British blues rock guitarist, former pro MMA fighter and hard rock frontman Kris Barras has announced a new musical collective that takes him back to his blues rock roots, in the form of new band Hollow Souls.
To celebrate, Hollow Souls will embark on their first UK tour in October and November 2025.
From humble beginnings in Torquay, Devon, to trading licks with the likes of Joe Bonamassa and Billy Gibbons on the world stage, Barras has already lived a hundred lives that defy his youth and exuberance – His 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.
Kris Barras Band hit it off with acclaimed US hard rock songwriters and signed to Earache Records that 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, Barras 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, put together a homegrown jam band to serve as a creative sparring exercise during his downtime.
Hollow Souls is apparently a dream project for Barras. Together with long-term collaborator, multi-instrumentalist and producer Josiah J Manning, using Manning’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 are said to have “truly opened”. In writing for her dexterous range and astonishing power, Barras and Manning 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.
Hollow Souls’ debut single ‘Borderline’ highlights all this and more, as Barras invited Stateside blues rock rising star Jared James Nichols to feature on lead guitar remotely from across the pond. Barras said “I have really admired Jared’s playing for some time. His contribution to this song is massive, we gave him creative license to play whatever he wanted. I am so stoked with the results.”
Recorded in one take at Momentum Studios (as showcased in the official ‘Borderline’ music video you can check out here), and produced and mixed by Manning, Hollow Souls set the tone that new music with further studio collaborators and perhaps even touring could well be in store.
Like a one-two punch, Hollow Souls also come out the gates by announcing a twenty-date UK tour; a real statement of intent that demonstrates a clean sweep of the UK blues rock circuit, where Barras champions some of the venues that allowed him to cut his teeth as an emerging talent.
Ticket are available at Planet Rock and The Gig Cartel.
Applying work song chanting over bluesy ruminating riffs, Kris Barras’ new collective Hollow Souls will call to mind the award-winning When Rivers Meet for some on debut single ‘Borderline’, but those riffs hook in with added Zeppelin-primed fury when vocalist Phoebe Jane sings out loud and high. On paper, adding a third guitarist reads like overkill, but Jared James Nichols was an inspired choice adding a wiry spirit we more reserved Brits might not have opted for and taking it somewhere that little more special.
‘Borderline’ is available to stream and download on all digital platforms via Hollow Souls’ own label imprint here.
