{"id":4739,"date":"2012-07-19T09:22:58","date_gmt":"2012-07-19T15:22:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stylusmagazine.ca\/?p=4739"},"modified":"2012-07-19T09:22:58","modified_gmt":"2012-07-19T15:22:58","slug":"the-barr-brothers-busy-n-confident","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/2012\/07\/19\/the-barr-brothers-busy-n-confident\/","title":{"rendered":"The Barr Brothers :: Busy n’ Confident"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

One album in, and seemingly busy as a band could be, Montr\u00e9al\u2019s The Barr Brothers<\/a> continue to ride an exceptional wave of success. On a blistering hot day at the Winnipeg Folk Festival, <\/em>Stylus sat down with Brad Barr after their workshop with The Head and The Heart, Blitzen Trapper, and Bahamas. The following is an edited transcript of the interview, covering everything from the band\u2019s inception to playing on David Letterman. <\/em>by darcy penner<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

Stylus: So you\u2019re on your summer tour right now, how many shows have you played up until now and how is it going so far?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Brad Barr<\/strong>: I think we\u2019ve done maybe four or five. We did the Ottawa Jazz Festival, the Wanderlust Festival.\u00a0 We\u2019ve played at Metropolis in Montr\u00e9al and then this one. It’s different because on the road you get to sort of build up momentum, you are cruising, and it is a straight line. You\u2019re going in one direction and you\u2019re building this speed and enthusiasm. This summer is going to be a different kind of tour because we\u2019re constantly returning home after the weekend. So I hope that doesn\u2019t feel like this stop-start thing. Like, diving into it and then coming back out. There is something when you get on the road and you\u2019re staying on the road and you just get that momentum and it keeps you moving.<\/p>\n

S: And then so how do you compare: do you prefer the festival hopping thing over the traditional club pounding out, are they comparable?<\/strong><\/p>\n

BB<\/strong>: Well this will be really our first festival season as The Barr Brothers.<\/p>\n

S: Right, since it\u2019s just been since September since your first release.<\/strong><\/p>\n

BB<\/strong>: Yeah, it hasn\u2019t even been a year. So far it actually is pretty exhausting. I was in California this morning, and \u2013<\/p>\n

S: You were in California this morning?! <\/strong><\/p>\n

BB<\/strong>: We finished playing at 2 AM last night in California, got on a plane there, didn\u2019t sleep, you know, crashed out on the plane, and basically walked right on stage. We pulled up and walked right on stage. So, I hope that the whole summer\u2019s not quite as intense and crazy as that. But actually, I like that, I like kind of stretching it, a little bit of delirium\u2014it kind of helps the music I think sometimes.<\/p>\n

D: Reading your press release and your bio \u2013 your bio in particular \u2013 makes your band seem like a series of cute coincidences that brought this band together. However, reading up on you guys, you are anything but: you are on Secret City<\/a> and you have a full industry team lined up, a really good one. And you have a really well lined up summer tour. Is this credited to your time spent as The Slip<\/a>, or how did you guys come out of the gate so well with one record not even a year running right now?<\/strong><\/p>\n

BB<\/strong>: I guess we chalk up a lot to coincidence, probably as much as any other band. I mean I heard the guy from The Head And The Heart<\/a>, \u201cI moved from Virginia to Seattle and fell in with these people, these musicians and made friends,\u201d and that\u2019s pretty much our story as well. My brother and I moved to Montr\u00e9al and Sarah was my neighbour in my first apartment, you know all that. But I think it\u2019s kind of like a thing after you do something for so long, like touring with The Slip it was a lot of years spent on the road learning about the road and learning about music and how we like to make music.<\/p>\n

So when we started recording this record, not really knowing what it was, not setting out to make a record as a band or anything, and then it fell into this situation that Secret City, I think you\u2019re right to say a lot of it is just that so many years of doing it one way, and finally kind of knowing that if we\u2019re going to do this we want to do it right. Like The Slip had a very niche audience and it was never going to become something that really we could make a living. In your 20s it’s fine living, but you get older and it isn\u2019t really sustainable. So with this we, even though it was kind of coincidental, we knew we had good music and if we wanted to do it we were going to do it well and get a good team together. Good management, booking, and all that stuff.\u00a0 And that\u2019s just sort of what we set out to do with it.<\/p>\n

S: This project\u2019s first full length got Polaris long listed. What does that mean to you as a songwriter and musician?<\/strong><\/p>\n

BB<\/strong>: Well it’s funny because I wasn\u2019t even aware of the Polaris until I moved to Montr\u00e9al. Then I started hearing people say Polaris, and I started asking \u201cWhat is that?\u201d And, I hate to say it but I\u2019m still not even really quite sure what it means actually. I don\u2019t really know, I know I should probably be pretty excited about, so I am honoured and I am. Everyone in our management is pretty psyched about it, and that\u2019s awesome. The people around us have more reason to keep pushing forward and feel confident with it all. And for me I\u2019m just honoured, but I don\u2019t know who Polaris is. Mr. Polaris? Haven\u2019t met him yet. I\u2019m sure they\u2019ve got a great record collection.<\/p>\n

S: It seems like you folks put a lot of effort and resources into videos.\u00a0 You\u2019ve got, I think 25, on your website<\/a>. A lot of it is you folks live in radio studios and these types of things.\u00a0 Do you have a preference for that medium of getting music out there or is that more of, \u201cThis is where the marketing trends are going, this is what we have to do\u201d?\u00a0 Or do you dig the video thing?<\/strong><\/p>\n

BB<\/strong>:\u00a0 I definitely dig it, and if you asked me \u201cHow do you feel about your video presence,\u201d I probably would have said it\u2019s not comprehensive enough. I would have thought we didn\u2019t have enough videos out there. So its kind of interesting to hear you say we have a large video presence. We did put some energy towards the two sort of singles,\u00a0 \u201cThe Beggar in the Morning\u201d and \u201cOld Mythologies.\u201d\u00a0I love that medium.\u00a0 I\u2019m always feeling like I would like to do more with it, like I like to get Final Cut on my computer and start editing stuff. But a lot of it is come through our management applying for grants, and saying \u201cHey we suddenly have a little bit of cash to play with and make a video.\u201d That\u2019s probably one side of it, then all the radio stations stuff was just from our publicist getting us spots on that. And then there\u2019s the sort of little homemade videos that there\u2019s a few of. Those are what I would like to do more.\u00a0 Yeah, those are really fun and I always feel like that\u2019s what I like to see from a band, if I\u2019m going to check out a band. I don\u2019t really love seeing, like, high quality high definition videos, although the one we made for \u201cOld Mythologies\u201d was really fun, and I enjoyed that. But I\u2019d like to do more homemade videos and start editing that stuff. I think that would a fun little project on the road.<\/p>\n

S: Easy question. What was it like playing Letterman? I\u2019ve never met someone who has, so this is a first. What was it like?<\/strong><\/p>\n

BB<\/strong>: My brother would say if asked that, it\u2019s kind of like sky diving without a parachute. [laughs] <\/em>You jump and then you know you\u2019re going to come to the end at some moment, you just kind of hope it\u2019s going to be a soft landing. We\u2019d done Conan with the Slip, and so I knew that I had the potential to get really nervous, because I did on that show. Even my friends and family were like, \u201cHey we saw you on Conan, man you looked really nervous.\u201d\u00a0 So I was like, \u201cAlright, I don\u2019t want that to happen again, just whatever psychological games I have to play to remind myself that I\u2019m just playing music and there aren\u2019t millions of people watching at home.\u201d\u00a0 But the minute I got up there, of course I got pretty nervous, and my first few lines were kind of choked.\u00a0 And then a few verses in, I looked over and saw Paul Shaffer and he had this smile on his face.\u00a0 He was kind of nodding and grooving, and I was like, \u201cMan this guy does this every night, and you know, he\u2019s Paul Shaffer.\u201c And so that cooled my nerves right there and I actually enjoyed myself for the rest of the performance. Of course in the end it felt like it lasted 30 seconds. All this build up and it was over really quickly. But they were all really nice, everyone who worked in that building and on that team were incredibly sweet. Treated us like we were U2 or something, just like had the same consideration and made sure we were comfortable, and they were wonderful. So it was actually a really nice experience.<\/p>\n

S: After this summer of tours and festivals, what are your plans for the fall, and leading on.<\/strong><\/p>\n

BB:<\/strong> We\u2019re going to record another record. That\u2019s sort of the plan. Any spare minute we have we\u2019ve been recording demo stuff in our studio, and writing, so that\u2019s the next big thing for me. That\u2019s sort of, for me, the measure of where things are going to be and where they are going to go. Because the record we made that is out now was made when we weren\u2019t really a band, it was just me and my brother experimenting in the studio and Sarah\u2014sometimes we would bring the gear over to her house, record her playing harp and then bring it back and mix it ourselves. And not knowing that this was to be an album by a band called The Barr Brothers, just us learning how to record and trying it. So this again will be a very different, knowing it\u2019s a band, it\u2019s the four of us, we\u2019re going to work this out together. And there\u2019s some people now waiting for a second record.\u00a0 So many different conditions to record under, but we\u2019re looking forward to it. It\u2019s going to be a good record. I\u2019m very hopeful.<\/p>\n

S: Do you like the pressure of an anticipated second release, combined with the elephant in the room of the sophomore slump? Do you like that, does it make working conditions better or worse for you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

BB<\/strong>: I guess I probably would say I do my best not to think about any of those notions. I mean, I feel like the first record was made without considering any of that stuff, and any record we make should be made without those considerations. I\u2019d almost like to simulate the kind of na\u00efve approach as best as we can. I\u2019d say I think we\u2019re going to be all right, because we just have high standards of ourselves and what we want to put out. Yeah, I\u2019m not too worried.<\/p>\n

S: My last question: \u00a0Can you name three records or three artists in general, not obvious ones, that you think people who are into your band should check out?<\/strong><\/p>\n

BB<\/strong>: Dear Puppeteer<\/em> by Nathan Moore<\/a>.\u00a0 Man, I haven\u2019t heard it, but I\u2019m sure when I buy that Bahamas<\/a> record, I\u2019m going to probably flip out. That stuff is so good, but that is fresh on my brain, that is a cop out. I don\u2019t know why this comes to mind, John Jacob Niles<\/a>, any anthology by him or Mississippi Fred McDowell<\/a>. I\u2019ve only bought anthologies by him, so any anthology by Mississippi Fred McDowell.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One album in, and seemingly busy as a band could be, Montr\u00e9al\u2019s The Barr Brothers continue to ride an exceptional wave of success. On a blistering hot day at the Winnipeg Folk Festival, Stylus sat down with Brad Barr after their workshop with The Head and The Heart, Blitzen Trapper, and Bahamas. The following is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[632,1106],"class_list":["post-4739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","tag-montreal","tag-winnipeg-folk-festival"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4739\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}