Kris Anders’ music career is gaining momentum.
The Vernon rock musician has seen an explosion in attention over the past couple years, thanks in part to last year’s Best Rock Song in North America win at the Intercontinental Music Awards for a track called Shattered.
This year, with his name growing in the music industry, it was time to get his face out there, which he did with a new music video for his latest single, Ever Enough.
The single was released March 10 and the video dropped March 31.
Up until now, Anders had only done smaller budget music videos with help from his wife, a graphic designer. But now that he’s grown as an artist, he decided it was time to up the production value.
“We realized it’s time for me to get in front of the camera, and not only myself, I have a band as well here that’s based in Vernon and it was time to get their faces out in front of the camera as well,” Anders said.
Kris Heidt of PureSound Studios in West Kelowna produced the video, which features scenes from Anders’ home town of Vernon.
“We went around to various set locations and I thought I really wanted to kind of focus on my home town Vernon and the area because it’s so beautiful here,” Anders said.
They started shooting at the iconic Kalamalka Lake beach pier on a brisk February night, and then captured shots of downtown Vernon along 30th Avenue.
“I think you can see Nolan’s Drug Store in the background just on 30th and it was right in front of Teach and Learn,” Anders said.
The video shows Anders exuding angry expressions, which he says fits the lyrics and overall tone of the song.
“This one is a bit of an angry song if you listen to the lyrics,” he said. “The protagonist being a little bit angry at the fact that nothing he ever does for his partner in life is good enough, and then I kind of adapted that into how independent artists can feel frustrated with the music industry and feeling like everything they do isn’t quite good enough to get to the next level.
“It just sort of tried to capture that little bit of frustration and put it into a rock video, because rock can be kind of angry at times.”
Anders says he gets inspirations for songs from everyday life, writing lyrics down as he thinks of them before taking them into his studio. Uniquely, he starts off every song with an acoustic version before adding his band and various production aspects to create a more commercial sound.
Anders recently signed a deal with U.K.-based PR company Liberty Music, which started a campaign for the release of Ever Enough. The track has been added to one of the biggest online radio stations, Amazing Music. Anders’ songs have been picked up by about a dozen radio stations around the world.
He’s also getting a ton of attention in print of late.
“I think there’s been about eight to 12 articles just in the last three weeks, there’s been quite a bit of press coverage,” he said.
Anders has a six-song EP in the works called Threshing Room Floor. Anders is releasing all six songs as singles and hopes to have the EP out by the fall. He expects to drop the next single late this summer. However, a vinyl version of the EP is expected to be released sooner.
Anders could also have more accolades before the year is over. He’s been nominated in the 2023 International Singer Songwriter Awards for male vocalist of the year, male rising star, male single of the year for Ever Enough, male songwriter of the year and male emerging artist. The awards take place in Atlanta, Georgia, Aug. 4 and 5.
As for live music, Anders is looking forward to performing in Vernon again. He and his full band are performing for Vernon Downtown Sounds on July 20, and will play live shows in the Okanagan, the Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island and Alberta over the next few months.
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