There are moments we get to spend some quality time with some pretty amazing and talented people, while gathering interviews and reviewing shows for The Rockpit. And there are times we get a chance encounter with someone when least expecting it. These usually turn out to be the best ones. Such was our luck and timing catching up with one of Australia’s busiest musicians, drummer extraordinaire Jackie Barnes.
Jackie had ventured over to WA with the keyboard wizard Lachy Doley to appear at the Ravo’s 10th Anniversary Blues & Roots Fest earlier this year and as luck would have it, a contact (thanks Sharkey) took me to get my vinyl signed by Jackie, who invited me in to his room where he was chilling post-gig. Our conversation led me to ask if could we arrange an interview that following week, when Jackie got home. “What are you doing right now?” came his reply. Considering Jackie & I have tried to arrange this moment for the past three years, bumping into each other at festivals & Fabulous Caprettos shows, as well as messaging back & forth over time, it seemed that now was as good a time as any.
Only a few weeks ago Jackie toured the country with British singer-songwriter Andrew Roachford for a string of sold out shows and now, with dad and rock legend Jimmy Barnes releasing his new album ‘Defiant’ (6 June via Mushroom Music), Jackie will be heading out for another lap of Australia on a family-filled tour from this weekend. So, we thought now would be the perfect time to publish the interview. We talk about how he manages his gruelling schedules, how the tour with Roachford came to be and get a glimpse into the life of one of this country’s in demand drummers…
Sean: Jackie, it’s great to catch up…
JB: …finally Sean. We’ve been trying to line this up for a few years [laughs].
Sean: …yes, finally. And I thought I was the busy one! [laughs] I even tried to catch you at the last Caprettos show you did here at the Crown Theatre, and after the show when you were sat on your own in a dressing room, I thought you had gone all rockstar on me [laughs].
JB: [laughs] I had Covid, would you believe. I even had to take my bow three metres away from the rest of the guys and then head straight for a dressing room on my own.
Sean: Well, no chance of Covid today. You’ve only just come from the stage after playing your set with Lachy (Doley) at the wonderful Ravenswood Hotel. I know there were a couple of tech issues but I love the way Lachy just announced, “Let’s just carry on!”
JB: Yeah, look it is one of those things at festivals. Its a bit of an unknown with the gear your going to get and yes, we had a few issues up there but you just have to soldier on and I think the reaction of the crowd gave a good indication of how the show went – they went fucking nuts.
Sean: The Lachy Doley Group is an incredible powerhouse three-piece. I remember receiving ‘Make or Break’ to review and then messaging Lachy to find out more about that amazing Whammy Clavinet he plays – to see him playing it live today was mind-blowing too.
JB: It’s incredible isn’t it. I never get bored watching it and I have a pretty decent seat to watch from [laughs].
Sean: We joked before we started this interview that you never seem to take a break. The first time I saw you playing was with Rose Tattoo.
JB: Yeah, we played here. I think that was the last time I was here actually. We were inside.
Sean: That was the show I was at! What a night that was. We’ve also seen you with the amazing Fabulous Caprettos, and also with Lachy and obviously out there with your dad (Jimmy Barnes) too. I suppose the first question has to be, where do you find the time?
JB: Look, there are always little pockets and I’m one of those guys, much like my dad, when I have got time off we tend to like to fill it with work. We don’t like down time. I’m also in a fortunate position where I’m in demand and usually I don’t have to worry about my time off because it fills up anyway. Just for example, I had a couple of pockets of free time between Lachy and dad’s tours this year and ended getting a call from LA from a band over there called AshenMoon, which is Garry Beers’ band.
Sean: Great band and of course Toby Rand too.
JB: Yes and Toby. They approached me and said they were planning a couple of shows in Australia and asked if I would be free the week they were coming over. It just so happened that it fell right in-between Lachy’s Australian and US tours, so I do one more week with Lachy then jump onto that one for about a week and a half. There is also plans to do more with them too, which I am really looking forward to doing. Then I do the US with Lachy and then I look to jump into some stuff with dad. But then I got a call from Andrew Roachford, so I’m doing the Roachford tour.
Sean: Wow, that is one diary I would hate to be in charge of! [laughs]
JB: Tell me about it! [laughs]. So, Andrew had posted about dong an Australian tour and I have known Andrew for many years, like I’ve stayed with him when I’ve visited London, with him and his brother Stephen, who sadly passed away – he was a great guy… so, I saw that he had posted about the Australian tour and we were chatting on Instagram and both said that we had spoken for so any years about making music together, so is now finally the time? And he just wrote back, “I think it is time.” It happened so organically from us just chatting the way we would normally…
Sean: …and there was another pocket…
JB: …yes, there was that one month I had planned off. I said to him, “Look I have the whole of May off and if you want me I’m available.” I love his music, I love him as a person and they were so big in Australia at their peak and so next thing I was talking to his management and locking it in, and suddenly May is looking busy. I’ve got stuff with dad throughout the year always too and the Caprettos are doing stuff to. There will be a few more trips to the US with Lachy too.
Sean: I saw that your dad is doing the ‘Soul Deep’ album up at Broadbeach, which will be pretty cool.
JB: Yeah, that will be great. That’s actually in-between Roachford and the next gig.
Sean: So taking Roachford as an example, how long do you need to put in to rehearsing to learn a set like that?
JB: When its a band like Roachford I’ve listened to their music literally my whole life, nearly or for at least twenty five years, so I know the music but now I have to listen to it and also get live versions of their arrangements to make sure I’m up to speed with that. I have methods I have developed over the years where I can learn a song in one or two listens. I’ve already made charts in a way that makes sense to me on my i-pad and whenever I’m on a plane, which seems like every week lately [laughs] I’m usually listening to music and working in some shape or form.
Sean: I would love to know how time-zones work for you [laughs].
JB: [laughs] I think I’m always somewhat jetlagged but if I have got the focus of a show coming up it doesn’t matter how tired I am. The adrenaline pulls me through it. And probably WA is one of the worst ones – that three hours really hits you. Its just enough to fuck you up. But in all seriousness you have the focus of the show, you play the show and then you rest afterwards. I’ve got my ways of relaxing and how I like to spend my down time in-between shows on the road, like we all do. Look, as long as I don’t stop I’m good [laughs].
Sean: And with that in mind I would hate to take up anymore of your time, seeing as you literally came off stage fifteen minutes ago.
JB: All good Sean, it’s great to finally catch up.
Sean: Thanks Jackie. Well, my restaurant question; You can invite three musicians, dead or alive, to join you for dinner. Who would you have sat with you for the evening?
JB: Wow. That’s a tough one – going to have to think about this one. There might be some silence on the audio recorder here…(we only had to wait 30 seconds). John Bonham would have to be one of them – being a drummer and a Led Zeppelin fan too.
Sean: And Jason doesn’t do a bad job either.
JB: No, not at all. He’s great and I know Jason, so a shout out to Jason – he’s killing it out there. I’m more thinking of people who have passed on because there a lot of musicians that I love that I have had the pleasure to meet or have crossed paths with.
Sean: And probably playing with [laughs].
JB: [laughs] Yeah, to a degree yeah. But lets say a friend of my dad’s, Bon Scott. Would loved to have met him and had some time to talk to him. And my third one would be Alex Harvey from the Sensational Alex Harvey Band
Sean: It’s a great diverse selection. I’m nearing two hundred interviews and you normally find singers pick other singers, guitarists pick guitarists but you’ve pulled a really diverse table. Love it.
JB: Yeah, I’ve gone with just the one drummer. Bon was obviously someone that my dad was friends with, as I said and I would have loved to have met him. And Alex Harvey was an influence on a lot of Australian rock bands back then too, including AC/DC – they were hugely influenced by that band.
Sean: It’s been such a privilege being able to interview the likes of Angry and John & Rick Brewster, hearing the stories from their own mouths about the Alberts studio times with Bon and the guys. I remember John telling me about the magical vibe around that time.
JB: Yeah, incredible times for Australian rock music. In fact I want to add a fourth to my table if I can – I would love to have met Digger Royall, the original drummer from Rose Tattoo. He died when I was a little kid but obviously with having played with Rose Tattoo I would loved to have known the guy, sat down with him and just talked to him. Funnily enough, while I was on the Lachy tour just the other week we were in the Gold Coast and I was just walking around the venue before the show and I notice Geordie Leech, one of the older members of the Tatts was in the crowd with his wife. We had chatted on social media but had never met so it was nice to meet him. I had listened to his parts growing up so it was great to see him out in the crowd enjoying Lachy. One of the reasons I got the Rose Tattoo gig was when Angry came and saw me playing with Lachy. I always thought it would have been from him seeing me with dad because they’ve been friends forever. Angry spoke to about this after I joined the band. What he loves about what I do in Lachy’s band is the boogie, the swing as he calls it. Its more inline with how he sees Rose Tattoo. He said to me the moment he saw me with Lachy he could see I had the boogie. I had already been on his radar and I had filled the tattoo quota [laughs] – he grabbed my arms and said, “We’re gonna talk, you and I!” But when he saw me evolve into this drummer that had the swing and shuffles in my arsenal, that was what got me the gig in the end. Such a pleasure to play with them.
Sean: What was the last album you listened to?
JB: One of my favourite current artists is the English singer Sam Fender. His new album came out recently and I was listening to it on the plane over here.
Sean: I was interviewing someone the other week and he said that when Sam Fender won his Brit Award he insisted on every member of his band accepting it with him, as he felt they played and equal part in receiving it.
JB: I saw that. And did you know, when he won that Brit Award he took it back to his local pub in his hometown and had it mounted on the tap of his favourite beer. All his albums have been great but he is an absolute master at his craft. Phenomenally talented and you can see that with just how big he is. He’s doing stadiums now already.
Sean: I saw he had done St. James’s Park in Newcastle. The photos of the crowds were staggering.
JB: Incredible. He’s done Glastonbury and places like that. I saw him at the Fortitude Music Hall in Brisbane a few years back and he was fucking amazing then. I have been listening to the AshenMoon stuff too because I’m learning that. I know there is no Perth show this time but they are just dipping their toe in and they will be back with more shows.
Sean: The first EP was great! I grabbed a copy when it came out. Toby has an incredible voice.
JB: Incredible. And their music is great, so really looking forward to doing more with them after these few shows. The last time Garry (Beers) saw me I was just a little kid. When INXS was working with dad on The Lost Boys soundtrack I was only one or two years old. There is a photo of me sitting on Jon Farriss’s shoulders from those sessions and I was just a baby. It’s going to be a nice moment to catch up with him for the rehearsals
Sean: Well, I’ve saved the easiest one for last Jackie; If you could be credited with writing any song ever written, what song would you choose?
JB: ‘Racing in the Street’ by Bruce Springsteen. One of my favourite albums is ‘Darkness on the Edge of Town’. I’m a massive Bruce fan anyway, and anyone who knows me knows that. Seen him live many times and been fortunate enough to meet him and his whole band and been lucky to support him with dad too. I just love the way he tells stories and not only does he tell the stories but all his band members tell the stories in their own way. The piano on that track is amazing, and being a piano player myself and writing music on the piano I love how dominant that instrument is in that band. I love story tellers
Sean: Is that a family thing? When I interviewed your sister Elly-May before the release of her album, she cited Bob Dylan as a huge influence on her music.
JB: Yeah, I mean coming form the family that we do story telling is incredibly important to us. We come from a long line of story tellers and dad is from that era of song writing where the story is as important as the music. There is a lot out there right now where the music is great and the song itself is great but doesn’t have a great story behind it. It doesn’t have the lyrical content. That’s why I love Sam Fender, he’s a story teller. I know Bruce & Steven Van Zandt love him too because he’s heavily influenced by Bruce and the likes of Tom Petty as well. If you listen to Sam’s lyrics they are pretty fucking deep man. They are very meaningful and stories that are relevant to his life. People connect with stories.
Sean: Jackie, I don’t want to take up anymore of your time. It’s been wonderful to sit down to talk to you about just s snippet of what you have been up to and what the year ahead has in store. We really appreciate your time.
JB: Sean, its been great to finally catch up mate. Your are more than welcome.
Sean: Safe trip home and good luck with AshenMoon, Lachy’s shows and of course Roachford and I’m sure we will see you on the road somewhere soon.
JB: Its been a pleasure mate. Thank you.
Jackie with be hitting the road with his family this weekend, with Jimmy Barnes kicking off his nationwide ‘Defiant’ tour in support of his brand new album, which is out 6 June via Mushroom Music.
