Hollow Souls
with Troy Redfern
25th Oct 2025 – Gloucester Town Hall
It’s been quite a while since seeing Kris Barras at play. Much of Hollow Souls also serve in the heavier Kris Barras Band, but this was his new side project on their inaugural UK tour, promoting the release of their EP.
First up, though, was Troy Redfern, shakin’ his groove with the help of sidesman and drummer, Paul Annis. As ever, Troy was quick out of the blocks — slide working hard on his overdriven guitar, sporting his trademark bandana’d hat and a persona that shouts loudly of a gunslinger straight out of the Badlands. Whether you like his full-on audio overload or not, there’s no mistaking he has real stage presence. The crescendo lifted through a fast-firing “Aching Hearts”, into a grinding “John the Revelator”, before breaking into a jam on “Sanctify”. Looking around, there was a mix of reactions — some moving to the groove, others, perhaps new to Troy, appearing somewhat shell-shocked.
A quick turnaround, and Hollow Souls took to the stage, settling in with “Borderline”. No Chris Tapp or Elles Bailey this time, but Phoebe Jane did a fabulous job on vocals, with Kris taking the occasional lead. Fresh from the EP came “Bad Things”, “I Don’t Need No Doctor”, and the brilliant “Shotgun” — conjuring visions of KB back in his cage, roaring like a tiger, full of swagger and menace. The stocky, tattooed ex-scrapper certainly knows how to make his Telecaster submit to his assault, though his joust with Phoebe’s vocal dexterity — impressive as it was — did feel a little one-sided, even if her scat was the more melodic of the two.
A scorching “Propane” seemed the perfect partner to the EP’s single release, “Burn It to the Ground”, but no — Josh cooled things down with a superb piano-led take on the blues standard “Stormy Monday”, neatly splitting the pair. Kris picked up with old favourite “Hail Mary” as the flames burned down to their dying embers — but, of course, no one was ready to settle for that. One more shot of “Going Down” had everyone singing along — down, down, down and out.
I’m not looking for a fight over this, but with Hollow Souls, Kris has an absolute knockout winner. I’d wager this side project will soon be impossible to hold back. A brilliant gig.
Words & Photography – Graham Munn