Barns Courtney live on The Preston & Steve Show. We had too much fun in studio with Barns! Between an 8 Bit song pop quiz and endless jokes we were able to sneak in a live performance of “99” and “Fire”
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00:00MMR's Dreamstream Concert Series.
00:0493.3 WMMR. Everything that Rocks.
00:08We love making new friends, meeting new people, and that's what we're about to do right now.
00:12And maybe turn you on to some new music. And the best way to do that is to have it played live.
00:16In my personal opinion, I think. That's when I really am impressed.
00:20And I've sampled just a little bit of this gentleman's music, and I'm excited to hear more about it.
00:24He is playing tonight at the Fillmore. Please welcome to our studio Mr. Barnes Courtney.
00:28Good morning, Barnes.
00:30Good morning. How are you doing?
00:32We're doing good, man. Thanks for coming in today.
00:34Thanks for having me. This place is fancy.
00:36We try.
00:38Not by your own doing. They just gave it to us.
00:40You have so many lights.
00:42Are you guys hot in here?
00:44We wanted to make you feel, you know, you love being on stage.
00:46I was reading you love touring.
00:48It never gets old to you.
00:50No, no. I also love that you have an enormous 10x10 picture of me on the wall.
00:54Just as I request.
00:56I'm not doing the interview unless there's an enormous photograph of my face.
01:00Is everyone looking at him?
01:02Everyone, please look at the picture, but don't look at Barnes directly in the eyes.
01:06Do you want us to bring the lights down?
01:08Do you want us to set the mood for you? Because we can do that.
01:10That sounds pretty saucy.
01:12Alright.
01:13Oh, you guys are actually doing it.
01:14We can do everything.
01:16There's so much power in here.
01:18We should get this budget.
01:20Listen, Barnes, I'm excited to become more familiar with your music.
01:24As I said at the top, I am not.
01:26But three things that I know you can do.
01:28You can sing, you can play, and you can write.
01:30And I'm very impressed with your vocal capability.
01:33So I was reading up a little bit on you.
01:35And I had read, I think it was where, as a younger musician, you wanted to really try to have a high range when you sang.
01:42But you felt that you were kind of forcing it.
01:44And then you settled into what was more natural to you.
01:47Yeah.
01:48Well, I mean, from a young age, my father used to lock me in the coal shed.
01:51Until I could produce notes of a certain pitch.
01:54So that I could sing for haitneys on the streets of Ipswich, where I spent my youth.
01:58Wow.
01:59Really?
02:00There's a movie in there.
02:01Yeah.
02:02Sorry, that's a complete lie.
02:03Really?
02:06Yeah, I mean, I was...
02:07You were the youngest of 15.
02:09It was very difficult.
02:11My father was a cold and calculated man.
02:14He used to brush my hair from the left-hand side every morning as he would mutter insults under his breath.
02:20Wow.
02:22I like you.
02:23That's just a tragic lie.
02:24I like you a lot.
02:25It's a tragic tale that really led to my music.
02:28Oh, my God.
02:29What an inspiring story.
02:30There's a movie from Disney in this.
02:32Yes.
02:33Anyway, where'd...
02:34Never responded to my emails.
02:36Sorry.
02:37Originally, you're from London?
02:38I'm from just outside Aylesbury, but I grew up in Seattle, so I missed out on the sexy accent.
02:43Oh, yeah.
02:44I can put it on, though, if I need to.
02:45But you have an appreciation of coffee.
02:47I do.
02:48I do like coffee.
02:49I like being awake and cognizant of the world.
02:51We're going to London next week.
02:53We're doing our show from there.
02:54And for most of us, it's a first time in London.
02:57And do you ever go back?
02:58I mean, do you still have family there?
02:59No, I'm not allowed back in London.
03:00You're not allowed back in London.
03:01Not since the accident, no.
03:02Oh, man.
03:03I mean, but I don't want to talk about it here, you know.
03:05I understand.
03:06You burned down the Courtney estate.
03:07We don't want to pry.
03:08Yeah.
03:09They are not fans of me in the Courtney Manor anymore.
03:12Courtney Manor.
03:14Courtney Manor.
03:15And on the fourth day, on the fifth moon, young Barnabas did burn down the Courtney Manor.
03:22Barnabas.
03:23And the stuffed giraffes were ruined.
03:25All the children cried in their nightgowns.
03:29Wow.
03:30I love it.
03:31This is fantastic.
03:32And then he fled to Seattle.
03:33Yeah.
03:34Okay.
03:35I don't even know where to go.
03:36To be honest, I've really digressed away from...
03:39It's all good.
03:40I appreciate it.
03:41Some people don't say anything.
03:42I love this stream of consciousness that we're getting from you.
03:44We'll take this.
03:45Absolutely.
03:46You actually have a connection to our last guest, Nikki Glaser, the comedian who was in
03:49here earlier.
03:50She was on Dancing with the Stars.
03:52One of your songs made it onto the show.
03:55Was that this season?
03:56I saw that.
03:57Tom posted it on Facebook.
03:58I was like, oh, my God.
03:59Why didn't I think to have two enormous muscular men clapping in time in my music video?
04:04I was just walking down the street playing an acoustic guitar.
04:07I was like looking at that thinking, God, that is very, very arousing.
04:11And I need to think about that more in my future work.
04:14So that'll be the muse for you from now on Muscular Men Dancing.
04:17Yeah.
04:18You know, I feel like I've really turned a corner in my career.
04:20That's very modern, what I do now.
04:22It's pushing boundaries.
04:23We love it.
04:24It definitely is.
04:25Well, I want people to hear your voice.
04:27I want them to hear you sing and play.
04:30And by the way, you have an accompaniment here.
04:32This is Agam is your keyboard player.
04:34This is Agam.
04:35I don't actually know him, but he seemed pretty nice.
04:40Okay.
04:41He's got his own Casio.
04:42Right.
04:43What are you guys going to play for us?
04:45I'm going to play 99, which is my new single, Shameless Plug, Shameless Plug.
04:50And I guess I'll just play it now.
04:52I'll introduce you.
04:53Sorry.
04:54You were wrestling off for a moment.
04:55I'm so used to introducing myself.
04:57No, no, no, no, no.
04:59He'll be playing tonight, ladies and gentlemen, at the Fillmore.
05:03And this is 99 from Barnes Courtney on MMR.
05:07I'm strong, young and dumb.
05:12Yeah, we had no fear.
05:14Way back when we said we'd both be millionaires.
05:19Now those days are over and we're all ghosts.
05:28We used to sleep all day, talk all night, stay up by the TV light.
05:33Oh, when your baby teeth ain't milky white.
05:40Wipe the stardust from your eyes.
05:42Oh, come on, love will be just fine.
05:49We're gonna live just like it's 1999.
05:52In 1999.
05:53In 1999.
05:54In 1999.
05:55In 1999.
05:56In 1999.
05:57In 1999.
05:58In 1999.
05:59In 1999.
06:00In 1999.
06:01In 1999.
06:02In 1999.
06:03In 1999.
06:04In 1999.
06:05In 1999.
06:06Back then we were trading cards behind the swings.
06:07Oh no, now it's money, gold and diamond rings.
06:09In 1999.
06:10In 1999.
06:11In 1999.
06:12In 1999.
06:13Back then we were trading cards behind the swings.
06:16Oh no, now it's money, gold and diamond rings.
06:21Now those days are over and we're all ghosts.
06:26We used to sleep all day, talk all night, stay up by the TV light.
06:39Oh.
06:40Oh, when your baby teeth ain't milky white.
06:43Wipe the stardust from your eyes.
06:45Oh.
06:46Oh.
07:02We said come on, love will be just fine.
07:05We're gonna live just like it's 1999.
07:08In 1999.
07:131999 oh oh no where does it go well whatever fill your body up with chemicals oh oh no
07:25kaleidoscopes where would ever live in better in oh in 1990 in 1999
07:52yeah yeah wow that's awesome you're just joining us that is barnes courtney who's going to be playing
08:03at the uh philmore tonight tickets available at the philmore philly.com so while you were playing
08:09that song i spoke to casey over here our producer uh barnes because you were listening to me but
08:14that's cool i was listening but i had to take a moment it's fine it's fine you gotta pay your
08:21dues i get it i get it no i was listening to the keyboard sound that agam was playing and we play
08:27a game here called name that song in eight bits and it uses that particular eight bit uh video game
08:34sound effects yeah do you want to play uh one real quick and see if you can uh he should be able to
08:39hear everything we play in the headphones right yeah all right i'm gonna play a song for you see
08:42if you can identify what this is i didn't know this would be a test it's a test are you ready i'm ready
08:47here we go
08:47she's a good man
08:55he's a pro man
08:57congratulations what a dude tom petty yeah you have just won yourself a digital download of ant-man
09:04and the wasp it's available no way it's all coming up boxy
09:10let's try another one all right there's more yeah let's try another one here we go listen
09:17you know it
09:23oh okay yeah
09:26i'm gonna be i'm gonna be the man who's coming home to you
09:31i'm really ginger and i've got a brother here and he's also equally as ginger as me
09:38okay so what do we have for him we've got a case of yards rival ipa
09:42right now am i actually winning is this real we'll give it to you just being sarcastic right
09:47now this is actually the citizen citizenship test you never took so
09:51can we do one more one more yes which one should we uh you know what the one that you
09:56have i love okay all right let's try this last one uh for barnes
09:59oh i know this song
10:06oh i should have just quit while i was ahead i know i know the tune but i can't place my brain
10:14yeah i'll give you the artist hold on
10:16the melody uh should be kicking in
10:21right here i think here we go i got i got nothing
10:26don't know that one i know it's it's very good song
10:32yeah peter gabriel
10:34the name of the song is salisbury hill
10:38oh god i can't believe i can't believe i didn't get peter gabriel
10:42i got the pretenders but i didn't get peter gabriel
10:45uh that's incorrect i'm sorry barn you didn't get it right
10:49we're gonna have to take back the uh download of the beer
10:51oh man what was i gonna win
10:53that was like a prius wasn't it
10:54yeah no that was it was yeah and uh unfortunately i can't believe i know that song
11:02uh that's all right it's because you brought me in here like early in the morning you did it
11:07deliberately didn't you just to shame me in front of all these people on the radio
11:10you didn't get a chance to you know get ready for it and practice
11:13i'm a musician i'm not meant to be up at these hours
11:15i understand that fundamentally against our dna
11:18i wanted to ask you about uh writing because i was reading an article in rolling stone about you
11:23that said uh you have a difficult writing while you're uh you have a difficult time writing when
11:27you're happy it's better when there are things going on in your life that's why i pay a troop of
11:33of men to sort of beat me consistently in the studio you want to be in a constant state of misery
11:37yeah exactly blunt objects mainly uh things they find outside in the street uh sticks um stones
11:44yeah no but the doorknobs in a sack
11:48doorknobs in a sack
11:50to keep me on my toes you know i don't want to get too comfortable
11:54oranges in a sock
11:56yeah it's surprising that you're going with doorknobs instead of something a little bit more
11:59malleable
12:00i don't tell them how to do their job okay
12:03hey we're the professional beaters let us do what we do
12:07are you an only child me yeah no what makes you say that
12:11because only childs are usually weird
12:12no i think i was dropped a lot as a baby
12:19oh okay i was just trying to get the root of it all
12:21no you got you have a great sense of humor
12:23that's what i keep telling everybody
12:24does that help things uh keep things light when you're on the road you just try to have a good time
12:30it does sort of quell the uh crippling depression that plagued me from a young age
12:34i didn't know we were going to bring that up for this interview
12:36i'm sorry yeah
12:37well we're just trying to get you
12:38maybe it's inspiring you to write a new song
12:41not possibly
12:43okay
12:43no
12:43all right so what's uh what's another song you're going to play for us this one
12:46wait i have to play two
12:47yes it's two now do it
12:49i got the one i thought that was the deal
12:50we got a sack of doorknobs right out there ready to go
12:52all right uh i'll play fire
12:55all right fire
12:56which is a song of mine
12:57that i wrote
12:58okay
12:59with my mind
13:00ladies and gentlemen once again this is barnes courtney
13:06yeah
13:07lonely shadows following me
13:13lonely ghosts come a-calling
13:16lonely voices talking to me
13:21now i'm gone
13:23i'm gone
13:24i'm gone
13:25my mother told me son let it be sold my soul to the calling sold my soul to sweet melody
13:38now i'm gone
13:39i'm gone
13:40i'm gone
13:40i'm gone
13:41i'm gone
13:42i'm gone
13:42i'm gone
13:43i'm gone
13:43lord give me that fire
13:45lord give me that fire
13:51lord give me that fire
13:53burn burn burn burn
13:57oh a thousand faces staring at me
14:04thousand times i'm gone
14:05i'm gone
14:07i'm gone
14:09i'm gone
14:11i'm gone
14:13i'm gone
14:13i'm gone
14:14i'm gone
14:14i'm gone
14:15i'm gone
14:16my mother told me son let it be sold my soul to the calling sold my soul to sweet melody
14:29now i'm gone
14:30i'm gone
14:31i'm gone
14:32i'm gone
14:33now i'm gone
14:34now i'm gone
14:35now i'm gone
14:36now i'm gone
14:37now i'm gone
14:38now i'm gone
14:39now i'm gone
14:40now i'm gone
14:41now i'm gone
14:42now i'm gone
14:43now i'm gone
14:44now i'm gone
14:45now i'm gone
14:46now i'm gone
14:47Lord give me that fire
14:48Lord give me that fire
14:49Lord give me that fire
14:50Lord give me that fire
14:51Lord give me that fire
14:52Lord give me that fire
14:53Lord give me that fire
14:54Lord give me that fire
14:56Calling my name out
15:01Lost in the fire
15:04Virginia blood is calling
15:12Calling my name out
15:17Lost in the fire
15:20Lord, give me that fire
15:24Lord, give me that fire
15:32Burn, burn, burn
15:36Lord, give me that fire
15:40Lord, give me that fire
15:45Burn, burn, burn
15:54Yeah, man. Awesome. Wow. Fire. Such a great sound. Barnes-Portney, who is in our studio, and I didn't talk once during your performance.
16:06Very nice of you. Thank you. Well, you won us over with the first song. We figured we'd be listening to the full second one. Yeah, yeah. He got my attention. By the way, I got a text that says, thank you. Now I have to go home and change my panties.
16:20Wow. That was me.
16:22Wow, you can text and play at the same time. Thanks for finally replying to my messages. Sending you them for over 12 months now. How long have you been? Has this current tour been underway? Have you been doing the long haul?
16:37Yeah, yeah. I've been doing this for two weeks now with the Wombats. Okay. It's been wonderful. That's excellent. I like the Wombats. Lemon to a Knife Fight is a really, really good song that me and my son are into right now. So congratulations on the tour. I actually have a deep-seated hatred for the Wombats.
16:56This whole thing is an elaborate ruse so that I can get close to them and ruin them from the inside out.
17:02So I had talked to you briefly before the interview about another artist named Courtney Barnett, and I wasn't sure if people mistake the two, you and her, by any chance.
17:14Oh, man. Literally all the time I get tagged like, Courtney Barnett, so amazing tonight. Courtney Barnett, isn't she incredible? What a lyrical genius is Courtney Barnett. What a wonderful diamond of our generation is Courtney Barnett.
17:26Yeah, but I mean, it's free publicity for me because they've actually tagged me in all the pictures, so people will be like, I really got to check this Barnes-Courtney guy out.
17:36It's roundabout praise, really. I mean, like, you're getting the praise. It's just not for you.
17:40She does the work, and I receive all of the accolades. But I am okay with that.
17:44It's brilliant, actually.
17:45Have you ever accidentally walked up next to a guy who thought you were Courtney Barnett?
17:51So tender.
17:51Yeah, we're getting married next month.
17:52I felt too awkward to say anything about it.
17:55I'm sorry, dude. You seem so into it, I didn't want to throw you.
17:58Yeah, I don't know. I mean, you know, he's a nice man.
18:00Nice guy. He just wrote a letter about his panties.
18:03Yeah.
18:03Well, the show is tonight at 8 o'clock at the Fillmore, and great music already, but you won us over with your personality,
18:11so we want to send as many people out as possible to see you tonight.
18:15And Barnes, come back around and see us again when you're back in town, okay?
18:17I'll think about it.
18:18Yeah, it's a great show.
18:21That's Barnes-Courtney.
18:22Yeah!
18:22Thank you so much, Ben.
18:25MMR's Dream Stream Concert Series.
18:2993.3 WMMR.
18:31Everything that rocks.