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Nineteen
year old Kris Barras had a vision to start a band and 'change the
world for the better'.
He's been joined in his quest by 18-year-old Jay Tamkin and old
man of the set, 22-year-old - born to be drummer - Will Beavis.
Lead guitarist, songwriter and frontman, Kris tells Devon Demos
about the Torbay trio...
Who
IS in the room with Norman?
Ha
- it's a long story. We're named after an old school teacher of
mine.
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| Who'z
This? Will the drummer |
One
day he was telling us how he used to learn important facts by speaking
them outloud.
His landlady overheard him talking to himself and thought he'd someone
in his room with him - and so "Who'z In The Room With Norman?"
was born.
Three lads -
guitars and drums - popular rock - are you Devon's replacement for
Busted?
No we are not! Well actually yes! Maybe!
It would be great if we could replace them but then prove that we're
not just a manufactured band. We're all quite accomplished musicians
in our own rights.
We
play pop-rock because that's what our audience wants. Don't get
me wrong, we love what we do but we also love jazz and progressive
rock - the self indulgent stuff.
I guess we'd prefer to be thought of as more like Franz Ferdinand
or Rooster than Busted!
Which three words
would you use to describe your sound..
Funky, Rocky, Memorable!
And
what about the track you've chosen to demo..
It's called No More Lies.
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| Who'z
This? Kris Barras |
Everybody
knows someone who talks BS - to the extent that they actually believe
it themselves. It's about that person. (You know who you are!)
You're the songwriter,
Kris - how do you get your original songs heard?
By slipping them into our live sets. We've always had the attitude
that we need to perform covers in order to get the bookings, but
then you can drop in some originals.
Some
bands refuse to play covers but that's not the attitude to have
if you want to get gigs.
We're just three young lads making a living playing around The Bay.
We need to pay the bills. People hear us doing Jimi Hendrix or the
Beatles and maybe buy our EP on the strength of that - then they
tell us they like the original songs on that too.
It was at one of these pub gigs you got your chance to record in
America? Yeh, we were playing at a pub in Brixham and
a bloke at the bar asked if we did any of our own songs.
We played a couple for him and afterwards he gave us his business
card and asked if we had any recordings. Next thing we know he's
phoning us telling us he's booked us in to a studio if we want to
go to Philadelphia!
He's now our US tour manager, Paul! He'd lived in America for a
while and knows the venues.
How
was your trip to the recording studio in Philadelphia.. Excellent
- I'm not a great lover of the place itself - it was too cold! But
the overall experience was fantastic.
Our
producer at the studio had worked with bands like Foreigner, Jazzy
Jeff and the Fresh Prince and Patty Smith.
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| Who'z
This? It's Jay Tamkin |
We
went with the intention of recording a couple of songs and coming
back to the UK to record the album. But we all gelled so well that
we are going back in May to finish the album.
The thing is our sound is changing - improving - all the time so
we may have to make some changes to the original recordings too.
How does performing
in the US compare with the pubs and clubs of the UK?
We have a UK tour manager too, Ken Newton, who sorts us out gigs
like universities and the like.
But it is quite different. If you're playing in a bar in America
they don't chat and drink - they watch and listen.
But
they don't really join in like a UK crowd and you think - are we
not going down well? But then at the end they roar and applaud and
it's great.
And we change our set to suit. If we're playing in the south we
slip in classics like Sweet Home Alabama. Just the first chord of
Freebird is enough to get a standing ovation!
Have you had to learn
to perform rather than just play? Absolutely! It's a
live performance and it's more than just the music.
We have to be energetic and have a few of our own trademarks - not
like Busted's jump in the air - I play the guitar behind my head
or with my teeth, and we jump about and climb on the bars.
So
is "Who'z In The Room With Norman" a band that will become
famous in the UK or the USA? Wherever they'll have us
first!
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