Chris James :: Who?

Who is Chris James?

Chris James has been drawn to music from an early age. Although he had no formal musical training or background, his ability to pick out tunes on his family's old piano evolved into a form of instinctive self-expression.

Growing up in a repressive home environment, music, writing and art became his only emotional outlets. At 15 he bought his first acoustic guitar and has been obsessively forming and joining bands ever since.

"I played guitar in the school band and we played classic rock. Everyone else seemed to be doing, like, metal or punk or something. People started calling it 'grunge'. No-one ever got paid gigs doing these gigs so I joined a 50s-60s cover band (called "The Paladins") playing bass and keys. Then I joined a band as the lead singer of this punky garage band called "Livid". Finally, I formed "Strange Horizon" - a kinda psychodelic, eclectic grunge thing."

By this stage, Chris had become a confident songwriter/performer. "Strange Horizon" seemed to be the perfect vehicle for his maturing creative vision, but the group disbanded due to personal and stylistic differences.

"Psychodelic drugs, my fascination with hard-trance music, people getting girlfrieds, the inability to find a decent bass player... Eventually I had to pull the plug."

In 1996 Chris joined the Barbed Wire bush band (on bass).
In 2002 he formed "Goatscape" and played all over Sydney. They had almost finished an EP before collapsing due to interpersonal conflict within the band.

"That's when I finally thought, 'F*** this - I'm going solo!' ".

Four years later, Chris is set to release his first solo album - "A Day In The Sun".