Flare: So, Chris, it's lovely to meet you. Tell us about your story, your background, what’s inspiring you to make such beautiful music.

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Chris: Well, so I was quite late to music. I originally wanted to work in film. I studied film at university, and I was at a house party, and one of my friends was playing an acoustic guitar, and I remember just watching and being really jealous and thinking, I really want to do that. Because at school, it was always about reading charts, and it was all music on a piece of paper. I thought it was not meant for me.

I said to him, I'd love to do that, but I just can't read music, and he was like, what are you on about? He drew a chord sheet out, one line across for the fret, and then just put dots where you put your fingers. I was like, shut up, really? So I got the guitar off him and I went, so that? He went, yeh!

And this whole world just went pow! I left the party with his guitar. I went and bought the chord book for Definitely, Maybe – the Oasis record. I was learning the chords through each song and then started playing open mic nights, and I was always writing my own stuff. So the first songs I played were my own songs at open mic nights and ended up just trying to do music full time, and that's been it for me really.

In terms of my own releasing career, I had quite a good start. I was working with some really good people on a record in 2014. There are these things called tip sheets, and at the end of the year, they go, we think next year these people are going to be the big artists and in 2014, people were predicting me and George Ezra to be the big artists in 2015.
After my first single came out, at the end of 2014, my brother took his life just before Christmas, and it was devastating. It really affected my family and me. But also on the flip side, I realised professionally that I was in a very unique position, and I wasn't sure if that would ever come around again, you know? So I was like, head down, try and push on.

It became clear after a few months that I just needed some time. We thought, okay, let's repackage it and let's do it as an EP and build it up to another release. And then once we got to that, my dad died. My dad had been ill – he’d had a couple of strokes and he’d beaten cancer. He was a really strong man, you know, he was my best friend, basically. He was the first person that I played my songs to.

I remember that first batch of songs after he'd passed and not being able to play them to him. So it was a really weird. So that happened, and then 18 months later, my mum died, and it just felt like everything was happening. Just as I was getting my head above the water, something else would happen. So I thought, okay, I'm going to concentrate on live now, and I thought, I'm just going to work on my live show and get everything together again for another release.

So I started playing more tours, and it was going well. I was doing really well in Germany and Switzerland, and I thought, right, I'm going to book my biggest ever tour. So I booked my biggest ever headline tour in the UK and the EU for March 2020.

Chris: Not only was it cancelled because of Covid, but in the end, I just thought, well, we're in lockdown as well. So I'm just going to write and record, and I escaped into my writing. I've written about 50 songs for this new album and got it down to about ten. The plan was to start releasing that next year.

Then in June, one of my best mates, Gareth, who I was in my first ever band with, he passed away sadly from cancer. It was a real shock. He gave me my musical education; he sort of took me in. We didn't have much music in my house, and Gareth was like, listen to this record, listen to that record. I owe him a lot because he gave me such an insight into music.

We lost him in June, and just shortly after that, I started writing a song. It turned out to be about Christmas, about how it's not, certainly not for me, and I know for a lot of other people, it's not an easy time...

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Flare: Yes, definitely not.

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Chris: So I thought it might be a nice thing to put out this song for Christmas. We’ve had loads of messages saying how it's nice that there's a song like this that speaks to them - despite being about something tragic. It's almost like remembering people – it's a warming feeling. It's a good thing. Bringing people back into the room with you – that's what happens when you remember people. They come back. People don't frame remembrance in that way.

So for me, it was nice to think, maybe with this song, we can try and frame remembrance in a positive way and a warm way, so that if there is an empty chair, let's talk about them.

Flare: Sometimes you don't want to talk about it. But after all, even if they’ve passed away, every day they’re with you. You think about them, and I'm sure that they follow you every day.

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Chris: I do think about that, because my mum and dad were real cheerleaders. Every time I was on the radio, they'd be like, yeah! So it's, a positive thing, and even though they're not there, I can still hear them. So that's good.

Flare: Thank you for sharing with us. Could you please tell us a bit more about AtaLoss Charity and all of the amazing events that you’re doing right now?

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Chris: AtaLoss is a grief charity. Anyone suffering from any kind of grief or pain from loss can go to AtaLoss, and the website has all the information they need. However you're feeling – if there are logistical things you want to sort out, whatever it is – you go to AtaLoss.org, it’s all there.

They also have a really good course called The Bereavement Journey, and each week they take you through a different aspect of grief. It can be dealing with the funeral, it can be how other people are acting around you. It makes you think about things that you've kind of skipped over, and you don't even realise they’re issues.

What happens is, you watch a video, and then you sit in a group and talk about it. You talk about if that experience has happened to you, and the amount of times I was like, “That did happen to me!” and I just brushed it under the carpet or didn’t acknowledge it at the time.

That's another thing they cover in the course. A lot of the stiff upper lip British attitude to death all happened because of the First World War. So many families were losing people that communities were like, “Well, you can’t be sad because we’ve all lost someone.” And so everyone was like, “Yeah, I can't be sad.”

I didn’t realise it, but that attitude has carried on through three or four generations. It’s a relatively short space of time in terms of how society deals with death, but it's really prominent now. We used to be really good at dealing with death. Department stores even had grieving sections where you could get your mourning clothes. But all that went away after the First World War.

So I think we’ve almost regressed in how we deal with that subject. Charities like AtaLoss are really important for getting the conversation going.

We didn’t plan to tour this record, but when all this started happening, I really wanted to take a gig to someone who can’t go to a gig. So we're playing two care homes a day for two weeks.

I’ve been playing Christmas carols as well – Silent Night and Away In A Manger. I have a little fun with them, and I tell them which song is coming next. It’s like, “This is Away In A Manger,” and then you hear, “Ooooh!” It's like, that’s the banger! We always have a little laugh about which carol is coming up next. We’ve got carol sheets for them, and they all sing along.

Chris: For me, it’s about them. I want to come in and give them a nice experience, have them all joining in and singing. It’s been great – some of the care homes have even brought out the sherry and the wine. We’re donating all the money to AtaLoss as well.

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Flare: You spend your own time, personal time, because you understand how important it is for people who have lost someone they love. When you’re in that situation, maybe you think you can go through it alone. But to be honest, it’s important when you can talk, when you can share.

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Chris: For friends who’ve lost someone, sometimes people don’t know how to act. I think everybody’s coming from a good place, but people don’t know if you want to be called or if you want to be left alone. Half the battle is having grief be a more discussed topic so friends can say, “I don’t know if you want to be contacted or not, but I’m here.” Those kinds of conversations only come when the topic becomes more open. Hopefully, in a few years’ time, fewer people will be suffering on their own or sitting there wanting someone to call them.

Flare: Now I think we are ready to show you Immerse®.

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Chris: I've already heard about this! When I got a phone call from Naomi at Flare, I was like, please be Immerse! Yeah, I’m very excited about this.

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Flare: Chris, thank you so much for sharing your story. Thank you so much for doing such amazing music – I can feel it. So thank you so much.

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Chris: Thank you.