“Honestly…everybody can learn to be fantastic, everybody has a unique voice that they can learn to use.”
That’s the advice blues-rocker Barns Courtney has for aspiring musicians that he shares during his in-studio interview with me. With his latest single “99” topping charts and a world tour, we had a lot to catch up on. Barns and I cover his music, his love of live performances, and what’s next (a new album soon, we hope) ahead of his KFOG Studio Session (which you can check out here). Catch the interview with the “Glitter & Gold” singer below.
No Name: It’s been a year since your last record (The Attractions of Youth). Walk me through the most memorable events of the last twelve months.
Barns Courtney: I think my favorite period of the last twelve months was when I broke my foot at Summerfest and I didn’t know what to do. I had a gig at Lolapalooza and I was floored because nobody knew who I was at that festival and I had to put on a show that’s going to hold people’s attention when they don’t even know my music.
I got on the phone with my manager and he was like, “Now Barns, are you sure you want a hospital bed and wear a gown and have a nurse have you push you around the stage?” I was like, “hell ya!” So we did this thing – and those gigs were so much fun.
NN: You have an extremely hard work ethic.
BC: You say that…I play a lot of video games. I love Zelda. I’m lucky that I get bored very easily and I get down very easily when things aren’t exciting. So I just love playing gigs, I love that connection with the audience. My philosophy is that everything we do as humans is about connection with other people, and for me, that is the ultimate way to experience that. Because for a moment, you and all these thousands of people, you’re not strangers anymore. It’s the power of music. And you come off stage and people want to touch that but they don’t realize that the moment that you step off the stage, you’re just two strangers again, and the magic is gone.
You once tweeted “Sometimes I think I hate London. Then I remember that I haven’t left the house for three days and have eaten nothing but chocolate.”
I am in a constant battle, and I’m a guy who does things to the extreme. So I’m either on super-sexy man diet, going to the gym every day, eating nothing but kale and salmon, or I’m eating four packs of Oreos in the space of twenty minutes and not leaving my bed for 72-hours.
“99” and “Good Thing” are out now…when can we expect more new music?
I’ve written a bunch of tunes. I’ve just been trying to balance it all with touring. It’s great that I have this new single so I out on the road supporting that, and as soon as I have a moment, I’m going to go in and finish everything.
Catch the full interview below, plus catch bonus material with Cameron from Mohinders, a local San Francisco city slipper company.