At the age of 16 he began playing guitar and writing songs, forming his first bands, Glass Candle and Subliminal Girls, after leaving school in 1988.

After The Yummy Fur decided to split in December 1999, McKeown turned thirty, got married and attended university for the first time, studying film theory.

Having become tired of playing guitar, he formed a short-lived electronic pop band called The Girls with former Yummy Fur member and current Franz Ferdinand frontman Alex Kapranos which performed live only once (in Glasgow).

In 2001 Mckeown began collaborating with The Yummy Fur's Paul Thomson, making absurdist electronic pop under the name 10,000 Volt Ghost.

After a handful of gigs, 1990s were signed to the label Rough Trade Records and released the albums Cookies (2007) and Kicks (2009).