An Interview With Pop Band BBMak- www.teenhollywood.com

Several things establish BBMak as a different sort of pop group. They may have boy band good looks, but everything else about this talented trio sets them apart from the pack. They play their own instruments, write, perform, and produce their own songs…and they don’t synchronize dance. Now the world is taking notice.

BBMak (a.k.a. Mark Barry, Christian Burns, and Ste McNally) met each other while jamming on the Northwest England music circuit. Discovering they performed well together, the guys set about finding a record deal. Their tactic? Busking in the street outside Liverpool record companies where influential A&R people worked. Label interest was inevitable. As a final touch to their entrepreneurial genius, BBMak staged a concert and invited record company executives to attend. The concert was a success, a bidding war ensued, and BBMak was soon signed to a major record deal. Cool.

TeenHollywood.com recently spoke with BBMak’s Christian Burns during their promotional tour of North America. This is what he had to say.

TEENHOLLYWOOD.COM INTERVIEW

Hi Christian, how are things going for BBMak?

Christian: it’s going great. We just jumped up 26 places on the Billboard, the album went to #60. So it’s going really well at the moment.

Are you touring the U.S.?

Christian: We’re just promoting the album. The album isn’t out until the 16th of May.

Can you tell me about BB Mak’s “All For One” philosophy?

Christian: Basically it just means that we don’t do anything if all four players aren’t happy with a decision. We have to make sure we’re all happy with what we do. It’s the same with performing, we support each other, each of us are an important part of the band and make sure we’re happy with every decision.

Do people consider you a boy band?

Christian: If you see a photograph, yeah, a lot of people do. But if you see us live, you’ll see we don’t dance and we play our instruments and that we’re a bit heavier than a lot of that stuff. They change their tune then. The Beatles were the original boy band, so…(laugh)

So you produce your own songs, write your own music?

Christian: Yeah, we wrote seven songs on the album and produced four of them.

Do you personally write a lot of the songs?

Christian: We all write the songs together.

Tell me how you managed to get major label attention, I think there’s a good story in that.

Christian: Well, we didn’t have a manager and we didn’t just want to send a demo off, so we went down with our guitars and stood outside the record company and busked until we got their attention. People would walk by or come out to see us, it was like we were stars, and before we knew it, we had six or seven major deals offered and we got ourselves a deal.

So they just saw you out on the street and said “Hey guys, come on in?”

Christian: Well, we stood by the doors of the record companies and the A&R guys would walk past us…I mean, we were good at what we were doing, and we got attention that way.

How would you describe your musical style?

Christian: Our musical style is definitely pop, guitar pop with harmony.

Where did you shoot your cool video for “Back Here”?

Christian: That was a tube station, a subway 15 in the U.K. And then some of it was shot in the big wheel called the London Eye, that was pretty cool.

Retro question, your dad was a guitarist who opened for The Beatles?

Christian: Yeah, he was in a band in the ‘60s called The Signs. They used to play in the cavern club in Liverpool and some nights The Beatles used to play as well.

That’s amazing. Are there any stories that come from that?

Christian: Well, the night the Cavern got knocked down, him and a few of his friends barricaded themselves in and he actually got a piece of the stage.

So does your father have any advice for you in establishing a music career?

Christian: He just tells me to keep my feet on the ground and to make sure I look after me money! (laugh)

I know you’re quite popular in the U.K, but how has North America and Asia responded to BB Mak?

Christian: In Asia, “Back Here” went to #1 in five countries, we’re just about gold in Japan at the moment, so things are going fantastic over there. In America, we’ve been in the Billboard charts for about three weeks and we jumped 20 spots yesterday from #80 to #60. We’ve had a strong single in Los Angeles so it’s going really well.

Did you ever think you’d get to this point?

Christian: We did actually. We worked really hard and we have a lot of self-belief and a positive attitude and that’s what takes you to the next level, positive thinking.

What has your day been like so far?

Christian: Well, it’s 11:30 AM now and I was up at 6:00 AM. We went off and did a news and current affairs TV program, did a performance there, then back in the van and back to the hotel, half an hour off, then did interviews with various different people, and then back to the hotel and now I’m on the phone with you. We have a TV interview later and we’ll finish about 6:00 PM.

How do you like staying in hotels?

Christian: I prefer staying in apartments because staying in hotels makes you feel more homesick.

What type of music do you listen to?

Christian: The Beatles, The Eagles, Billy Joel, The Goo Goo Dolls, The Foo Fighters, a wide range. Some classical music, Massive Attack, all sorts across the board.

Do you play any sports?

Christian: Yeah, I play soccer.

What advice do you have for aspiring musicians looking for a career in the recording industry?

Christian: If you believe in something, stick by it. Don’t let people put you down. If you want something bad enough you’ll get it, it’s just a matter of time, you’ve just got to work hard and make sacrifices.

Good advice. Do you have a girlfriend back home?

Christian: No, single, completely single. I’m searching, still searching.

Do you find it harder to find someone as you get more famous?

Christian: Yeah, a lot harder because girls don’t want to speak with you and when they do they get all nervous just because of who you are. It’s like you’re almost unapproachable. So it sucks a bit.

Do you find yourself growing closer to the people back home who know you as a normal person?

Christian: Yeah, in some ways, but in other ways it’s hard to keep in touch because of time differences and schedules. But I still love me family as much as I did then. I miss them.

Lastly, what direction will you be going from here, musically?

Christian: If it’s not broke we won’t try to fix it. We’re quite happy with the style we’re in at the moment. Obviously, in the future we’ll try to expand and stuff. But who knows, it’s something that will evolve naturally and were not going to try and do this and do that. If something does change it will be a natural progression.