An Interview with Kris Barras of Kris Barras Band
It’s raining heavily as I’m power walking down Oxford Road heading early for tonight’s gig at the Academy. I’m an hour or so early than the doors because, when Johann from ROCKFLESH sends you a message asking whether you’d like to take up the opportunity of interviewing Kris Barras ahead of his show, your reply is something like ‘do bears defecate in the woods?’ then you’ll get your backside in gear, do your hair, catch the Metrolink and grab the opportunity with both hands!
We’re met in the foyer by Mark, the tour manager, we meet Kris and head up to the dressing room backstage for a chat about all things blues, rock, number 1 albums, a certain Mr. Gibbons and lots of other interesting bits and bobs you may or may not have known about Kris and the boys, and this is what we chatted about.
“How are you feeling, are you fit and raring to go tonight? With 3 sell outs and pretty much packed houses every night, I’m guessing you’re pretty pleased with how the tours going so far?”
Yeah, it’s been good, obviously we’ve had a couple of hiccups with me being ill, the crowds have been absolutely fantastic. All been packed out and the supports been fantastic Amazing feeling, when we booked this tour the venue’s are a lot bigger than we’ve done before so I wasn’t sure how it was going to pan out, but it’s been a success.
“The last time you played Manchester it was in early February at the Deaf Institute, how was that, was that a busy gig?”
Yeah it was, quite a quirky little place, looking forward to tonight, it’s a bit more of a standard kind of venue.
“The album Light It Up is the band’s 3rd release. It's a really great album, full of catchy riffs and powerful songs. Can you tell me a bit about the writing and recording of the album, which are your particular favourite songs?”
Yeah, I wrote all the songs myself, they start off in my home studio, I just do my little demo versions and I take it to the band and everyone puts their own little spin on it, we jam them out and they develop from there. One of the advantages I have is my producer joined my band a couple of years ago (Josiah J. Manning), so we’re always on the road together, always coming up with ideas, we’ll be listening to different demos in the van, thinking about different things we can do, different tones on songs, things like that. It’s been good to have backing vocals here, so yeah, we were really well prepared going into the studio, we knew exactly what we wanted to do, we left enough room for there to be creativity with some studio magic, but yeah, we were really well prepared, knew what we were going to do, it was good fun.
“So how long did it take to write then Kris? Did you start after the release of The Divine and the Dirty?”
I’m always writing songs to be honest, always jotting down ideas, coming up with things, so, there was no real time frame on it, ideas come in, we probably wrote 25-30 songs then whittled it down from there.
“Might be a difficult question, but are there any particular favourites on there?”
There’s a few that I like, I like Rain, it’s a bit different to anything I’ve done before, obviously like the big singles like Ignite (Light it Up), What you See is What you Get, tracks that I’m particular proud of are tracks like Not Fading, good to play live, it’s a bit different and probably the heaviest track on the album, with the synchronised riffs that we’re doing together, the keys the bass, quite a cool thing to do.
“Your style has been described as a high energy mix of rock, blues and country; who would you say influenced the young Kris growing up as a guitarist and singer over the years?”
Yeah well, my dad was a musician, he was a guitar player and a really, really good singer, he started off teaching me when I was about 5 years old, his favourite guitar player was Gary Moore, so I got into that at an early age, and loads of classic rock; Thunder were one of my favourite bands growing up, they were the first big band I ever saw live, when I was around 9-10. I listen to all kinds of different stuff, always a fan of guitar players, so any band that had good guitar players I’d be a fan of, so I had my metal phase in my teens, when I was a little bit older, I got more into jazzy stuff, instrumental guitar stuff. I’m influenced by loads. Vocal wise, there’s no one I’ve tried to emulate, I just sing how I sing, but I like Danny Bowes, Paul Rodgers, David Coverdale, I’ve always been a fan of the big rock vocalists, and these days people like Chris Stapleton, a country guy with an incredible voice.
“This year has been a pretty amazing year; obviously the massive support tour with Black Stone Cherry, a number 1 album in the UK official blues charts, Ramblin’ Man festival, Planet Rock best newcomer in 2019, etc is it possible to pick one highlight from it?”
I don’t think it is to be honest, there’s always just so much going on, hard to just put it on one thing, Ramblin’ Man, then we did Planet Rockstock last year on the second stage and we were the only band to ever completely pack it out and have one in one out! It’s amazing, the supports just fantastic and I just take each day as it comes!
“And what about the Planet Rock presenting Kris, how did that come about, and are there plans to do anymore?”
So, Bernard Docherty who presents the Blues Power program was ill, they just literally rang me up the day before, they just had the idea, get someone else in like an artist, and I was fortunate enough that they gave me the call. It was great fun, quite a lot of pressure, but it was good! I went up to the London studios, did that and then the other week the ‘My Planet Rocks’, which is actually done with a presenter but Wyatt couldn’t make that day, he was on holiday so they thought well, Kris has presented it before he may as well present his own show!
“A lot of people are probably aware that you were a mixed martial arts fighter for quite a while, so I’m guessing that growing up Kris, you kind of ran the two careers together for a while, so what kind of difficulties and problems did you have in mixing the two?”
Well I didn’t have any problems whatsoever really, I didn’t really care about the music, I had no aspirations whatsoever to make it big, I tried when I was like 18/19, had a little bit of success, but I just wasn’t good enough back then, my songwriting definitely wasn’t, my vocals weren’t good enough, I kept getting more and more opportunities with the fighting stuff, I was always still playing but it was a hobby the same as someone might consider fishing, so how does fishing get in the way as your job as an accountant? Well it doesn’t cos I’m an accountant and do fishing when I’ve got time, except I was a fighter and I just did music whenever I had time! That was my job, my love, I’ve always loved music, I’ve always done it but for me there was no career there, and coming from Torquay, it’s really hard to get anywhere in the industry, you don’t meet industry contacts, there was no original music scene, so I just used to play in cover bands, enjoy it, and just play for the sake of it.
“So pardon the pun; when did you have enough of ‘Cracked Knuckles and Broken Teeth’ and decide you wanted to make a go of it with the music?”
Well, it wasn’t like one for the other, I had a couple of fights out in Asia; Singapore, Thailand, won a title in Thailand, and I thought I’ve achieved everything I wanted to achieve, I’d been doing it for like 10 years, I had 2 gyms back home I was a business partner in, and thought it was time to concentrate on coaching other people, so I came back, training lots of people, I also had a few injuries that just wouldn’t go away, which played a part in the decision, so I just started writing songs again, I wasn’t training for fights, so I had a missing part of my life, had spare time, and started writing songs.
“I’ve seen you twice before, you have a really great band, fantastic rhythm section, amazing drummer and bass, how did the line up of the KBB come together?”
Ha, well, this is where people get confused, I’ve probably had like 15 drummers, and all different line ups. People don’t realize it is Kris Barras Band, I’m the one who’s signed, I fund the whole thing, they’re basically like guns for hire, Josiah plays a much bigger role as obviously, he’s the producer as well, so he kind of acts as like my musical director, but yeah, I’ve had lots of different line ups, over the years, there’s always been a natural progression with time where someone’s had to leave because of work commitments or similar, but in this instance with us going down a rockier route, Will, our previous drummer felt it just wasn’t for him, so we have the new guy Billy in now, he’s outstanding, his timing’s solid, yeah he’s good!
“Couple of guitar related questions; apart from your trusty tele, PRS and strat you have in your weaponry, you also have a rather lovely hand built guitar you play to. As someone who has made guitars myself, I'm interested to hear more about that.”
It’s a guy called Seth Baccus, from Seth Baccus Guitars, he lives in Cornwall, he builds amazing instruments, he built that one for me to my specs, and he’s actually built me another one since then, which I’m also playing on this tour, a baritone. My PRS was a baritone; I don’t use that one now, I use this one. They’re amazing instruments, my blue one, the Nautilus is a swamp ash body, its chambered as well so it’s hollow as well, flame maple top, mahogany neck with a streaky ebony fingerboard. The new one is swamp ash, same neck specs.
“Is there any plans for a Kris Barras signature model then?!”
Yeah, well we’ve jokingly talked about it, but I think I need to get a little bit bigger first, and probably so does he! He’s just one man in his workshop building them, he sells all over the world but to do a signature model or something it’s going to take a bit of thought!
“Last year you also became the frontman for The Supersonic Blues Machine, which features the rhythm section for Steve Lukather’s side project, and a certain Mr. Billy F Gibbons! That’s a pretty impressive feather to put in your cap Kris, how did that gig come about and are there any plans for that?”
We were originally put forward as their support act for the Shepherds Bush Empire gig in London, but we didn’t know at the time that Lance Lopez the previous frontman had left the band, they were looking for a new guy, they saw some videos of me, liked what they saw, we had a few phone conversations, I went out to LA, had some tequilas on Hollywood boulevard sunset strip, and yeah, the deal was done!
“And what have you done with these guys this year, have you done many gigs with them?”
This year we’ve released a live album which was recorded on our tour last summer, and we did a few dates in the summer, festival dates. Next year there’s a few plans, nothings firmed up yet, but just waiting for that to all happen, it’s getting all the schedules to line up that’s the tricky thing!
“Sometimes Kris when you look back since the band first started in 2015, and everything that you’ve achieved so far, do you ever have to pinch yourself and think is this really happening?!”
Yeah, I like to keep myself in check and I’m very very grateful I do always remind myself, quite often I’ll have moans and think fuck! I can’t believe I’m doing this!!, but, yeah definitely, I think it’s important to have that cos you can get caught up in it, always thinking of the next thing, as we are so busy, but I do, I have those moments fairly regularly.
“It’s a really exciting time at the moment for the blues rock genre, especially British Blues a couple of my favorites’ are bands like King King, Alan Nimmo, Buck & Evans Chris Buck, etc. Who do you like to listen to at the moment and which guitarists are catching your eye?”
I Love the Rival Sons, Black Stone Cherry, I’ve been a fan of them since day one, and I saw them when they played in Exeter to about 150 people in the Cabin Club. Marcus King, I really like him, yeah, loads of guys, but I’d say that those 3 are probably the main ones for me. Oh, Monster Truck, I love those guys too.
“Kris, you’re a man who isn’t afraid of a needle or two! If you don’t mind me asking, what was your first, and the last?”
I had a little one here (grabs top of right arm) at 15 years old, then had it covered up and extended out, the last hmmm, either some shading on my throat, or filling in this (arm), it was all being done at the same time. So it’s not an individual tattoo, just filling in the gaps here, or filling in the gaps, I can’t remember!
“So, what’s next and, is there any plans?”
Yeah, well obviously I’ve still got loads of space! Hopefully I’ll go in in December, we’ve got some time off from touring, probably get the back of my neck done; there’s white space there that needs covering!
“So are you a bit like Ed Sheeran in there where every picture tells a story, or do you just collect them from your travels?”
I don’t think I’m anything like Ed Sheeran!! (Laughs- thankfully!!) There’s a few, guitar, my dad, but if I was to have my time again, I’d probably have all different stuff to be honest.
“As the year comes to an end, what’s next and what can we expect from the KBB in 2020?”
Once this tours done, we’ve got a few more festivals, a few bits over in Europe, Germany, France, back for Rockstock, little bit of time off, then I’m going out to LA in January to do some recording with Supersonic Blues Machine, and next year for the KBB, we’ve got a few UK festivals, maybe one or two headline shows, but it’s all going to be in Europe next year, maybe a couple of support things, nothings confirmed yet, but we’re manly concentrating on Europe next year as we’ve done so many tours in the UK, we kind of need to give it a little bit of a break for a while.
Kris, thank you for very much for your time, best of luck with tonight’s show, really looking forward to it, it’s going to be an absolute belter!
Interview by Phil Beswick
Photography by Gregg Howarth