Tuesday, October 27, 2009
barn burner + exclaim
 | |
 | |
 |  |
 Barn BurnerBangers By Sam Sutherland Holy shit. Rock'n'roll is awesome, right? Montreal's Barn Burner know this and Bangers is the proof. Like Torche, minus the drone, plus Black Flag, Barn Burner craft catchy, heavy songs that play like Cheap Trick's long-lost stab at punk rock credibility. "Holy Smokes" opens the proceedings with a bang, wasting no time in getting down to total guitar-shredding business, while songs like "The Long Arm Of The Law" drive forward with more hardcore energy and "whoa oh" action than classic rock aggression. All signs point to Barn Burner having a pretty fierce dedication to partying (check out "Beer Today, Bong Tomorrow"), and Bangers is the ideal soundtrack to the kind of Sabbath-drenched rager that like-minded folks will feel right at home at. (New Romance For Kids) | |
Friday, October 16, 2009
Art + Culture = Q+A For A+C With The Infamous Barn Burner
One thing I love about Barn Burner is how truly humble they are, when I asked for an interview about success, Nick kindda looked at me like I was crazy, really though he knew the unspoken truth of how incredibly talented they are and how the songs they have been writing are musical masterpieces which come along very rarely as often bands mimic sounds they are influenced by rather than creating one of their own. Having been able to cross those waters I believe the sky is the limit for these guys and as we are entering an age where space travel is becoming more accessible to the average human lord only where their talent will take them. They play Oct 22 2009 at the Cake Shop Records Bar and Cafe 152 Ludlow Street New York. Get there early as they are playing at 1:00 pm and the show is free. And for the guys in between them and Priestess, you better bring your A game or game faces cause these guys play to win, even when they are not competing. Heres what the boys had to say.
Were you in bands before?
Nick - Not really, ha!
Kevin - I was playing in bands since these fuckers were wearing dirty diapers! In other words, to many bands to name, none of which are worth naming.
Taylor - I've been in a bunch of other bands, most notably Black ships.
Marc - Thunder bay and Black ships
What's the hardest thing about your current level of success. As in you have a following, you tour consistently, play relentlessly in the city yet still have a regular job.
Our current level of "success" is anything to write home about (yet). but we are all stoked to be where we are at so far. We try to tour as much as we can, and we have played lots in the city, and our following seem like its growing, but we have a good way to go until we are running from hordes of babes and escaping out secret doors and using decoys to throw people off from following us. I really just want to be able to quit my job, and have this band be full time.
How did you make the jump from playing local shows to playing on tour? What the hardest part of being on tour?
Our first few shows were actually on the road (not including the 30 second set we played in my old loft). They key is having a reliable van like our old van, it was named Chubbs (RIP). Most of us have been in other bands and have already toured a lot. We've met many people along the way that help to book us shows when were starting out. The hardest part about being on tour varies from band to band and person to person. My biggest problem is having enough money to drink. Everyone has moments where they miss their babes, or their own beds, and its easy to get sick (and stay sick) on the road when you party a lot and don't eat right. But all of that shit is easy to deal with when you get to travel with your best bros everyday. Touring rips.
How much of you income(%) from your regular job is dedicated to your artistic endeavors?
- None of us really make that much money, but id say including our gear, van problems, touring and merch etc., easily 30-40%.
What advice do you have to younger bands who have not yet made it this far?
I don't think we are at an "advice" giving stage yet, but hell i will try. if you're gonna do it, love it. that's all I got.
Approximately how much do you believe you made off show, touring and Merchandise last year?
No matter how much money we have made so far, we are still decently in debt. we've made back lots of what we have put into this band, but it just goes back into the band for more stuff.
What keeps you going?
The might of the riff. Getting to travel, playing our own tunes to new bangers in new cities.
When do you believe you will have attained success?
There are many different things that could happen to think that we have attained success. One would be to make enough money on the road to not have to work at home in between tours.
When I get A LOT of free shit.
How many hours a week do you work your regular job? How many hours a week do you spend jamming, recording, writing and playing shows?
At this moment. 3 of us work full time (40hrs a week) at least, and one of us is in school full time (last semester). Total time spent on band stuff varies between 10 and 20 hours a week.
What is something you find yourself dealing with a artists you did not expect to find your self dealing with at this point?
Kevin- Still dealing with not making any money and not getting our peckers piped.
What was the last book you read?
Nick - just re-read MAD COWBOY by Howard Lyman, and just finished THE REASON I DRINK by David Cross
Kevin - The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon, the Devils by Dostoyevsky, and Sound of the Beast: the complete headbanging history of Heavy Metal by Ian Christe.
Marc- Kevin is gonna lend me this book about metal
What is the one other Montreal Band people reading this should check out if they haven't already?
Nick - PALS
Kevin - Trigger effect, the Castavets, MacGyver, and Mathmortician
Marc - vile intent
Lets say I heard a couple of your tracks on A+C or on your myspace page and really dug it how can I buy some merchandise?
Email us or come to our shows and bang it out with us! www.myspace.com/theinfamousbarnburner
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Barn Burner 09/2009 Loud Charts
!earshot charts - september2009 - top 20 loud |
| Rank | Artist | Title | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Augury * | Fragmentary Evidence | Goodfellow |
| 2 | Voivod * | Infini | Sonic Unyon |
| 3 | Sunn O))) | Monoliths & Dimensions | Southern Lord |
| 4 | Man Must Die | No Tolerance For Imperfection | Relapse |
| 5 | Barn Burner * | Bangers | New Romance For Kids |
Barn Burner: A mix of boozy metal and stoner rock from Montreal
The Concordian (Montreal)
Burning down the barn
Daniel Maxham
Issue date: 10/6/09
Section: Music
| |
|
But in fact they're a local band whose first full-length album, Bangers, released this past summer, mixes elements of boogie-rock and stoner-metal, to create the perfect soundtrack for double-fisting cans of Alberta's Best with your buddies.
Singer/guitarist Kevin Keaglesmith, talks about heavy riffs, touring Canada, and his Dad.
Q: On the Barn Burner MySpace page you describe the band as "riffs…just riffs." What are some of your all time favourite guitar riffs?
A: (After much deliberation) "Supernaut" by Black Sabbath is probably one of my favourites … "Kick Start My Heart" by Mötley Crue is pretty crucial, "Raining Blood," "Blackened" by Metallica, there's so many…
Q: Your song "Beer Today, Bong Tomorrow" strikes me as an apt description of your sound and style. Do you see Barn Burner as more of a beer drinking boogie-rock band or a doobie smoking stoner metal band?
A: The beer drinking part is there, but were sort of trying to get away from the boogie part a bit, we started sort of in the Thin Lizzy, Deep Purple '70s boogie rock style, but then we evolved more towards the heavy metal side, more along the lines of Iron Maiden. Di'Anno-era Iron Maiden influenced me in a big way, and then newer stuff like Mastodon and things like that, we're getting heavier and heavier as we go.
Q: Are you guys as debaucherous as your music suggests?
A: We're definitely a party band, we like to tour and all the things that go along with touring are things that we sort of live for, so yeah definitely debaucherous.
Q: You guys are going on a small tour of Eastern Canada and playing shows in some pretty small towns, what's it like playing somewhere like Coldbrook, Nova Scotia?
A: I haven't played too many small towns with Barn Burner yet, but in another band I played Coldbrook and it was awesome; it was an all ages show and there were a lot of kids in the town who don't see a lot of shows, so when there is a show, especially all ages, it's quite an event for them. They might even be better than a lot of our bigger city shows.
Q: I sort of imagine touring Canada being a fun, but gruelling experience, like in Hard Core Logo.
A: I haven't seen Hard Core Logo in years, but yeah Canada is a bit of a wasteland to tour through, it's a ton of driving and not a lot of places to actually play.
Q: Have you ever come close to reaching your breaking point, or have you been able to stay positive?
A: So far so good. If you have too many shitty shows in a row, your moral gets pretty low but if there's even somewhat of a response it always keeps you going. It's the days off that really stunt everybody and their enthusiasm because if you're not playing for a few days and you're broke and you're trying to figure out how to eat and where to stay and stuff like that, that's when the shit sort of hits the fan. But if you're playing every night you have an outlet, which is good.
Q: Does your mom like Barn Burner?
A: I don't think she thinks I have much of a future playing in go-nowhere rock 'n' roll bands, she'd like to see me become a plumber or something like that, she's not too pumped, but she lets me do my thing. But my dad, he's a big fan, he comes to my shows and brings my uncles and buys merchandise for the rest of the family, it's pretty ridiculous.
For more information on Barn Burner, visit: www.myspace.com/theinfamousbarnburner
