"My songs are about real experiences. People getting shot, people dying. People dealing with drug addictions in my family, and outside my family. People borrowing money to try and live and when they can't borrow money they just have to go hungry. They're not simple problems , like, 'Oh I've got to pay my student loan off'."
Louis Berry, Gigwise
24-year old Louis Berry hails from one of Liverpool's most notorious sink estates, Tower Hill in Kirkby. Growing up in poverty, crime and drug addiction (his father is a heroin addict), it is perhaps unsurprising that Berry drew musical inspiration from gritty rap music and country legend Johnny Cash's oeuvre (he cites "Cocaine Blues" as his favourite Cash song) as he practised (initially in seclusion, since being seen with a guitar was deemed as a 'weakness') with the entry level banjo his grandfather gave him.
After securing a publishing deal (at his first live performance) and a recording deal (at his second live performance), Berry is poised to gain wider acclaim for his brand of retro-gazing, authentic rock 'n' roll with a modern spin - in line with other British blue-eyed soul musicians (like Amy Winehouse and Adele) and British post-punk revival bans like Franz Ferdinand and Arctic Monkeys. He won the 'One To Watch Prize' at the 2015 GIT Awards in Livepool, and has earned praise from BBC Radio 1's Annie Mac and John Kennedy at Radio X, as well as comparisons to Jake Bugg, Bob Dylan, Don Cavalli and Elvis Presley.
He has released two EPs so far: Rebel (2015) and .45 (2016). He began recording his debut album in Nashville in February this year, and has released music videos for four of his tracks so far: "25 Reasons" (2015), "Nicole" (2016), "Restless" (2016), and ".45" (2016). Berry certainly catches your attention with the brash bravado and firebrand vocals on tracks like "Nicole", but he is also capable of slower, more contemplative and more introspective output on tracks like "Laurie" and "Restless".
There's great potential on display here, but Berry hasn't exactly lived up to his promises of delivering songs on 'real hardship' with these tracks. As with "25 Reasons", many of his songs revolve around the desire for recognition from a romantic interest:
'You're a ragtag woman on material quests
You're a fire but I'm your flame
You're a golden locket on a silver chain
You're not the answer to my beliefs
You only love me for reasons that I could not forsee
And you're the keeper of my caress
And your sure look good in that little black dress
I've got 25 reasons why you should not be my girl'
Lyrics:
".45" gives us more of a taste of the grit which characterizes Berry's childhood and lives up (to a certain extent) to Berry's stated intent of leaving "a message in our lyrical divides". The track places him in a semi-messianic role, as he promises a revolution - which his upcoming debut LP will hopefully deliver - of truth, honesty and authenticity via good ol' rock and roll:
'Well I think I would like to play chess with the devil
Yes I would like to play cards with the pope
See I can charm any Angel in his halo
And I can conjour up a storm inside your soul
Yes I can turn your morning into evening
I can change your day into the night
If I should wish to put rain upon your sunshine
I would surely do so in good time
But you don't always see it the way I do
Come on
And you don't always have to play the fool when I
When I tell you that your always wrong
Get up
That's my .45
Get up
That's my .45
See I know how to make it right
Get up
That's my .45'
Lyrics: Musixmatch
