Kris Pohlmann - Guitars & Vocals - Biography
Kris was born near London, England on May 16th 1977 to a German father and English mother. Although music featured in young Kris’ life from an early age, it was Status Quo, the veteran British rockers who really turned him onto music when he was about 13 years old. “My brother and I used to tie rubber bands onto our tennis rackets and swing then around like Quo do on stage! We did mini play back concerts in my bedroom!” It was only a matter of time before Kris wanted to start playing guitar and for Christmas 1992 he received a small Marshall Park amp and black fender Squire Telecaster. “I started off trying to learn the music of Dire Straits, Eric Clapton, ZZ Top and my beloved Status Quo. But, after a while I thought it was better to get a tutor! I think my poor family had to put up with a fair amount of noise abuse whilst I tried to get to grips with playing ‘Sunshine Of Your Love’ and ‘Crossroads’!” recalls Kris with a smile.
“I remember about 4 or 5 of my friends bought guitars at the same time as I started, but they were into heavy metal, Metallica and Nirvana and I couldn’t really get started with that, it just wasn’t me and I didn’t want to play it”. Then fate intervened. “I remember going to school one morning, I was 16 and I saw a guitar magazine in a shop window. There was a picture of this guy with some kind of feather head dress and a screwed up face playing a beaten up Fender Stratocaster, I had no idea who it was, but I had to buy the magazine!” That man turned out to be Stevie Ray Vaughan and Kris had discovered the blues.
“My guitar tutor taught me how to play the blues and was I hooked!” Kris immersed himself in the blues for years buying the CDs, reading about the genre and learning the songs. “I read an Eric Clapton interview once where he said every blues player should do his home work, learn how the blues started, who the godfathers of the music were and know where today’s music gets it’s influences from and that’s what I did”.
Although Blues is “home” for Kris, with his influences ranging from Eric Clapton, Rory Gallagher, Buddy Guy, Freddie King, Gary Moore and of course Stevie Ray Vaughan he also recognises the impact that bands such as Dire Straits, Free, Status Quo and ZZ Top have on him.
A bedroom player for some 12 years, Kris only decided relatively late to get serious about music and it was a life changing event that provided him with the opportunity! “My long term girlfriend at the time left me at the start of 2003. It was a simple as that. I didn’t really know what to do but I suddenly wanted to shake things up, prove something. I saw it as a chance to do something with my life.”
The real breakthrough came later that year. Following a 4th knee operation resulting from football injuries, Kris spent his lengthy absence from the sport by writing songs and using music to keep him occupied. During what Kris refers to as a rather depressing time he recognised the healing power of blues “I know it sounds like a cliché but as John Lee Hooker said ‘Blues is a healer’. It helped me through a very difficult time. I could lose myself in the music and heal my pain through words and music”. It was during this period that Kris wrote ‘Heavy Pain’.
Although he had wanted to form a band for some time now, other priorities had kept that dream at bay. Now the time had come. To test the water, in December 2003 Kris sent ‘Heavy Pain’ in to a competition in California. ‘Blues Idol’ was set up to search for new blues talent. 10 winners would be put on a CD for the American market and the winners would play the songs live at a CD launch party. ‘Heavy Pain’ made it to the final round of 20 people before being knocked out. Although Kris was disappointed to get so far and then not be chosen, the competition was hot. There were acts listed who had supported BB King or released CDs in the US and yet there the amateur bedroom player almost made onto the CD.
His mind was set. The search for musicians was on, but this proved to be a difficult task. It took over a year to find the right people but then through adverts and word of mouth Kris eventually located 2 superb experienced musicians. The first was Daniel Häker, a professional drummer from Wuppertal (near Düsseldorf) and a few months later US born Warren Richardson on bass was found.
The first practice session took place in Solingen in May 2005 and actually featured a rhythm guitarist but Kris eventually decided against a second guitarist and so KPB was formed as a blues/rock power trio.
The first decision made by the newly formed band was to record a demo CD to promote the band and acquire gigs. Kris spent the remaining months of 2005 writing songs for the demo. Heading into the studio in Ratingen in December 2005 the band recorded the CD over one weekend. Upon hearing the recordings the band were so pleased with the results that they decided to release the CD as the band’s first album. Released a year later, “Heavy Pain” featured all original blues-rock songs penned by Kris. The album received rave reviews and songs such as the title track Heavy Pain, Livin’ With The Blues and Movin’ Down The Line have since received radio air time both in Germany and as far away as the US.
2006 was spent acquiring gigs and in May the band’s first gig took place at an open stage blues session Topos in Leverkusen. “We’d only rehearsed 6 songs and when the set was over the crowd wanted more, so we had to repeat the set!” recalls Kris. The first complete KPB gig took place on the 29th August 2006 at the Old Woodhouse in Wuppertal.
In December 2006 KPB were invited to a gala award ceremony in Duisburg having been nominated for German Rock & Pop Award. The competition organised by the German Rock & Pop Association and “Musiker Magazine” is the oldest and largest of its type recognising the talents of unsigned and independent artists. KPB won the award of “Best Rhythm & Blues Band 2006”, an amazing accolade for a band who at the time had only been together one year and had only played a handful of gigs.
The award was a door opener for KPB enabling the band to play gigs in 2007 throughout Germany and supporting such artists as Eric Gales and Nine Below Zero along the way as KPB set about establishing itself as a high energy blues rock act.
In 2008 KPB have continued to make a name for themselves playing gigs throughout the country and receiving press reviews of the highest praise along the way. Kris has spent a large part of the year writing new material for the band’s new CD due for Spring 2009.
Away from music Kris is an avid fan of Liverpool FC and Eintracht Frankfurt, enjoys reading, citing Mafia related non fiction as a favourite genre, loves TV series such as Sopranos, Friends and 24 and although no longer actively playing football he does keep fit by running regularly which is a necessity since his other hobby is good food.