Kris Barras Band embark on their longest UK tour to date, supporting their album Death Valley Paradise. “It’s been a long winter,” Kris Barras said, “and I can’t wait to get back on the road and for us to rip it up on our biggest tour yet.” The band have also released a piano-led version of Wake Me When It’s Over.
“There are some venues we haven’t played for a long time,” Kris says, “and there are some venues and towns that we’ve never played at all. We wanted to give something back to those fans that have been asking to play for years. We can’t wait to get out there and see the whites of those eyes in the crowd and give everyone a great start to the year. Because we can’t think of a better way to kick it off.”
Released in March 2022, Death Valley Paradise is by far the most enduring work to date from the former MMA cage fighter whose punches are hitting harder with each release. Tracks like Chaos hook you in on the first listen with those wide appealing hardened melodic tones, Brian Boyle noted in his review.
“The kind that’s become Shinedown’s bread and butter and afford them support slots with Metal legends Iron Maiden. And that’s exactly the status of company that Barras and co should be mixing with on the strength of this album.”
Death Valley Paradise saw Barras open his door to co-writing, which got him sharing his pen with a proven bunch such as Zac Maloy (Shinedown, Tyler Bryant), Bob Marlette (Alice Cooper, Airbourne) and conceiving half the album with Blair Daly (Halestorm, Black Stone Cherry).
“I’m someone who likes to push the boat out with every album,” Kris said in an earlier MetalTalk interview. “I like to do something different. I don’t want to be one of these artists putting out the same album back to back. I like to try different things. I want to try and be the best possible version of myself, and working with songwriters was a fantastic experience. All the biggest bands in the world work with songwriters, and there’s no reason I can’t either.”
Some venues are already sold out on the band’s most extensive UK Tour to date. “I never really had any long-term plans with the music,” Kris says. “I mean, I’ve always played. I’ve been playing since I was five years old and have always been in bands. Even when I was fighting, I was still in cover bands, doing the pub scene and weddings.
“I wrote a lot of songs when I was younger, in my late teens. But then, I just didn’t do a lot throughout my twenties because I was focusing on fighting. But once I decided to stop competing, I needed a bit of an outlet, and I just started writing some songs and had a little band that I put together.
“My goal was just that I wanted to do a few gigs, playing original music to people that wanted to hear it. I never had any long-term plan. I never imagined it would get this far and didn’t think I would get to play with the band that I’ve played with or get to tour in the way that we do, having an album in the charts. That was never the goal. It was literally just to maybe get on a few small festivals and just basically write some songs and sing a bit. It kind of just snowballed, really.”
Kris Barras interview Part One and Part Two.
Kris Barras Band also plays Planet Rock’s Winters End Festival at Trecco Bay on 5 February 2022.
