The creation of an album is a complex process which involves many days of recording, re-recording, overdubbing, mixing, re-mixing, isolating, processing and a lot of “Let’s see what this sounds like.” From the conceptual stages of the recording of Ten Thousand Miles to Bedlam, Kris Clements had a vision for the album which fueled the bands progress. Working with engineer/producer Don Gunn, Kris’ vision, a character study into the various forms of insanity with each song portraying a patient of Bedlam Hospital (or St. Mary’s of Bethlehem), came to life.
“I love being in the studio.” Kris says, “When we were tracking the various vocals on “Ten Thousand Miles to Bedlam” and “Mad Tom of Bedlam”, Don Gunn looked at me with a huge grin on his face and said ‘This sounds cool!’ That’s when I knew that all my ideas weren’t hokey and were actually valuable.”
Celtic music has been a constant influence throughout his life. Growing up in New Castle Upon Tyne, England, his family, reluctantly, supported his desire to play music, “But some of my family do not enjoy my singing”, he says with amusement.
Kris’ first musical experience was singing along to Tom Tom Club’s song “Wordy Rappinghood”. As he got older, the music of Sinead O’Conner, Martin Swan, Kate Bush and Freddy Mercury, to name a few, influenced his style. At Andrew College, Kris minored in vocal music but his passion, at the time, was Theatre Arts. “I wanted to be a playwright.”
Since his childhood, living room debut singing along with Tom Tom Club, Kris has performed in an eclectic collection of bands from goth-industrial to folk and everything in between. “Somehow I always come back to Celtic music but I always want to keep my fingers in as many different pies as possible.”
This is clearly represented in Kris ‘3 Must-Have Albums’; Kate Bush’s “Hounds of Love”, Kila’s “Luna Park”, and Mouth Music’s “The Order of Things”.
As Ockham’s Razor lead singer, Kris’ vocals guide the audience through the fast paced, frenetic-fury of songs like “Whiskey & Pills”, “Ten Thousand Miles to Bedlam” and “Lannigan’s Ball” yet mesmerizes with an outstanding range and control on songs like “Danny Boy”, “My Lagan Love” and "Báidín Fheilimí". Kris also plays a collection of Generation, Susato, Chieftain and Overton tin whistles, accordion, piano, flute and is learning the guitar. “I love the tone and airiness of my flutes and whistles, the otherworldliness of them. I also love the obnoxiousness of my accordion. It’s got attitude.”
With the dream of opening for The Chieftains and performing with Enter the Haggis, Eileen Ivers and the Immigrant Soul Band accomplished, what’s left? “I would love to open for Sinead O’Conner, Kila and Old Blind Dogs but it would be a dream to do a duet with Kila.”
Band members have an insight into the other musicians’ idiosyncrasies when you spend that much time together. Such as one night when the band was on the road and Kris woke up to a freezing hotel room. “I got out of bed, quietly crept through the dark trying not waking anyone else since we all were in the same room, and turned the heater up”, he remembers. “As I walked back to the bed, it shut off again. So I walked back to it, said ‘The problem with you is that you’re a heater and you don’t heat!’ and turned it back up and went back to bed.” Unknown to Kris, he was not the only band member awake in those early morning hours. “Our fiddler at the time, Katie, just happened to wake up as I was talking to the heater. The next morning, she asked the rest of the band if they heard me talking to the heater in the middle of the night. She said she had the hardest time trying not to laugh and wake everyone up. Imagine waking up from a deep sleep in a dark room only to see someone talking to an inanimate object.”
Asked to described one of his band mates in two words, Kris describes bassist Dane Dorning “He’s one of the most pleasant musicians I’ve ever had the pleasure of playing with.”
With the recording of a new album on the horizon, Kris looks forward to spending more time in the studio. “We made our mistakes and have learned from them. It will be a more relaxed environment next time and we’ll use our time more wisely.” Looking back to the recording of Ten Thousand Miles to Bedlam, Kris’ favorite songs are “The Road to Bedlam/Follow Me Up To Carlow” and “The Night Before Larry Was Stretched”. “To me, those two songs are the best arranged and most well produced tracks on the album.”
With a better understanding of the process and two years of pent up vision, Kris looks forward to unleashing it all upon the next album and helping shape the sound of today’s Celtic music.
QUICKIES:
Favorite song you perform live that’s not on the album: “Baidin Fheilimi”
What’s your sign: Aquarius
Life Motto: “Being honest is always a mature decision and one that you shouldn’t feel guilty for.”
Favorite Drink: Water
