The Barr Brothers just released their debut album and it’s one of the best indie folk albums of 2011. Brad and Andrew Barr moved from Boston to Montreal in 2005 and engrossed themselves in the musical renaissance of the city. They teamed up with Sarah Page and Andres Vial to create their self-titled recording that was released this past September.
The path they blazed while creating this record is somewhat unconventional. The Barr Brothers recorded the album themselves in a make-shift recording studio built from scratch. I should mention that this recording studio was in a converted boiler room, in the basement of a building at the foot of Mount Royal.
Originally the band was in talks with Howard Bilerman (recording engineer on Arcade Fire’s Funeral), and fellow Montreal musician Little Scream, to create an artist owned co-op record label to release both their records. Then they pitched family and friends with a kickstarter style fundraiser, before finishing the album. After some touring and shopping the album around, they finally found a home with Secret City Records.
The band recently played several shows for the CMJ Music Festival, and is currently on tour across North America to promote their new album. I sat down with the band after their last show at the Rockwood Music Hall, on the final night of CMJ.
JW: How long was the process of making this record? Did it start before the make-shift recording studio in the boiler room?
Brad Barr: I had most of the songs written, at least 75 percent before we started building our studio. And the studio just came together little by little, and so did the recording of it. We recorded a song here and there, and added to it. It took about three and a half years to record it all. We weren’t trying to make a record at the time. We were just learning how to engineer, having fun recording, seeing what the songs needed. It was just an ongoing process of recording, tweaking things, mixing and editing. It was a learning process, that didn’t have an end in sight when it started. It wasn’t until the Low Anthem asked us to do a little tour with them in 2010 that we decided to compile our favorite tracks together and make this record.
Andrew: It was kind of like a clubhouse. Elizabeth Powell from Land of Talk, she’d be around and sing a part on the record. The Low Anthem came to town. We went over there after a show, had some drinks, and they ended up playing on the record.
Brad: It was really the first time we had our own space and were doing it ourselves. I can’t recommend it enough. We were really limited. We didn’t have any nice equipment. Our skills were pretty limited. But I think it’s a testament to having the time, a relaxed atmosphere, patience, and that kind of freedom to build it and play with it that led it to be what we wanted it to be, and not something else.
Andrew: Unfortunately it might be a rare thing that you make a record without knowing that you’re actually making a record. It’s hard for us to re-create again, because it just happened.
JW: How has the CMJ experience been for you and the band, and are there any noticeable differences in crowds and how you’ve been received in NYC since your show last month at the Mercury Lounge?
Brad: It’s hard to say.
Andrew: I noticed some people singing along tonight, which felt nice. It’s great to play a show and feel like there are people discovering you, but it also allows you to relax a little when people know the music and they enjoy it on that level. I guess that’s more of what I felt this time around.
Brad: It’s good to play New York often. We really enjoy playing here, and when you have the New York audience behind you, it’s an empowered feeling.
JW: What was your favorite show you played during CMJ?
Brad: Tonight was my favorite, because we had time.
Andrew: That was probably the longest set anybody ever played at CMJ. The band after us cancelled so we actually got to play seventy-five minutes. Just relax.
JW: The Montreal Mirror, with a big readership, recently did a cover story on the band. You’ve played POP Montreal and the Osheaga festival. How has it been touring and playing in the US, and growing your fan-base on this side of the border?
Brad: A little slower, but…
Andrew: We’ve been lucky with the CBC. Canada is a little more cross-national with their media, so when someone like the CBC supports your music, the whole country resonates with it. That makes things a lot easier to grow and develop career-wise. But Montreal is our hometown, so that makes things easier as well. But other than this, I feel that New York and Toronto have been developing at the same pace.
Brad: This tour will be the first tour where we’ve headed out on the road for a long period of time. We have a bit more publicity because the record dropped. We’re not in any big rush. After playing in the bands we’ve played in for so long, I’m kind of suspicious of any talk of success or things like that. This band started with the idea of let’s play some good music for the people of Montreal, and then dip down into the States. It’s not that we’re un-ambitious, but we have a nice patience about things.
Andrew: It’s nice to be supported by your own city too. That really feels good. You go out into the world and you feel like a Jr. Senator from Montreal. We just got to play a great hometown show before we left for this tour and that really felt good.
JW: The album has many musical styles with the mix of folk, blues, and West African. Who’s influencing you now, and how is this affecting any new material you’re working on?
Brad: It’s kind of a mix. Stuff we’re enjoying lately is pretty far and wide. Etta James to Mississippi Fred McDowell, Ali Farka Toure, Malian Music, and Bombino. I’m really enjoying this songwriter from Canada named Al Tuck. It’s all pretty different influences that distill down to what is coming out. I’m loving the Kinks right now.
Andrew: I feel that the sound with this line up of instruments is also kind of inspiring our music in a lot of ways. Particularly the harp, and Andres Vial with the vibes (vibraphone).
JW: With all the interviews around the new album and tour, is there a question that wasn’t asked, or other info you’d like to tell people?
Andrew: Great question. Probably this one.
Brad: I wish people would ask us about fashion.
JW: Ask you about your amazing fashion sense?
Andrew: Actually, I wish people would ask us about my mom. Few people know that she was a sous-chef for Juila Child. She was her sous-chef for fifteen years. I wish we could talk more about food.
JW: Really? That’s amazing. Okay, what’s your favorite Ice Cream flavor?
The collective answer to this question is still unclear, but one thing is for certain, they would love to have their own flavor. I think it would have to be an ice cream barr.
The Barr Brothers are touring now across the US and Canada. If you like indie folk music along the lines of Bon Iver and the Arcade Fire, then you’ll love these guys. Their instrumentation is diverse and Brad has a string trick on his guitar that he might tell you about if you befriend the band after one of their sets.
Their new album The Barr Brothers is out now on Secret City Records and is available online. It’s too late to see them perform at the Grand Canyon (yes, they actually played at the top of the Grand Canyon), but to catch the rest of their tour, here is their schedule:
November 16th – Chicago, IL
November 17th – Chicago, IL
November 19th – Montreal, QC
November 22nd – Providence, RI
November 30th – South Burlington, VT
December 1st – Boston, MA
December 2nd – Fairfield, CT
Decenber 3rd – Portland, ME
December 6th – Vienna, VA
December 7th – New York, NY
December 8th – Brooklyn, NY
December 9th – Philadelphia, PA
December 10th – Wilkes-Barre, PA
I’ll leave you with the latest video for their single, “Beggar in the Morning.” It’s a beautiful video with puppets by Stephan Bircher, but that’s another story altogether.
