local band looks to make it big after DEBUT performance

Credit: Sammy Sahnine

By Erin Deborah

Rising local band RED iRiS is looking to make it big following their debut at The Horn, band members said. 

The Horn, the St Albans pub which has hosted famous performers early in their careers, including Paul Young and Bastille, has offered RED iRiS another gig after their set on 20th September.

This was the band’s first live public gig, marking a significant change from their previous living-room gigs and school concerts, they said.

RED iRiS Singer and drummer Bobby-Beau said, “It has been a really big hit for us, so we have had to have discussions like, are you in it? It’s gone from us doing this just for fun to us taking this kind of seriously now.”

“St Albans is not really known for its punk scene, so we would like to do gigs in London, in areas like Camden,” he added.

The band’s members – Bobby-Beau (singer and drummer), Aidan Chan (lead guitarist), Albert Chinn (bass guitarist) and George Warden (singer and drummer) – are all from the local area.

Best friends Bobby-Beau and Aidan decided to start the band in 2019 while they were at school together, and then found fellow musicians to join them.

However, during the Covid-19 pandemic they took a break since they could not meet to rehearse.

Bobby-Beau said, “after that we were out of practice. And then once we got back to it, around mid-2021, we just continued to improve. Then early this year, we got offered two gigs at our old school.

“We did the first one and liked the energy we were receiving from the crowd. from the first gig, you could see us as a real band. This was serious now - I was crowd surfing.

“I managed to get us a gig at The Horn. This was really the start of something” he added.

Audience member Rory Stobo, 17, “enjoyed” the performance, saying “it was clear that they’re pretty energetic and enthusiastic.”