Christpher Scott Akin (Kris) was born
June 211970 in
Atlanta, GA. His parents are Robert Peoples Akin
(Bob) and Mary Warren Akin. He has one brother Paul Brian Akin
(
deceased), who was
born March 17, 1975 and died August 20, 1994.
Kris attended
Marietta Christian Schools until 5th grade, where he transferred to
Big Shanty Elementary School in Kennesaw, GA. He then attended
Awtrey Middle School from 6th to 8th grade. It was there that Kris,
under the tutelage of Earl Reece Jr., began his love of
performance arts. In 1984 Kris attended
North Cobb Comprehensive High School, until his graduation in 1988.
It was during high school that Kris became an accomplished dancer
and actor, receiving many awards for his
avante garde
urban-esque choreography with the dance troupe,
Encore - Encore. He was a
performer/instructor at the prestigious Music/Arts/Dance/Drama
(M.A.D.D.) workshops in Marietta, GA from 1983 until 1986.
During his enrollment at Southern Technical Institute, where he
studied
architecture, he decided that pursuing music
would be his main focus. In 1992 he moved to
Asheville, NC and formed
Art and the Aughtnots with fellow musician
Bradford
Chestnut, who eventually played with the critically acclaimed
band,
Janah. A.A.T.A. was
groundbreaking with their use of electronica years before bands
such as
Nine
Inch Nails and
Ministry ever made the mainstream. After two years,
Kris left A.A.T.A. and began percussion performance duties with the
highly successful
Soul Palace. Soul
Palace was a visionary band that took ques from hippie art-rock
bands such as:
Phish,
Widespread
Panic,
Grateful Dead, and
Frank Zappa. It was not uncommon for Soul
Palace to announce a hometown show 5 days before the event and sell
out almost instantaneously. The Blue Racoon performance is one that
will go down in history as a rare treat that resulted in the
expulsion of 50 percent of the audience from the venue! After
performing with Soul Palace (
Ashley Gibson,
guitar.
David Anderson, bass.
Chris
Primo, keys/trumpet) for 7 years, Kris decided to attempt
lead vocals with the acoustic band,
No Strings
Attached. Moving from behind the drum kit to the
front of the stage was a very fullfilling experience for Kris, and
the experience found him being sought after on many different
levels for his musicianship. Shuffling between Soul Palace and No
Strings Attached left very little time for Kris to maintain a
marriage to his then wife, Shelly. After Chris Primo was deported
from the United States back to Ireland for his role in a major
marijuana traffiking ring, Soul Palace peformed as a trio for two
more years. Kris and Shelly seperated in 2001.
Kris abruptly
departed Soul Palace in 2001 and moved back to his home town of
Atlanta. He took a gig as a hired-gun for the
dark metal band,
Force of Habit. Although not as familiar
with
speed metal
as he is with
progressive rock (given that his two main
influences in drumming are
Bill Bruford and
Alan White of
YES) he was offered a permanent position in the band.
Known for their melodic metal and pyrotechnically enhanced shows,
Force of Habit was signed to Insanity
Records out of Germany. Having been quite familiar with the likes
of bands such as,
Mayhem
and
The Murder Junkies Kris promptly left the
group and joined the pop-saturated band,
Liquid
Pie. It was with this band that Kris experienced his
most successful time as a musician...if not monitarily, most
definitely in exposure! One of his most thrilling moments came when
he received a recording of Liquid Pie's radio special that was
played in
Sydney, Australia - where
Liquid Pie enjoyed as much success as
they did in the United States...if not more! During
Capital Pride 2003,
Liquid Pie played to an estimated crowd
of 200,000 fans - although the actual numbers are most likely
around 50,000. Kris was given the opportunity to shoot two music
videos from the album,
Diggin' In. He
received press in national magazines. He was able to achieve all
that he had hoped to as a musician. The time that he played with
this band were his most enjoyable and most exasperating.
Lindsey Christopher, the lead guitarist
and chief song writer, was often referred to as
Napolean because of demands made of
her band. Only a friendship with
JP Stout
and the incredible vocalists,
Jan Marie
Popovich and
Arwen Smith
made this venture even remotely tolerable after the initial
honeymoon period was
over. A couple years of that experience was about all Kris could
stomach.
On March 9th, 2006 Kris received what would be the
greatest gift of his life, given to him by the woman that owns his
heart - a beautiful daughter named,
Alexandria
Constance. He was married to
Jennifer Lynn
Stewart on April 4, 2006...