THE KRIS BARRAS BAND – Marsh Blues Club, Huddersfield – 15 June 2018
Review and Pictures: Nicky Barker
I first came across The Kris Barras Band very recently when I heard one of their songs being played on Planet Rock Radio. I instantly loved the tune and started following the band, I am now a huge fan.
Kris was a professional mixed martial artist for 10 years and has only recently retired before forming the band. Inspired by his father, he first picked up a guitar at the age of 6 and was making appearances on stage from as young as ten. The band have 3 albums, their most recent, titled ‘Divine and Dirty‘, was released in March 2018 and went straight to number one in both the Amazon UK and iTunes Blues charts. Kris Barras has recently been voted as one of the top 15 blues guitarists in the world. In April, it was announced Kris was to be the new front man of US super group Supersonic Blues Machine, featuring legendary artists such as ZZ tops Billy Gibbons, Walter Trout and Toto’s Steve Lukather.
The evening’s venue was The Marsh Blues Club, a lovely old building set in it’s own lawned gardens. It was a lovely warm summers evening and as we drove up the driveway Kris and the band were sat out in the garden chatting to fans.
The room was very intimate and has a lovely relaxed feel to it. Kris and the band came out on stage to a very warm welcome as they went straight into their opening song ‘Wrong Place, Wrong Time‘. Instantly I knew this was going to be one hell of a show as they ripped into one of my favourites ‘Kick Me Down‘, that includes a big sing-a-long chorus that the crowd were happy to oblige with. The room may be small but the sound was huge as it was filled by the band’s deep, southern blues.
The Kris Barras Band:
Kris Barras – Vocals/Guitar
Josiah J Manning – Keyboard
Elliott Blackler – Bass
Will Beavis – Drums
Impressively tattooed, Kris has a raw, husky voice, which more than suits the blues rock genre. Their next song, another track from ‘The Divine and Dirty‘ album, ‘Stitch Me Up‘ was a riff heavy, toe tapping tune backed up with the outstanding keyboard skills of Josiah J Manning. The band continued their set with solid integrity, from the gospel-esque ‘Hail Mary‘ to the drenched in blues track ‘Heart On Your Sleeve‘. Things slowed down slightly with the track ‘Watching Over Me‘ which Kris dedicated to his biggest influence, his father, who unfortunately he lost in 2012 at the young age of 54 to cancer. The song was sung with heartfelt intensity and emotion, the screaming guitar solo made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on edge. His father would be immensely proud. The final tracks that brought the evening to a close were ‘Rock & Roll Running Through My Veins’ and ‘Further On Up The Road’.
I cannot put into words how much I enjoyed this evening. The Kris Barras Band are all extremely talented musicians. They brought a bit of the American deep south blues rock n roll into a small Yorkshire town. They only played to a couple of hundred people tonight, but I do not think it will be long before they will be rocking the faces off thousands.
Set List:
Wrong Place, Wrong Time
Kick Me Down
Stitch Me Up
Can’t Help You Now
I Got Time
Stormy Monday
Propane
Hail Mary
I’m Gone
Heart On Your Sleeve
Watching Over Me
Lovers Or Losers
All Along The Watchtower
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Rock & Roll Running through My Veins
Further On Up The Road
Upcoming shows:
Jul 01: Ramblin’ Man Fair, Maidstone, UK
Jul 04: London O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, UK (w/Supersonic Blues Machine)
Jul 06: Sierre Blues Festival, Switzerland (w/Supersonic Blues Machine)
Jul 07: Suwaki Blues Festival, Poland (w/Supersonic Blues Machine)
Jul 15: Pistoia Blues Festival, Italy (w/Supersonic Blues Machine)
Jul 16: Sesto San Giovanni Carroponte Spazio Mil, Itlay (w/Supersonic Blues Machine)
Jul 18: Narcaso Piazza Europa Narcao, Italy (w/Supersonic Blues Machine)
Jul 20: Brugnera blues In Villa, Italy (w/Supersonic Blues Machine)
Jul 22: Upton Blues Festival, Worcester, UK
Jul 28: The Rock And Blues Custom Show, Pentrich, UK
Aug 04: Calstock Bike Show, Calstock, UK
Aug 18: Motor City Festival, Ljunljana, Slovenia
Sep 07: Phoenix, Exeter,
Sep 09: Ekletica Festival, Isle of Wight, UK
Sep 11: Talking Heads, Southampton, UK
Sep 12: Engine Room, Lincoln, UK
Sep 13: Asylum 2, Birmingham, UK
Sep 14: Patriot Crumlin, South Wales, UK
Sep 15: Corporation, Sheffield, UK
Sep 16: The Tunnels, Bristol, UK
Sep 18: Trillians, Newcastle, UK
Sep 19: Club Rock, Carlisle, UK
Sep 20: King Tuts, Glasgow, UK
Sep 21: Warehouse, Harrogagte, UK
Sep 22: Night & Day, Manchester, UK
Sep 23: Waterloo Music Bar, Blackpool, UK
Sep 25: Brickmakers, Norwich, UK
Sep 27: Flowerpot, Derby, UK
Sep 29: The Kent Blues Collective Festival, Gillingham, UK
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The support act was solo artist and Yorkshire man Scott Wainwright. He brought us an acoustic set of folk/blues music performing both vocal and instrumental pieces. Scott even did a brief hip hop song. He is quite a comedian too. I was crying with laughter at some of the things he said.
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