Before Sunday night (March 07, 2010) I had missed every chance to see Tim Barry play live. Circumstances had aligned against me and I was either out of town, sick, without transportation, or possibly dead (I got better) every time he rolled through Houston. In a very short amount of time I realized what I had been missing. Before I talk about any of the specifics let me make clear that this was the most intense show I can remember seeing bar none. It takes that spot from some great shows with absolutely crazy stories attached to them, like waking up in New Orleans on a tour bus, that are now put to shame by a show where nothing really all that crazy went down. The only way to chalk it up is to the sheer intensity that Tim Barry radiates on and off the stage. Now lets get on to the story…

So me and my brother showed up way too early because I thought the show would sell out. (As a side note: Fuck you Houston for not selling this show out. You bunch of bitches!) So we stood outside smoking and talking while trying to stay out of the possible line of fire from some asshole calling himself “Pony” who was waving around what he referred to as “My nine”. I thought he was the manager or one of the owners which would make his asinine behavior legal so we didn’t call the cops on the jackoff. We should have. He’s not even employed by the club. And eventually decided to wander down the street and grab some food and hope that “Pony”, who actually said “Man fuck that book (The Outsiders) I’ve been going by Pony since before that asshole write that book”, didn’t kill anyone and ruin the show before we got back.

When we managed to wander back I caught up with Tim and, much to my surprise, was taken aback at his humility. We hung out for a while before the show and I got permission to shoot some pics of the show as well as met some pretty cool people including a dude who had bicycled from Tampa, FL to Houston, TX and had come to see the show. Tim deflected most of the compliments people had about his music preferring to talk about life and wander through random topics. It was more like meeting an old friend for the first time rather than meeting a rock star.

That all changed when Tim took the stage. “I’m Tim Barry and I’m from Richmond Virginia” While there was a lot of intensity about him before the show, especially when he talked about the incident where he broke his hand, that intensity took on a whole new form when he picked us guitar. It’s almost impossible to describe him on stage to someone who hasn’t seen him play. He obviously enjoys what he is doing but there is an underlying “fuck you” that’s just waiting to break through. It almost felt like I was watching someone about to fight with themselves. With the crowd yelling along with every song the energy in the club was something that must be experienced to be believed.

All of that was almost destroyed when the aforementioned asshole “Pony” got on stage between songs and began ranting about why he didn’t understand why Tim would tour with those pussies on the Revival Tour and he was out of their league and much worse. Being as that the Revival Tour is put on by one of Tim’s best friends and musicians on it with him are all friends of his you can imagine that this went over like a ton of bricks. But Tim restrained himself and “Pony’s” friends pretty much got him out the door, into his car, and told him to fuck off before coming in to finish the show. Tim handled it well even taking time to say he understood that the guy was trying to compliment him and just went about it in the exact wrong way. And then he started playing again…

There were beers, there were shots, and there was even an asshole but most of all Tim Barry took the stage, owned the crowd, and played like a man possessed. If you have seen him you know what I mean. The tense arms, the spittle flying, the random “fuck you” between verses or songs, and him leaving all the blood, sweat, and tears on the stage. Like many shows it was over way too soon. We all said our goodbyes and parted ways into that moist Texas air. I know I normally share stories about the bands I cover and whatnot but the stories I have from this show, outside of the show itself, aren’t the kind of stories a body is inclined to make public. They seem, as weird as it sounds, too intimate to shove into a few words and post on the intertubes. So you’ll have to be satisfied with this write up and the pics I took. Quoth Tim Barry: That’s all I got…Goodnight!

Feel free to stop by my site to see all the pics from the show. I need to crop a couple a little differently but they are all posted. And as usual if Virgil or Tim, or hell anyone, wants to use the pics to promote Tim then just drop me a line and they’re yours to use.

Tim Barry – Exit Wounds (Live)
Tim Barry – Wait At Milano (Live)
Tim Barry – Avoiding Catatonic Surrender (Live)

Tim Barry’s Home Page
Tim Barry @ Suburban Home Records

Hope y’all enjoy.

I understand that most of Tampa refuses to come to St. Petersburg for almost anything. Unless the Yankees or the Red Socks are in town, y’all prefer to hang out in your overly congested urban sprawl and joke about how St. Pete is where your grandparents live. In most cases I am fine with that. Keep your car and club culture over there and we’ll ride our bikes to live shows over here. However, this weekend was a great weekend live music in the ‘Burg which kicked off for me Saturday night when Gainesville’s Against Me! brought one of my musical idols, Tim Barry, to town, and I suspect no shortage of Tampanians bitched about having to cross the Howard Frankland.

A Tim Barry show is as much a motivational speaking engagement as it is a concert, where the message is working as little and living as much as possible, instead of making as much money as possible. Even as an opener and on reduced time, Tim managed to get that message across. The show was sold out and the crowd definitely wasn’t late arriving, so I was really expecting a lot of chatter from a largely indifferent crowd. Apparently I underestimated the overall taste of an Against Me! crowd, ’cause the bulk of the crowd was not only attentive but they also managed to sing along to every Barry chorus. Tim ran a set evenly weighted with classic songs and songs from his new album, 28th & Stonewall, living up to every expectation I had.

After Barry’s set I noticed the Fire Marshall standing at the entrance on my way to the merch desk. After getting my “Raisin’ Hell & Living Cheap” shirt, I asked what was up. Seemed the place was packed to max capacity and the only way anyone could get in was if someone left. Looking out the door, there was a 30+ deep line of people just hoping someone left. At that point I decided that it was more important to leave and let in one of those kids that actually cared about Against Me! than it was for me to listen to a band I’ve never heard at all in the name of “journalism”, so I went home.

You can see more pictures from the show over at After The Hours.

Tim Barry – Thing of The Past
Tim Barry – Wait At Milano

Sunday started with me feeling energized by Tim’s “work for yourself” message, so I got up and finished getting the fence up at my house, much to the happiness of my dogs. I even managed to finish early enough that I was able to get up to the rock and roll swap meet at Shackelton’s Folly in South St. Petersburg to catch Standback, Tailgunner Joe and Have Gun Will Travel. I wasn’t sure what the “swap meet” portion of the event was gonna consist of, but I was pretty impressed by the amount of vendors there. There were easily enough to keep you occupied between bands.

Standback has recently moved back to the Bay area from New Orleans, and their blues chops are as sharp as ever. Either they’ve added a horn player or I’ve totally forgotten about him from when they lived here, both are possible, but the band is as good as ever and St. Pete’s local music scene is better for them being back in it. Tailgunner Joe was next and they mostly played material indicative of their new direction. I have to be honest, I preferred the alt.country/rock sound they used to have, but the crowd seemed really receptive of them and a quick sampling of the crowd’s opinion suggests that they’re on a good path. Have Gun Will Travel took the stage next, with the grace and power we’ve come to expect from these guys. Mowing through a stellar collection of songs from their current album, Postcards From The Friendly City, they managed to captivate a crowd complete with women, men, toddlers and dogs. For me, the highlight of their set was “Sole of Our Shoes”, easily my favorite track of the new album.

You can see more pictures of Have Gun Will Travel than you can shake a stick at over on Elawgrrl’s Flickr page.

Have Gun Will Travel – Soles of Our Shoes
Have Gun Will Travel – Come, All Ye Sinners

All in all it was a great weekend complete with rock shows, whiskey drinks, physical labor and scooter rides. It’s good to live in St. Pete.

Tim Barry’s third studio effort, 28th & Stonewall, was released a couple of weeks ago and Romeo and I have been exchanging thoughts on it ever since. We did it through Google Wave, and now I am gonna attempt to assemble those thoughts into a concise and tight piece that does the album the justice it deserves, though perhaps “deserves” is too weak of a word. 28th and Stonewall, like Tim’s albums before and the man himself, doesn’t just sit back and take what’s coming. It steams forward, taking its respect and beating you into submission with raw power and honest emotion.

The first two tracks from the album that were released are “Thing of the Past” and “Memento Mori”. “Thing of the Past” is a highly produced, upbeat track about the excess and materialism of society and Tim’s aversion to it, while “Memento Mori” is a much more raw glimpse into the psyche of Tim, with a musical backing that firmly embraces Tim’s punk background. These two songs got me to thinking, and as I said to RSV, “I think Tim should just stop giving his albums titles. They should just be, ‘The Tao of Tim Barry Vol. 1 (2,3,4, etc.)’…They’re like self-help books put to music.” Romeo was in full agreement, adding, “I can see that. They are not ‘albums’ as much as they are sort of a journey through Tim’s mind at the time. With this one we start out with a juke and jive on “Thing of the Past”, slip into some damn serious anger with “Prosser’s Gabriel”, slide into N’awlins groove with “Will Travel”, head into some talking blues with “Downtown Blues“, and then close it out with the tongue-in-cheek “Bus Driver”. It’s more like a stream of consciousness session than an album in the traditional sense, but most of his are like that.” My understanding is that 28th and Stonewall was written and recorded in a 3 week stint while Tim was off the road. I think that style of immediacy really helps lend to the explosion of thoughts, anger, philosophy and emotion that have so defined Tim’s sound throughout the years.

While much about Tim’s new album follows his usual modus operandi, it is not without growth. As I touched on earlier, “Thing of the Past” is the most radio friendly (worthy!) song Tim’s ever put out, replete with a stellar production and catchy hooks, not to mention the addition of new instruments throughout the album such as…horns? What? Yup. The new Tim Barry album has horns. I find this especially amusing following all the scuttlebutt about the horns on the new Lucero album. During my conversation with RSV I said, “I mean, it won’t get nearly the run that the new Lucero did but, Hey Y’all…the new Tim Barry album has horns! I think the horns and strings in some of the tracks really do a lot to support the songs instead of (like with Lucero) becoming a focal point of the songs.” RSV agreed adding, “It’s more subtle than the Lucero addition, but it seems to stand out more. I think this is because Tim’s stuff was so much more stripped down than Lucero’s to begin with. It’s a bigger jump, but Tim did it with a whole damn lot of style. I mean, “Will Travel” is totally a N’awlin’s closing time song. It’s more than horns, though, it’s that delta blues piano, the way the horns are dirty and wandering, and the fullness of the whole addition.”

So this bears the question, is this the best Tim Barry album to date? Admittedly, I wasn’t a fan of Manchester when it came out. It really took seeing Tim live for me to “get it”, after which I went back and listened to Manchester again, falling head over heels in love, and ditto for his back catalog. But when it comes to asking if this is his “best” album to date, I keep coming up with “yes” and I really can’t envision an end of the year Top 5 list in this genre that wouldn’t have this album on it. However, when I asked RSV where he thought it slotted, he was a little more pensive, replying, “I am torn on it. It may be odd, but the top of my list right now is Laurel St. Demo, but 28th and Stonewall isn’t any less amazing. It may take some time, but I wouldn’t be shocked if it ended up my favorite Tim Barry album at least until the next one. I also don’t see a top 5 without this one in it either. It’s only February but everyone else has a long way to go to catch up with Tim. I have high hopes for some, but I think this album will be in rarefied company come December.”

Ranking within the Barry discography aside, there is little doubt that 28th & Stonewall is Essential Listening and a sure shot for a Top 5 album of the year slotting for me. Good luck with the other four slots, music world.

Tim Barry – Thing of the Past
Tim Barry – Memento Mori
Tim Barry – Downtown VCU

Tim Barry’s Official Site, Tim Barry on myspace, Buy 28th & Stonewall

I am pretty late on this one and for that I apologize. I was supposed to give these away back in December but life got crazy, the discs got buried in my computer room and next thing you know I’d plum forgotten about ‘em. Then, the other day I was cleaning up said computer room so I could put my beer fermenting cooler in it and I found them. That leads us up the now, where, as late as it may be, I am gonna give them away to y’all.

According to Virgil, he was inspired by a documentary he saw about mix tape culture in hip-hop and decided to put one together himself. It features bands from the Suburban Home records roster as well as artists that he’s a big fan of. And as he says on the cd cover:

Burn it, Share it, post it on your blog or send it out through Sendspace or Yousendit. If you find an artist you like please find their releases, check out their shows and tell others about them. Most of these artists are on small labels and need word of mouth to help spread the word about what they’re doing.

I can get behind that. So, here is a link to the entire cd for you to download, link to…whatever. I also, have 4 physical copies that I’ll give away with a ninebullets.net sticker to the first 4 people who email me their mailing address.

SUBURBAN HOME RECORDS Mixtape Volume 1, “Raising Hell & Living Cheap”

1. Tim Barry – Thing of the Past
2. Tim Barry – Shoulda Oughta
3. Tim Barry – Tacoma
4. Chuck Ragan – Don’t Say a Word
5. William Elliott Whitmore – Old Devils
6. Micah Schnabel – American Static
7. The Takers – Taker Easy
8. The Enablers – Whatever You Like (T.I. Cover)
9. Drive-By Truckers – Gravity’s Gone
10. Deer Tick – Straight into a Storm
11. Drag The River – Lost Angel Saloon
12. Josh Small – Fifteen Twenty Eye (demo)
13. Horse Feathers – Curse In the Weeds
14. Have Gun Will Travel – Salad Days
15. Joey Kneiser – Bruised Ribs
16. Portugal. The Man – People Say (Acoustic Version)
17. The Builders and The Butchers – Red Hands
18. Yesterday’s Ring – Quebec City Blues
19. Chad Price – Cursed
20. Lenny and the Piss Poor Boys – Lonely Days & Whiskey Nights
21. American War – Rhetoric
22. Jon Snodgrass – Wild One (Thin Lizzy Cover)
23. Lizzie Huffman – Tumblers and Tea
24. Langhorne Slim – I Love You, But Good Bye

Now, the more astute of you may have recognized the title of the mixtape, “Raising Hell and Living Cheap” as a line from Tim Barry’s song (and mixtape opening track), “Thing of the Past”.  “Thing of the Past” is also the opening track on Tim’s new album, 28th & Stonewall, which was released on January 26th. In a word, the new album is “great” and there will be a proper writeup for it on ninebullets next week but until then Virgil is allowing us to host a full-stream here on at the 9b. So check it out below, give the mixtape a listen and tell us what you think of it all!

Ninebullets.net fave, Tim Barry, managed to get into the studio earlier this year and record a new album which is set to be released physically and digitally on Jan. 26th by Suburban Home Records.

So mark your calendars, listen to the lead single “Thing of the Past” below and check out our Intro To Tim Barry RSV posted a few months back.

Check it out & as a side note, the track also features the exceptionally talented Josh Small on guitar.

This is a new song Tim played at the Suburban Home garage sale while I was up in Denver that really stuck with me. When I saw the quality of this recording of it knew I wanted to share it. It is based on the story of the slave blacksmith, Gabriel Prosser, who led a large slave rebellion in the Richmond, Virginia area in the summer of 1800. You can read about on wikipedia.

Stepping out of the legendary punk band Avail and into bare feet and the occasional tour bus Tim Barry has carved his name in the hearts of alt country fans everywhere. From the opening strains of Laurel Street Demos’ Idle Idylist to his presence on the Revival Tour, he is a powerhouse. His songs evoke the kind of emotion that Southerners grasp on a level not available to the rest of the world. From train songs to heartbreaks Tim covers the range. His influences range from punk to vintage country and his songwriting shows it. While I refer to his music as alt country it really transcends the genre. There is an honesty to this music that is rare in any genre. You can listen to a few of these songs and say “Mr. Barry your punk is showing” and not be off the mark and still on others you can hear the haunting melodies of the country greats. I don’t think any music fan won’t find something to like in Tim’s catalog.

I have missed him the last couple of times he has been through Houston and it is much to my dismay. I don’t have a single cool story to tell about this man. In fact I am pretty much a new fan. I had heard his name floating around amongst my musical peers but I had never listened to his solo music. I had been an Avail fan for a long while but for some reason I had skipped Tim’s solo career. Last year I got a copy of the Revival Tour’s stop in Denver and Dog Bumped was the first time I had ever heard Tim Barry. Since then I have procured all of his released music and it’s been in heavy rotation since I first bought Laurel Street Demos last year. Much like most of the other intros I have put up Tim is a Suburban Home Records Artist and that’s, at least around these parts, a mark in his favor. While his solo catalog is small compared to bands like Drag The River there is so much ground covered in the few LPs he has released that it never ceases to amaze. Choosing these tracks was no easy task and I did sit and ponder which tracks to include. I hope that I have done Mr. Barry justice in my choices.

(I did things a little differently on this set of tapes and included the albums in the ID3 tags so there isn’t a track to album list for each tape. You’ll just have to buy them all!)

Tape 1 Track Archive

Tape 2 is two tracks off of each of Avail’s full length albums. Tim’s method of delivery may have changed but these tracks will show you that from his humble punk rock beginnings to his quieter method these days the intensity hasn’t gone anywhere. I couldn’t choose a favorite part of Tim’s career if I tried. Although Pink Houses holds a special place in my heart. I probably listen to more of his solo stuff nowadays but that’s just where I am at. Also I’m old…and GET OFF MY LAWN!

Tape 2 Track Archive

Tim has a new album in the works so be sure to keep your eyes on Suburban Home Records for more details…(Editors Note: Or, you can just keep coming around here…we’ll let you know when it’s released…believe you me.)

Linkage:
Tim Barry’s Website
Tim Barry on Suburban Home
Tim Barry on MySpace

When Tim Barry’s 2007 release, Rivanna Junction, came out I wasn’t really digging it. It was descent enough but there wasn’t anything about it that caught my attention and after two listens it was moved to the cd rack to be forgotten. Then came the Revival Tour and even though I was there I used Tim’s set to grab some beers, use the bathroom, browse the merch table, etc. etc. Then a funny thing happened. The stage lost power during his set and instead of stopping he just walked down into the crowd and played a song acoustic while they restored power. Simple, I know, but that was enough for me to start paying attention to his set. I really enjoyed his between song banter but didn’t know the songs and the beer was starting to set up shop in my head and I ended up talking to my friend by the end of his set.

So goes the tragedy of my ignoring Tim Barry for all this time.

Indeed, even though his newest album, Manchester, had been sitting on my mantle for a week or so I didn’t think much about listening to it after the Revival Tour. No, it took collecting bootlegs of all the Revival Tour shows for me to realize how awesome Tim is. After collecting about 5 shows I told my wife, “I really think Tim Barry is starting to grow on me. He songs are so fucking sincere.” so I put his new album on the iPod and the rest is, as they say, history.

Tim Barry isn’t really the type of music you toss on for background music and it grabs you. Tim’s music wants you to sit down and listen to it. Hear the lyrics and feel them. If you do that you’ll know what I’ve recently learned: That Tim Barry and his new album are essential listening. In hind sight I went and pulled that long forgotten Rivanna Junction of the cd rack and discovered that it too is equally awesome.

My bad.

Tim Barry – 222
Tim Barry – Tacoma
Tim Barry – This November

Tim Barry’s Official Site, Tim Barry on myspace, Buy Manchester