice town and it's a thirty-minute train into London”.

Watching Katie’s music videos, you could be easily fooled into thinking they're a vampire. Every costume is decadent; straight from an old movie and certainly otherworldly. Naturally, we had to find out where she sources such outfits. “Surprisingly. A lot of my silk shirts and stuff are from the horror/vampire section of a fancy-dress shop. The shirt I wore in ‘Steve’, that was from an online fancy dress shop and that was advertised as ‘male pirate’ or ‘vampire boy’ or something like that and I was like ‘yeah, that’ll do’”. It’s aesthetically over the top, matching those ‘80s goth vibes perfectly, with the power to transport you somewhere else for the length of a song.  Of course, not everyone is ready to embrace the darkness: “Obviously in London nobody really takes two looks at you, but here [in Essex] someone came up to me and hissed at me! And they said that I was scary. I was like 'isn’t hissing at someone a little scarier?'".

But a little hissing never stopped anyone, and like any goth you’ll meet Katie is joyful when she talks about the more theatrical aspects of the genre, and that joy bleeds through into the music. With another iconic single on the way, we can’t wait to see what’s next for Katie Wood.

More about: Katie Wood