Biography
-
Born
18 January 1974 (age 50)
-
Born In
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, United Kingdom
80's synthesizer rock, memorable melodies and great beats, were the inspiration for Christian Burns' brand new project The Bleach Works. With a nod to the goth rock of The Cure and the electronic synth pop of Depeche Mode, the Bleach Works is jam packed with these juxtapositions and pays homage to the music that Christian grew up with.
Christian was always surrounded by music, his father played guitar for The Signs, a Liverpudlian three-piece rock band that once opened for The Beatles! At age 14, Burns began learning guitar by mimicking his dad and playing by ear melodies that he heard in his head. Christian states, "I would always get these melodies when my dad would be playing guitar, and I would get melodic bits and pieces stuck in my head until I could work it out on the guitar." It was then Christian began experimenting as a writer and singer which inspired his dad and he to build a make shift 4-track studio in their back garden. "We built this out of old bricks, and once constructed I was hooked! Me and my mates would go and record music at any given moment."
It was a great training ground which lead to Christian fronting 90's pop rock band BBMak and opening for artists such as Britney Spears and N'Sync before going on to sell over 3 million records world-wide. "Performing in a band like BBMak gave me confidence and really made me learn a lot about being an artist, creating, and performing. It definitely brought me forward as an artist. It was a time where boy bands ruled and we were a band that actually played our instruments and wrote our own songs!"
After the global success of BBMak, Christian went back into the studio to work on solo material. It was then that he heard a song that made him stop in his tracks - "SOMEBODY TOLD ME" by THE KILLERS. "Hearing this song on the radio was like a breath of fresh air, it was a mish mash of all of the music I loved from the 70's and 80's." With some networking and a few lucky coincidences, Burns started producing with The Killers' producer Jeff Saltzman. Timing and the computer age was on Burns' side having posted these Saltzman/Burns creations on his personal MySpace little did he realise that it would catch the appeal of global trance sensation Tiesto. "I woke up one day and checked my MySpace mail to a very keen email asking if he could have one of my songs. Not knowing who it was I said ‘NO but let's write something together'. Now when I think back, it could have been a very wrong move." Thankfully Tiesto said yes and "IN THE DARK" was born. A Billboard Chart Topping Hit, this sensational song generated Electronic greats such as David Guetta, BT, Matt Darey, and Benny Benassi to get in touch and ask Burns to write for them. "I caught the electronic bug it really took me back to my early days of learning guitar and building a studio. It opened up the world of creating and building tracks with synths and sounds I had never used before." So with his MAC Book Pro, a Moog Voyager, Access Virus, 7 Macs and his guitar THE BLEACH WORKS project was born.
His mate, BT came in to guest as a co-writer to one of the lead tracks called "The Enemy." "It's a song about escaping with somebody, getting away from all your troubles," noted Burns. "I love the guitars in this one, BT did a brilliant job with his skills."
"As We Collide" is a curious combination of raging rock and dance that Burns wrote and performed with artist Jes, a ‘rocktronica' artist he met while working with Tiesto. Burns also went back and worked with producer, Jeff Saltzman, with the song, "Something About You" which tells the tale of a strong attraction to somebody and what that can do to your mind! The song has been mixed by Alan Moulder (Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, The Killers).
2021 update: He’s written for the likes of Tiësto, BT, Armin Van Buuren and Benny Benassi and is one of the most in demand lyricists and vocalists out there. As one third of multi-million selling Brit band BBMAK he conquered the UK Top 40 and the US Billboard Top 100.
The writing was on the wall for Christian to be involved in music in some form from an early age. Christian’s father was part of The Signs, a UK Merseybeat band “I always remember the house being engulfed with music as a child”, Christian said. “Me and my dad built a makeshift studio at the bottom of our garden with a four-track tape machine. I was always in there. I was fascinated by the whole process of making music.”
Throughout Christians illustrious career he has collaborated with the worlds biggest names in the dance scene - Christian wrote and featured on ‘In The Dark’, the lead single from Tiësto’s Grammy-nominated album ‘Elements of Life’, with electronic giant BT, Christian wrote and sang on three tracks from Grammy-nominated long player ‘These Hopeful Machines’ – ‘The Emergency’, ‘Forget Me’ and lead track ‘Suddenly’. Teaming up with Armin van Buuren on his ‘Mirage’ album, Christian wrote the #1 smash hit ‘This Light Between Us’, touring with the record-breaking five-time winner of DJ Mag’s Top 100 DJ Chart.
Christian 2nd solo artist album ‘Love Songs from Suburbia’ is out now.
https://www.facebook.com/christianburnsofficial
http://www.myspace.com/christianburns
http://www.myspace.com/thebleachworks
http://www.soundofchristianburns.net
Artist descriptions on Last.fm are editable by everyone. Feel free to contribute!
All user-contributed text on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply.
