Kris MacFarlane Bio
Kris was a surprise addition to Great Big Sea after the  “Sea of No Cares” CD was released. The band decided they needed some drums to back up the new sounds on that CD. Kris had been drumming for Kilt, a Celtic Rock band out of Nova Scotia. He also did a stint as the drummer for Tom Landa and the Paperboys, a Vancouver-based band. In addition, Kris was the percussion section for a show starring Denny Doherty about the Mamas & the Papas singing group in the 70’s. Denny is a Nova Scotia native who was a member of the Mamas and Papas and starred in a Play entitled “Dream a Little Dream, the mostly true story about the Mamas and the Papas”. Kris participated for its six runs.
Kris has recently been a studio musician for Lenny Gallant, Barry Canning’s CD, Last Man Standing, Dave Gunning’s CD, two-bit-world and Michelle Doyle’s debut CD. (Michelle is Alan Doyle’s younger sister.) And Kris is multi-talented! He also plays guitar, bass, piano accordion and sings!

Kris is a native of Westville, Nova Scotia, a heavily Scottish-settled section of Nova Scotia. He was born on October 24th some years ago. He’s married with a couple of kids. In his spare time, which has to be next to nothing these days, he helps coach youth soccer at home. So add athlete to his credentials, too.
Kris is a very friendly member of GBS, He often is surprised when he is recognized outside a venue, but always can be relied on to carry on a great conversation with you. Kris has a good memory for those he’s met before and makes you feel good when he greets you by name. He's a bit of a mischief maker on stage also. He wanders around during Scolding Wife and bothers the singers. And once in Buffalo, he and Alan switched instruments for the encore.
Kris’ singing voice can be heard in the current tour and it is good. He doesn’t have his own verse to anything yet, except for the times Alan has surprised him and given him the mic, but we hope to hear his lovely tones more each time. He is certainly a great addition to Great Big Sea! Welcome, Kris!
I had the good fortune to watch Kris play guitar, tambourine and sing, backing up Andrea Englund at the ECMAs in St. John’s, Newfoundland. He had just been asked to do this and was a bit nervous, but did really well. It was the first time I had heard him sing – the b’y has a good voice! And this was after he played the drums for Crush – the band his brother plays bass in. And that was the night before GBS was to perform at the ECMA Gala. Kris certainly got around that weekend!
At D'Arcy Magee's in Buffalo in the summer of 2004, Kris came out with Alan's guitar and Alan went behind the drum kit for a bit. Alan was good on the drums but passed the sticks to the Master after a few minutes.