British newcomers Little Barrie have taken the London music scene by storm. Citing influences from every genre of music, the rock trio of Barrie Cadogan (guitar/vocals), Wayne Fullwood (drums) and Lewis Wharton (bass), have skillfully married blues-rock, glam-rock, folk and even hip-hop into an uncategorizable blend of sound.

Guitarist Barrie Cadogan is credited with the beginnings of the collaboration. He also brought credibility to the band, having been recruited to play with Morrissey during the summer of 2004, when the lead guitarist became too ill to finish the tour.

Little Barrie’s latest album release We Are Little Barrie (Feb. 7th), includes tracks like “Free Salute,” “Stones Throw” and “Greener Pastures.” Having no interest in being the hottest new band, or too cool for school, the guys stay true to their inspirations, influences and unique musical desires. Spreading their sound to the masses, Little Barrie is currently touring all over England and Barrie took a minute to chat with Gibson.com about playing for a legend, being robbed and keeping it real.

Little Barrie’s latest album release We Are Little Barrie (Feb. 7^th), includes tracks like “Free Salute,” “Stones Throw” and “Greener Pastures.” Having no interest in being the hottest new band, or too cool for school, the guys stay true to their inspirations, influences and unique musical desires. Spreading their sound to the masses, Little Barrie is currently touring all over England and Barrie took a minute to chat with Gibson.com about playing for a legend, being robbed and keeping it real.

CG: When did you first begin to play guitar?
BC: I started playing guitar a few weeks before my 15^th birthday. I think I got my first cheap acoustic guitar, like 40 pounds, to get me started. But at the time you don’t realize that a cheap guitar isn’t the same as a steel-string guitar. I’ve always kind of been interested in music but my sister used to bring records home when she was going college, like The Stone Roses. When I heard that, it was just really exciting. And also around the same time I saw a TV program about rock music and I saw B.B. King and Chuck Berry on the same program and when I saw those guys it was like, “Man, these guys are something else.” That’s when I first saw the Gibsons and I thought, “Man, I want one of those.” I just thought I’d give it a go and see what happens. After that I knew what I wanted to do.

CG: If you had to describe your music to someone who had never heard it, what would you say?
BC: It’s difficult but I think it’s a mixture of things like soul, funk, R&B, folk music. It is very roots based, and it’s influenced by hip-hop. We were kind of influenced by Dutch music as well, the music that made people dance. I met Wayne in Nottingham because we’re both from there, and we met in a bar and we got to chatting about music and stuff. Wayne and I walked home and realized we lived about 30 seconds away from each other. And when I went in his place, I realized he had a lot of records I had. We liked what each other were doing and played each other’s songs. I liked Wayne’s voice, and had been singing for years. We didn’t have a drummer, but Wayne bought a kit and picked it up after a few months. He couldn’t find anyone that was committed enough. It was hard to get recognized in London and we saved money and moved in together, in September 2000. So during the first record we recorded, I played guitar and bass on it, and through the record we met Lewis. He really liked the record and was looking to get into the band, and we were looking for a bass player and he said, ‘well I play bass.’

Barrie and Lewis in the Gibson/Baldwin
Showroom in London

CG: Who are your biggest musical influences?
BC: There are so many, but mainly Sly and the Family Stone, James Brown, and for me it’s lots of blues, especially people from Motown, Stax, Lee Dorsey, bands like the Clash or the Kinks or the Sonics or people like that. But we’re also big fans of Neil Young, Tim Hardin, and folk musicians. We sort of got into groups that were more improv-based, people who had a vision and who were quite innovative… just a lot of blues and soul. 

CG: Tell me about your Gibsons.
BC: I’ve had a lot of Gibson guitars. I got my first one about ten years ago, but I’ve been through so many guitars. I mainly play a 345, an old one from ‘63, which was painted black a long time ago. I only bought that a few weeks ago. I’ve got a 330 Cherry from ‘62. So they’re my two favorite guitars. I mainly use the black ones. I’ve had loads of guitars, but I’ve always gone back to the semi-acoustic ones. I played Les Pauls for a bit but then got into the hollowbody ones.

CG: Which Gibson is best for live performances?
BC: For me the 345 or the 330. The only reason I don’t use my 330, I keep breaking strings, but I think it’s because I need to replace the bridge. But that’s an amazing sounding guitar. The sound of the 330… that’s quite possibly my favorite guitar.

CG: Which Gibson is best for studio recording?
BC: I use a mix of things really. On the album, it’s the 330, but I guess either of those guitars. If you could only take one guitar to a session I’d take the 345 because you can kind of do everything with it.

CG: How did the Little Barrie tour go?
BC: It was really good. We toured with The Bees. We did a short tour over the weekend, and I’m exhausted. We got back at really early hours on Sunday. We drove from Glasgow to Manchester and then to London after the gig. We just had a really good tour, we did 5000 miles. We’ve been to New York since then as well. It was amazing. We met Hubert Sumlin (guitarist for Howling Wolf). He was Jimi Hendrix’s favorite guitarist. He came to see us play. He’s like 74 years old and he’s a legend. He’s just as influential as the more recognizable artists. I was so scared playing in front of him, basically because he’s a legend. If it weren’t for people like him, you wouldn’t have your Keith Richards’ and people like that. People like that you feel indebted to. It’s weird because we were nervous, but he kinda made us play good, because we wanted to do our best in front of him.  

CG: What is the strangest/funniest/weirdest thing that happened to you on the road/stage/backstage etc, during the tour?
BC: The first night of the tour, we were sound checking, and Aaron of The Bees jumped off the stage and landed awkwardly on his knees and he was in agony and it was the first day of the tour. But he recovered so he was alright! We do have a laugh on tour. We’re not exactly wild people to be honest… oh, and something happened that happens to everybody on tour, we had our van broken into.

CG: Are you excited about your upcoming tour with DJ Format?
BC: That starts in April. That’s gonna be cool. It crosses over into different genres. A lot of the hip-hop kids have gotten into it. We’ve got remixes. It’s quite interesting because it’s about 50/50 male/female. And also we’ve played some warehouse parties, and you can tell kids are maybe like, Strokes fans, or you get people… it just seems to be a real mixture. We did a really cool gig with Aspects, a hip-hop band also on The Bees tour. We did versions of each other’s songs and they invited us to play as their backing band on two dates at the end of the year. And that was wicked because it was a full on hip-hop audience. We just played a groove behind guys rapping. It went down really well. There seems to be people picking up on (our sound) from different angles of music. It’s a buzz really…it’s a good feeling. We just want to reach as many people as we can.

CG: What do you love the most about your job?
BC: I guess the thing is with music, no two days are the same. And it’s just a buzz, plugging a guitar into an amp, the same thing I did when I was 15 and we get that adrenaline rush when we play. I’m constantly sort of in a daydream, really, because I’m thinking about ideas and songs and riffs and things. Anything creative is an outlet for people. I think most people have some sort of creativity in them. It can be really fulfilling.