March 31, 2008 at 9:33 am · Filed under Reviews
“What Kris Morris has that many of his contemporaries don’t have is a really distinctive voice that he uses extremely well; such that when you hear this guy you remember hearing him!! ‘Someone Sometimes’ is Kris Morris’ new single and it’s a real worker, a real gritty piece that’s just far enough removed from the ‘norm’ yet also sufficiently familiarly familiar.
What I like about Kris Morris is the way he sets his decently gravely voice against bright instrumentation - sort of juxtaposed yet totally harmonious, if that makes sense!! I suppose the nearest comparable established artist, in terms of sound and style, to Kris Morris would have to be Ray Lamontagne - and hey that’s gotta be cool! Morris may even be a little more ‘tangible’ than Lamontagne, easier to get into. Certainly, the time may be just right for Kris Morris to make a justified assault on the popularity ‘charts’ - vocally he sounds ready to me and I definitely think he’s got the material that people are gonna like and identify with.
‘Someone Sometimes’ by Kris Morris is a crackin’ single and fully deserves to do well - Morris gives a great performance and the song is strong, earthy and just about on the acceptable side of grittily commercial. ‘Someone Sometimes’ builds beautifully and has enough hooks to make it happen - a really good and sufficiently cool work that might just sneak up enough people to cause a bit of a stir - I love it - hope you do too!!”
Peter J Brown
www.toxicpete.co.uk
March 16, 2008 at 2:33 pm · Filed under Past Gigs
11 Mar 2008
The Goldhawk Sessions
I really enjoyed this gig so much. There are still cool folks out there putting on music nights for the love! Lee Gordon is such a fellow, a really gracious host putting on a really fantastic, chilled out night in a really cool space. Special mentions must go to little Kelly Jones (Stereophonics) for leaving just before we played and missing the gig of his life, tuberider’s sister (for being tuberider’s sister), Jennifer for being the best music promoter in the business, Matt Weeks for laying down some great chops on the wurlitzer, my wife for being cute and ordering the most wrong looking plate of nachos ever created and taking this cool photo, and Matt Weeks again for the lift home. Was fantastic to do a few new songs and just let it rip. Heck - what a fun night!!!
March 3, 2008 at 12:17 pm · Filed under General
Funny to spot a copy of Little Light on Ebay this morning! The seller appears to be a ‘Tony Snell’. A little googling shows that he may be a DJ up at the BBC in Liverpool, so no doubt he offloads all the promo CD’s he gets. Seems a bit cheeky. Anyway, best of luck bidding on the auction. Alternatively feel free to grab a copy from me!
March 3, 2008 at 11:59 am · Filed under Reviews
“You’d be forgiven for not having heard of Kris Morris, though you might be surprised when you see how far his music has reached. He’s just done a series of live sessions for BBC Radio Wales, Manchester and London, and has been working his way through UK venues, spreading his work. This EP is a very strong collection of songs which show good musicianship and songwriting. Being an EP it contains only five songs, but there’s enough here to make you look forward to the first full album. The title track is one of the most outstanding, with a very memorable melody and thought provoking lyrics such as, “In the darkest places, all you need is a little light.” “Other Side” is equally good, showing strong influence from Bob Dylan in its simple but catchy chorus. He begins the EP with a brave but confident unaccompanied vocal part, on “Broken”, though it works well. His voice is unusual, but if you’re prepared to give it a chance you should find it fits the music well. I’m genuinely looking forward to Kris’ first full album.”
8/10
Cross Rhythms
December 8, 2007 at 10:04 pm · Filed under Announcements, Past Gigs
Some of you may remember a really top gig at Jrink in Soho back in September. You may also remember our friend Amy who was pointing a fancy camera around the place. Well as you can see from the shot above she took some fine photos - check them out and if you are in Oz and need a photographer give her a yell.
November 16, 2007 at 11:52 am · Filed under Announcements, Releases
We’ve been working on a really special single that will be released first thing in the New Year. We’ve just got the first mix through but the few people that have heard can’t stop playing it. It is sounding hot - I really can’t wait for you all to hear it. There’s also been talk that things could be coming together to get the album project going for mid 2008 - exciting times!
November 11, 2007 at 2:28 pm · Filed under Announcements
So between this blog, MySpace, Twitter (which I don’t use much unless I’m bored on the tube), Vox (which has a fantastic music community), Sonic Bids and Facebook I spend more time updating websites than making music. In the interests of devoting my life to hijacking the internet for my own promotional purposes I’ve set up one these new fandangle Facebook musician profiles too. As most of the world seems to be on Facebook it seems like a good way for folks to keep in touch with my gigs and info while they are busy poking people and throwing sheep or whatever. So yeah - if you wanna look me up and become part of my little Facebook fan club visit the Kris Morris Facebook Page and click on “add music”. Feel the love.
November 5, 2007 at 11:08 am · Filed under Past Gigs
3rd November, 2007
Going North Productions
St Georges, Leeds
Well a great time was had up in Leeds. The train trip up was very comfortable. I sat in the quiet carriage which was very . . . erm . . . quiet. I arrived in Leeds feeling like I’d been sitting on a mountain in Tibet meditating for four years or so - although a little bent out of shape from carrying my guitar and supplies around trying to find the venue. I got there in good time and it was nice to have a quiet little room to have a bit of a strum and warm up, chat to a few folks, catch up with some lovely old friends and settled in. Overall I have to say I really enjoyed (in no particular order):
- The musical connection with the homeless work
- Neil McClarty. Great voice and lovely tunes. The Ryan Adams of the north?
- Me being a touch hyperactive but folks getting into the spirit of it.
- Andy taking her water provision responsibilities seriously. That was fun.
- I gave a couple of new songs a run ‘Someone Sometimes’ and ‘Old Shirt’ and got through them without hurting anybody.
- John’s possibly career defining advice. We are talking getting a handle on some Monkey’s covers and a genius idea for a musical collaboration. This thing could blow Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton out of the water.
- Sue’s amazing passion for music and chit chat and Alistair’s command of the kitchen. That pizza was tasty. Thanks so much for your hospitality.
Thanks to everyone who came out. Keep in touch and hope to see you all again sometime. Hope you had as much fun as I did.
October 31, 2007 at 8:15 pm · Filed under Past Gigs
Tuesday, 20th November 2007
Cobden Private Member’s Club
I have to be honest and say I’ve not always been that truthful in these gig reports. I generally say “was a great night blah blah blah” but I think from now on I’ll be straight up. I wasn’t in a great mood - I’d been having ear problems which really affects my confidence. Its hard to have a conversation with people and just feel with it and it obviously affects what what I can hear of myself. Its tough but thankfully all seems to be cool now. I also felt a bit over the whole caper of turning up to a venue and being ignored by the promoter. Its just so rude when you make the effort to bring some folks out and come out and play. So yeah, it makes me really think about choosing my gigs a bit more carefully.
In any case its a lovely venue - really beautiful space. I played ok, bought a few expensive drinks, hung out with my homies, and enjoyed some of the other acts. Special mention must go to Sundown from New York. These fellas were cooking. Beautiful songs and great harmonies. Brilliant.
To top it off I also caught the wrong train and ended up at Heathrow till after midnight. Happy days. Anyway you win some you lose some and life goes on. More songs to be sung and great gigs to be played.
October 24, 2007 at 9:06 pm · Filed under Past Gigs
17th October, 2007
Glasswerk New Music Awards
AKA London
So I rolled up to this awards shindig with my good buddy Mark. We thoroughly enjoyed a fine meal from Ultimate Burger beforehand and were gastronomically satisfied. Good burgers indeed. Anyways on to the awards and they were all good. Was very nice indeed to meet some cool folks, have a few beers, see some great acoustic performances and do a few tunes myself. I missed out on the award for Best Folk Act but it did go to a good home. If there would have been an award for ‘Introspective Bearded Hipster With Severe Mood Swings’ I would have walked it in. Maybe next year. I also want to put a large shout out to Karim Fanous. This guy is some kind of force of nature. He just got up on the stage and rocked it. Awesome. I also really dug Stillman - lovely tunes and a great bloke. I hope we can do a gig or two together.
Big respect to everyone involved for supporting real music.
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