Seattle Post-Intelligencer (December 1996)

BARRY MAY STILL BE SEEKING A U.S. BREAKTHROUGH

Few American musicians would think of launching a career in Southeast Asia. But Seattle-bred singer-songwriter Kristen Barry and her manager wondered if going overseas might bring a wave of success.

"A lot of times when people tour Asia, they wait until they've already done the States and they've done Europe," Barry said in a phone interview. "They do it as an afterthought. But that's silly because there's a huge untapped market over there. They're seeing the same stuff we are through MTV and Channel V. And not a lot of people are touring there." Barry's manager, Kelly Curtis, came up with the idea after another act he manages, Pearl Jam, performed in Southeast Asia about two years ago. "That was the first time Kelly got exposed to the whole Asian market," Barry said. "He got to thinking, 'Why not send a brand-new artist over there?'"

The gamble paid off. "It was unbelievable," Barry said. "They were all over my album. We sold more records in Southeast Asia than we have in the U.S."

To help promote "The Beginning The Middle The End," Barry's debut album for Virgin Records, Barry and Curtis employed another novel tactic: They set up a fall tour with the Hard Rock Cafe chain in Asia. "We'd been doing the States since April, playing little clubs, and all of a sudden we're playing these packed-out shows," Barry said. "It was kind of cheesy playing with a big huge 'Flying V' replica behind you and people eating French fries. But it was so cool because we were on the other side of the world. And audiences there are very intelligent about music and much more up-to-date than I thought they would be."

The Asian tour included a stop in Seoul, South Korea, where Barry appeared on TV. "We played this variety show that's broadcast to like 8 million people," Barry said. "We did our single, 'Created,' and then they had me sing 'Let It Be' with a full orchestra. It was so surreal. When they asked me to do it, I said to myself, 'How could I pass this up? It sounds so fun.' So I went for it."

Barry, 26, grew up in Seattle. In the early '80s, before she was in her teens, she started hanging out at Bellevue's Lake Hills Roller Rink, where teenagers honed their skills in "battle of the bands" contests. "I use to see all the heavy-metal bands that played there," she said. "I was 12 years old and it was the first I realized that you could live in Seattle and put together a band and go onstage. Before that, being in a band and having a record was a mystery to me."

A few years later, Barry was struggling along with dozens of other musicians on Seattle's soon-to-be-famous rock scene. "A lot of writers try to use the fact that I grew up in Seattle as a story angle," she said. "But I was just another musician in this town full of musicians who got a lot of attention." Curtis, her manager, proved to be a valuable ally. When Barry became discouraged several years ago and considered quitting the business and going to college, Curtis' feigned indifference convinced her to try even harder. "I asked myself, 'Do I want to be doing this at 35? Maybe I should start thinking about going to school.' So I started getting into this self-pity thing and I called him up looking for him to feed my self-pity. "And he said, 'OK, if that's what you want to do.' It was so great because he just threw it right back in my face."

Barry eventually landed a development deal with Epic Records. "I finally had my foot in the door with the industry, but it was the wrong thing for me. They wanted me to co-write songs with other well-known, successful people and take the Alanis Morissette route." The experience shattered her self-confidence. "It took a couple of years before I could truly write for myself again," she said. "I had all these people in my head, so to speak, telling me what to do - what was wrong, what was right - and I had to get rid of all that garbage before I could write something that I was proud of."

For most of her life, Barry has used music as a means of self-expression. Her powerful voice soars through an album packed with raw, emotional songs. "That's the most important thing to me, to be writing songs and getting them out of my system and getting them out there. That's what motivates me, not getting on top of the charts or being on the radio," she said.

Barry says she put a lot of thought into her new album's title, "The Beginning The Middle The End," which she considers a metaphor of sorts for her current status as a recording artist. "This was a big deal personally for me to get past this step of getting a first album out, so for me it's the beginning of this whole new life that I have. And it's the middle, I think, in terms of my artistic development. And, finally, it's the end of sitting in my basement and writing songs that nobody ever gets to hear."

Through it all, Barry, who performs Tuesday night at the Crocodile Cafe, is having a blast. "It still beats getting up in the morning and having to make espresso for a bunch of cranky businesspeople," she said.