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Story One InterviewGuitarist Barny Barratt Talks About Influences And Album Plans
When Nottingham band Story One released their debut album for free online, excellent word-of-mouth created huge buzz for the follow-up. Guitarist Barny tells us more.
It's All In The MixWith a diverse mix of personalities from different cultures, it's perhaps no surprise that UK band Story One has such an eclectic sound. What is perhaps surprising is how well this mix gels together. With a sound almost like nothing you've ever heard before, they're a breath of fresh air in an occasionally stale genre. With deeply personal songs and an infectious live show, Story One are about to release their second album. We catch up with guitarist Barny to talk about everything from Gallic moodiness to unwanted boyfriends... Story One InterviewSuite101 You have a very eclectic mix of personnel as a band (Tom was born in Singapore, while Gerald is French). Do you feel this is reflected in your music? Barny I think the different backgrounds must reflect in our music. The band is at least a quarter French, so that's probably where our moodiness comes from (laughs). We've played a lot of shows in Paris itself, and we always seem to go down well there. In fact, it's actually where we were signed; a couple of English A&R guys came out, and for some reason, Jarvis Cocker (cult British singer-songwriter, ex of Pulp fame) was also there. The crowd that night was particularly good, and it was the right combination and led to a few deals being placed on the table. Suite Story One has a very distinctive sound (as well as violins, you can also hear mandolins and glockenspiels in their songs). Is this a natural result of your backgrounds, or did you deliberately set out to differentiate your sound in this way? Barny On the first album, the stand out instrument is definitely the violin, but we never set out to use these less popular instruments as gimmicks. The violin is Tom's instrument, just as guitar is mine. Therefore, it was a natural process that when we met, we'd write the songs with these instruments in mind - the violin has always been an integral piece of our song writing. With any of the other instruments we've used, it's been exactly the same – the glockenspiel has such a beautiful sound. In fact, we may make our next album just one big glockenspiel orchestra! (laughs) Suite Your songs can be very personal, such as Saving Grace. What is the inspiration behind them? Barny Tom writes all the lyrics, and Saving Grace is clearly an extremely personal song, as the story behind it attests to. We always talk to people who get in touch with us, whether through MySpace or other, and there was this one particular girl called Grace. She seemed a little unhappy in her life and at work, and although we kept in touch with her, it was obvious that she needed professional help. Then one day, one of the messages we sent to her via MySpace was returned, saying that the account no longer existed. It made us realise how artificial online friendships and relationships are. The song is a bigger view on the MySpace generation, although for the video, we wanted the message to be more obvious, hence why we used Grace. Suite How did the concept for the Saving Grace videos come about? (there are three separate versions on the band's website, each from a different point of view) Barny The video was originally going to incorporate the actress who plays Grace, ourselves and some footage of online websites like MySpace and You Tube. However, once we had shot the video, we found that the images of Grace on her own had a lot more impact than anything else, so we decided to keep it as it was. We then shot another video of ourselves performing the track, and then combined the two to make a third, split-screen one. It was interesting to see people understanding more about the story as we released each version. Suite The new album is named after a Joseph Conrad novel. Are there any other authors that inspire your work? Barny Joseph Conrad is an amazing author, and The Shadow Line is a great concept. It's about the moment, which is obviously blurred, where you cross over from youth to maturity. It's an unconscious movement and can only really be appreciated and seen with hindsight. I think that, indirectly at least, everything we read influences us. Authors that we have been into recently include Salman Rushdie, Jack Kerouac and Karuki Murakami. Suite With your last release, you gave the whole album away as a gift via MySpace and your website. What was the reasoning behind this? Barny Once the album was finished, we were really keen to move onto the next one, as we had so many ideas floating around. Instead of the usual single / promotion / tour route, we asked our label if they would put the album online and simply let people download it. We felt it was a good album and that word-of-mouth might get the album heard by more people than a normal marketing campaign would have. We also felt that our next album would be significantly better and this would generate interest in it. We're pretty lucky in that we have a forward-thinking label that was 100% behind us on this idea. Suite With that release and free giveaway, you also started a ‘swap shop’ for unwanted gifts. What was the strangest swap you were proposed or received? Barny I think the strangest proposal was an ex-boyfriend that a girl wanted to get rid of. As we're an all-male band, none of us were really interested… (laughs) Suite You seem to enjoy a genuine camaraderie within the band (the band wrote each other's highly entertaining bios). Do you feel this is more important with regards to both longevity and creativity, in this age of the manufactured artists? Barny Oh yeah, definitely. Our friendship is crucial to us; we never started out as a band, we were mates who wanted to play music together. I don't understand how bands that aren't friends can even function. It definitely helps us being friends in our song writing, as we're all in this together and being friends allows us to make and take criticism easier. We're all pretty honest with each other and at the end of the day, we all want the same thing – the best songs. Obviously it's impossible to tell, but I hope that helps us with any longevity we may have… Suite Your official website is extremely interactive. Do you feel this is important for fans to feel involved? Barny I think nowadays everything needs to be interactive or people just get bored. Although it is difficult to continually come up with new things to keep everyone interested, I think our fans definitely appreciate having input and feeling that they are somehow involved and part of a movement with us. Suite You recently covered a Grandaddy song (AM 180 from the album Under The Eastern Freeway). Are there any other artists whose songs you’d like to re-interpret?? Barny It's difficult with covers, since generally you can never make a song better than the original. All we try and do is show a song from a different angle. We've covered Bjork and Sebastian Tellier before, and I definitely feel a Flaming Lips song would make an interesting cover… Suite You seem to encourage your fans to help you with your live set-lists. How would you describe the Story One live experience? Barny We are still learning when it comes to our live shows, although I'd like to think we're continuously progressing. I would say that live is where you see us at our most raw, and probably most exciting Suite With the news that the White Stripes have left their label in North America and signed to Warner Bros, do you feel bands like yourselves can still survive and prosper on an independent label? Barny In a lot of ways, I think indie labels are a lot healthier for bands. Our label has been very accommodating to us, and basically let us get on with our music and be the band we want to be. I don't think you'd get this kind of freedom on a major label. It might mean it takes us longer to get where we want to be, but in the long run, I think our development along the way will benefit us. Suite What has it been like working with Chris Potter? (Chris Potter has worked with the likes of The Rolling Stones, The Verve and Killing Joke) Barny Chris is a brilliant producer! He made it so easy for us to make exactly the kind of album we wanted to make. The most amazing thing about him is that he understands exactly what you are talking about, in terms of sounds and moods, even when we probably don't understand ourselves! (laughs) It would be great to work with him again Suite What can Story One’s fans expect from the new album? Do you feel it can bring in a newer section of fans? Barny I think our new album is a lot more contemporary and pertinent to today. It's also a lot more cohesive – it was written over a period of 6 months, as opposed to the 5-year gestation period of our debut. Hopefully that should come through on the record and make it appeal to a much wider audience. Suite With the afore-mentioned Joseph Conrad as an inspiration behind the album’s title, should we expect a concept-style release from Story One anytime in the future? Barny I think that the whole theme of concept albums comes about subconsciously, at least initially, and certainly the best ones do. I think if you actually set out to write a concept album, it feels contrived. So, maybe… Suite Along with promoting the new album, do you have any other plans for the next 12 months? Barny For the time being, we're just going to really focus on the new record, and its promotion. We are so pleased with the way it's turned out and we really want to get behind it and give it the best chance possible to succeed. Obviously we're continuously writing too, so hopefully our third album won't be too far off either… Suite If you had one word or phrase to describe Story One to a complete novice of your music, what would it be? Barny Thanks for saving the hardest question for last! (laughs) Errr... fresh!
The copyright of the article Story One Interview in Indie Music is owned by Danny Brown. Permission to republish Story One Interview in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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