Piano pioneer Kris really smashes it!

Nov 9 2012 by Ross Dunn, Irvine Herald

Musician Kris Lennox is no longer tinkling the ivories of his piano - as he’s destroyed it and created a brand new instrument.

The 30-year-old from Stevenston took apart his £11,000 piano and now Yamaha bosses want him to develop his creation into a new instrument.

In September Kris signed a lifetime global publishing deal with one of the world’s biggest publishers - Music Sales.

And now, Kris is currently in talks with Yamaha’s European Managing Director Mike Ketley about developing his reinvention into a new instrument.

“Yamaha are going to supply me with some frames to make instruments.

“In the future, I’m looking at releasing a new album using this instrument too,” he added

Kris has spent the last two years stripping the piano bare and removed the keys, using the instruments innards to create new sounds with a rather bizarre tool.

“I use these ice picks (pictured), they create a great sound and I can slide on the strings and get styles and sounds that are completely new.”

Now looking to reinvent classical music entirely, Kris says that he decided to reinvent the piano out of boredom.

“Classical music is dead and it’s dead because the instruments are dead.

“Instruments need to change - with it, new sounds and styles of music will develop,” he added.

Kris admits that he wasn’t even nervous when he took a power tool to his expensive piano.

“I don’t think this has ever been done before because it takes some amount of guts to take a chainsaw to an £11,000 piano.”

Kris performed in the pitch dark at the Harbour Arts Centre a few years ago, a show that could make its way to the BBC’s Proms next year.

“Hopefully I’ll get to bring that show to a wider audience.

“There’s a few health and safety issues with 5000 people sitting in the dark though.”

You can watch Kris’ reinvention on YouTube by searching ‘Kris Lennox reinventing’.