From humble beginnings in Torquay, Devon, to trading licks with the likes of Joe Bonamassa and Billy Gibbons on the world stage, Kris has already lived a hundred lives that defy his youth and exuberance.
Kris’ own project Kris Barras Band had a mammoth 2024. From selling out headline shows in British castles, headlining Planet Rockstock, and a Top #5 UK album with Halo Effect.
Known for the gravelly vocal tone and immense guitar playing that gifted him a rapid ascent in the British blues-rock world, it is no surprise that KBB’s music has evolved year-on-year.
KBB hit it off with acclaimed US hard rock songwriters and signed to Earache Records which set off a creative chain reaction that led to a darker, heavier, and more energetic sound. Whilst KBB is firmly intrenched in the world of heavy music, Kris is still a bluesman at heart. Whilst in-between albums with KBB, this creative lightning strike with his latest project Hollow Souls just happened to hit with something different.
Inspired by the U.S. supergroup Supersonic Blues Machine in which he also performed and energised by the wealth of British talent around him, to create Hollow Souls, Kris put together a homegrown jam band to serve as a creative sparring exercise during his downtime.
Hollow Souls is a dream project for Kris. Together with long-term collaborator, multi-instrumentalist and producer Josiah J Manning, using Josiah’s Plymouth-based Momentum Studios as their base, a studio band consisting of drummer Joe Harris (Toby Lee / Lack of Afro) and bass player Leighton Allen (Callum Scott / The Hoosiers) became more than the sum of its parts.
When Kris invited in former KBB backing singer Phoebe Jane to jam, the floodgates of creativity truly opened. In writing for her dexterous range and astonishing power, Kris and Josiah knew they had found a singer with which their musical palette could continue to evolve; the spark that ignited a whole new band into existence with Hollow Souls.