Interview: Lock-In frontman Benjy Leak opens up on the band's new single 11:11, indie dreams at school and what the Oasis reunion means for guitar music
Lock-In lead singer Benjy Leak discusses the band’s new single '11:11', the artists that inspired them and why 2025 is going to be the band's breakout year.
If you haven't heard of Lock-In, that is going to change in 2025.
One of the UK’s most exciting new indie bands, Lock-In on their single ‘Us Against The World’ showed that they have everything it takes to be the next breakthrough band.
The Essex lads now amplify that potential with the new single ‘11:11’.
The tight-knit five-piece — featuring vocalist Benjy Leak, his brother Joe Leak on guitar, guitarist Angus Moore, bassist Sam Collins and drummer Ollie Stacey — follow the release of '11:11' with headline gig at Dingwalls in Camden, London, on May 17, kicking off a busy summer of shows.
In an exclusive interview with Contact Music, frontman Benjy Leak reveals Lock-In’s origin story, the inspiration behind ‘11:11’, what the Oasis reunion means for British indie rock music and his most memorable musical moment being carried by a festival crowd...
CM: What's the inspiration for your new song ‘11:11’?
BL: It’s that wish-upon-a-star sort of feeling and the haziness of 11:00, 12:00. Sometimes you just feel like, when you look at the clock and it’s 11:11, you’ve got to make a wish. It’s sort of an affirmation as a band as well, just striving to get to where we want to be.
It was the first song we wrote with our producer Max [Marlow]. He sort of brought the idea to the table whilst we were all in the room together.
The single cover for '11:11'. / Credit: Joe Rowe
What bands are Lock-In inspired by?
I think every song is sort of different in terms of what we're feeling in that moment. I think, around the time where [‘11:11’] was written, I personally was listening to quite a lot of The Strokes, so it's got an element of that sort of drive-iness of the song. But then in the pre-chorus, it’s got this hazy, sort of Tame Impala feel.
It really does depend on the mood of everyone individually. We're all songwriters within the band. We always write together. There's so many different elements. I know Sam, our bassist, he likes a lot of Arctic Monkeys. … My brother's a big 1975 fan, so it’s so many different areas of inspiration.
How did Lock-In form?
We were five school friends, just going for loads of gigs together. When I mean loads of gigs, it was a case of: We go to school, finish at half three, and we’d run home, get changed, and try and make it down to the train station for 4:00 for the train into London.
Then we’d get into London, and sometimes we were doing, like, two gigs a week. It got to a point where we were like, ‘We could probably do this, you know?’
We were 16, 17, when we started doing music together, but Lock-In came about in 2020, COVID. Before then, we were sort of playing together in bands, still the same people. When COVID happened, we were like, ‘Right, this is when we start taking this seriously’, made a name, and that's what we started to keep on really.
What was it about that time that made you want to start taking music more seriously?
I think it was because we just had so much more time on our hands. In the UK, professionally, musicians could get in a room together, socially distanced. It sort of gave us a good excuse to see each other for one, because, away from the band, we are just mates, which went hand in hand with us writing music.
We were getting in the studio, like, two, three times a week, rehearsing, longing for a day where we could actually put on a last show. And then that eventually did happen.
What are your plans for 2025?
In terms of live, we've got a big show in May, which is obviously our Dingwalls headline, and then we've got a festival season.
In terms of music, we're working to get a body of music ready, whether that be an EP towards the end of the year or next year. We've got some singles.
At the minute, I think we’ve got like, four or five songs banked, really. We're just sort of planning what we're going to do with the songs, what songs are singles, and then the aim is to release a body at work at some point.
Lock-In consists of Benjy Leak, his brother Joe Leak on guitar, guitarist Angus Moore, bassist Sam Collins, and drummer Ollie Stacey. / Credit: Joe Rowe
Will these songs form the basis of an album?
I think it’s too early for an album. We're an unsigned, unmanaged band. I think we’re just taking every step as it comes, to keep writing the songs and enjoying it. The aim, essentially, is an album in the end. We're striving towards that moment, but when it will be, I don’t know. We'll get there, I'm sure.
What's your favourite song or lyric you've ever written?
That’s such a good question. I think, in the context of this song, I quite like the lyric in the second verse, where it's like, “11:00, 12:00 and your dreams have gone running, your hopes and wishes in a bottle gone floating”.
I think it’s just our first thing about “11:11, make a wish”. That lyric sort of just resonates with, sometimes if you have a wish, it doesn't always mean you're going to get it, but we should keep striving and pushing forward to that point anyway, and at some point we will get it.
What's been the most memorable moment for you personally playing live with Lock-In?
Last summer, we played a festival called Truck Festival. We won a competition to play there, and it was the biggest stage we’ve ever played. A sea of people in the crowd. It was just one of those moments where we thought, pinch me.
We all looked at each other as five mates, going to gigs together. All of a sudden, we're on a stage in front of what felt like tens of thousands of people. I think it was probably only near 1,000, but it just felt like it was going on and on and on.
All our friends were there to watch in the crowd. It was just one of those moments where, as a band together, it just felt really good. And then I got in the crowd, and the crowd sort of held me up by my seat, and I could look from the crowd’s perspective on stage and see all the boys playing. It was, for me, a very surreal moment.
Do you think that 2025 will see a resurgence of guitar bands due to the excitement and interest in the Oasis reunion?
I 100 per cent agree that it [the Oasis reunion] will.
There's been so many reunions! The Maccabees are back as well. Franz Ferdinand, who are a band from the 2000s, who, funny enough, that was a song we covered at Truck while I was in the crowd. They’ve just released an album.
But then, even away from bands getting back together, you've got Fontaines D.C., top of the charts. You've got Sam Fender, top of the charts ... It definitely is making its resurgence, and we're buzzing to be a small little part of that.
To buy tickets for Lock-In's Dingwalls show click here
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Lock-In 2025 tour dates:
April 5 - Manchester, England - Band On The Wall (with Spangled)
April 19 - Manchester, England - Band On The Wall - This Feeling Rewired Festival
April 26 - Sheffield, England - Bring The Noise Festival
May 17 - London, England - Dingwalls
June 13 - Portsmouth, England - Golden Touch Festival
June 14 - Scunthorpe, England - Westview Live
July 5 - Harlow, England - Sunset Sessions
Aug 30 - Bridlington, England - Spa, This Feeling By The Sea
Oct 18 - Coventry, England - Kasbah, Gig Life Crisis
