Barbara Talk New Music, Musical Influences And More

May 23, 2024 | Interviews

Words by Glenn Sargeant

Photo Credit: Supplied By PR

Barbara are a baroque-pop duo from Brighton, namely brothers Henry & John Tydeman. Their latest ‘Happy Days’ EP is out now and they will embark on a headline November 2024 UK Tour. They chatted to us about their new music, musical influences and more:

 Who is in The BARBARA what do they play?

A baroque-pop group consisting of brothers Henry (keys) & John Tydeman (vocals). Assisted by wonderfully talented Jack Hosgood (bass), Dean Llewellyn (guitar) and Lawrie Miller (drums). 
 
You have your new single ‘Mein Fräulein’ out now. What was the story/inspiration behind the track?
We love telling stories in songs, with characters and narrative, and so this is kind of a quirky European love story with different sections to mark the different stages of the romance, like different chapters in a book. 
 
Who wrote the new single and was it a difficult song to write?
John came up with the central idea and most of the lyrics, and we then sat together at the piano finessing it and trying to make the different bits fit together! We are greatly inspired by the Lemon Twigs and wanted to do something a bit like them, in that we wanted the song to be full of surprises, and twists and turns, not following a conventional pop structure.                                                                                                                                          
What is your earliest musical memory?
Probably singing songs about Christmas at school. Or Mum and Dad’s Bananarama CDs. 
 
Who are some of your musical influences?
We love ’70s bands like 10cc and artists like Dean Friedman, but also Prefab Sprout, Randy Newman, ELO, The Kinks… And we like to say that we are influenced as much by TV comedy as we are by musicians. We’ve always loved the style and charisma of people like Tom Baker and Rik Mayall and we try to bring some of that to our live shows. 
 
What two things do you hope to have achieved once you have left the stage?
That we’ve played all the songs and in the right order! And now a serious answer: that there is some number of people who still choose to put on aBarbarasong now and then if they want cheering up. That’ll make us happy. 
 
Do you have any favoured stage instruments, effects, pedals, microphones etc?
This is really one for the proper musicians in the group, Jack, Lawrie & Dean. I [Henry] love my Korg SV2 keyboard. But I still have to fold up a piece of paper to put under one of the legs to stop it wobbling! We’d be nothing without that piece of paper.
 
Where is your hometown and could you please describe it in five words? 
Brighton: Buzzing, Bright, Bold; a little showy but basically glorious. 
 
Do you have any plans for live shows in Europe/UK in 2024?
Yes! We supported Paul Weller on his UK tour in April, and then there are bound to be some headline shows of our own later in the year… Watch this space! 
 
Which of your tracks hear you at your a) happiest, b) angriest and c) most reflective?
a) ‘Rainy Days in June’ is about getting away from the world and reading a good old book, so this is a kind of happiness I suppose!
b) I don’t know if there’s much real anger in any of our songs. ‘Don’t Send Me Messages’ is a sort of desperate yelp at the awfulness of social media…
c) ‘A Perishing of Cherished Things’, I think: this is another story-in-a-song, and the characters reflect a little sadly on how their lives are sort of fizzling out.
 
How do you look after your voices?
 
John drinks strange tea and hums into straws before he goes onstage. Apparently, this works!
 
Who created/designed the single artwork?
 
Valentina Misel put together the brilliant artwork for the latest single. You can find her and her work on Instagram.
 
Do you have any plans to release anymore new music in addition to the new single? 
Yes! We have a new EP called ‘Happy Days!’ which oi out now. 
 
What makes BARBARA happy and what makes you unhappy?
 
We are probably happiest either on stage or in that moment when our wonderful producer Paul Steel has just sent us a first mix of one of our songs. He is such an important part of what we’re doing and his production and arrangement of our songs is always something special. 
 
There’s nothing much unhappy about being in Barbara! Although John would say that carrying the heavy kit around sometimes hurts his back. He should spend more time in the gym. 

Feature Image Photo Credit: Supplied By PR

Barbara’s latest ‘Happy Days’ EP is out now on CD and Digitally.

To purchase and stream the EP visit: https://barbara.hearnow.com/happy-days/ 

Official LinkTree here: https://linktr.ee/barbaratheband 

In addition, Barbara will embark on a headline November 2024 UK Tour. Tickets are onsale now here: https://www.barbaratheband.com/get-tickets 

For more information visit their official website here: https://www.barbaratheband.com/