“People love music” Owen Meikle-Williams, an interview, on Music, Manchester, and planning Festival

Aged only 18, Owen Meikle-Williams first set up the small Manchester based festival After All. Now at age 19 Owen spoke to me on Thursday (16/04) all about After All, and its future especially during these strange times.

For Owen, the biggest driving force behind After All is his intense love of music. “I have always loved music, and I know that people love music – so I wanted to give back to the community.” Meikle-Williams is clearly a mancunian through and through, and as well as giving to the community, any money made by the festival Meikle-Williams donates to charity. This year the festival will be physically held in November, but regularly takes place the third weekend in May.

Of course, we have all seen those posts asking us to name our dream festival line up, but unlike the rest of us, Owen actually has the opportunity to make this a reality. I asked Owen who he would want to headline After All, if he could have any band. “James.” Meikle-Williams said without any form of hesitation “They’re my dream band to get on, I’ve loved them all my life” he added, “but if I’m being realistic I’d say Slow Readers Club, I mean, they were scheduled to play Night And Day Café, which is our headline venue.”

As well as the immense task of running a festival, Owen also manages two music acts, Indie Folk singer Ash Palmer and electronic indie duo The Last Clouds. Both acts play a massive part in After All, with Owen saying, “They play a HUGE part, they help put on gigs and play most of them too, they draw in the crowds really.” With After All, as with every festival, each year it will be bigger and better, so I asked Owen where he felt the future of the festival was headed, he laughed and said he’d been asked this before. “In five years’, we want the festival to be country-wide, like one in Birmingham, one in Liverpool and maybe one in London, but right now I just want to plug more music, more acts, and most importantly raise money for charity.” I also asked Owen if he wanted to add more variety to the festival, as opposed to just music. “Yeah, I want to add some poets to the line-up this year, Karl Hildebrandt, Leon the pig farmer, and yourself.”

Owen is an immensely humble young man, but his dedication to what he does is immeasurable. Owen put on his first gig aged 17, and of course he was very inexperienced, as Meikle-Williams himself said, “who isn’t [inexperienced] when they start? People did say “oh you’re too young to be doing this” and I would wonder how I was too young, music is about love and I love what I’m doing, and what I’m doing is making people happy.” Due to his dedication to all things music it is not surprising that Owen has drawn comparisons to mancunian legend Tony Wilson. “I love being compared to him, he was a genius, I’m just a guy trying to put on gigs and make people happy. He revolutionised music in Manchester, I’m trying to evolve it.” Owen said on the matter, but it is clear to me (and many around him) that Owen will be the next person to take up the Wilson mantle. Of course, Owen is an ambitious young man, and he also states that he would have loved to have worked with Tony Wilson – and I am sure Tony would applaud Owen’s staunch dedication to all things creative out of his native Manchester.

You can follow all of After All’s escapades, announcements and much more here on the Facebook and Twitter pages.