Family Affair: Acoustic Wandering With The Barnett Brothers

As merch tables go, it's not exactly weighed down. There's a box containing CD copies of Bobby's solo record, 'Little Wounds', and a few stickers. Pinned to the backboard, though, is a single shirt design. Printed white on black is a large fish - a striper - and the words 'Barnetts Boatyard'.

Family matters are often the most keenly debated. Over Christmas, when the Barnett clan assembled, the shirt was a hot topic. Bobby, who plays in the brilliant yet frustratingly sedentary Captain, We're Sinking, would soon join his brother, the Menzingers' Greg, on a short run of shows in the UK. The pair, and their cousins, who take a vocal interest in their work, agreed that it would be nice if the tour shirt could doff its cap to the family.

Barnetts Boatyard was founded by the brothers' grandfather and his father in Oceanside, New York. A rabbit warren on the southern shore of Long Island, the yard was packed with people working on their crafts, with the family living in an adjoining house that comprised one storey, nine Barnetts and a ramshackle, fun existence.

While tearing around the yard, Greg and Bobby played with tools from their grandfather's shop that they weren't supposed to and hefted sewer covers from their place in search of Ninja Turtles. The tour shirt, stuck to walls thousands of miles from New York, is a knowing wink in a family affair. There's a pointed interest in any leftovers back home.

Like so many things in US punk, the idea for the brothers' acoustic tour came together over a beer at Fest. Neither had records to promote, neither had done anything like it before, but it seemed like a cool plan. Dave March, long-time Menzingers tourmate, also wanted to show them a bit of the UK’s DIY scene. Still, Greg had never toured without his band before and Bobby had never played in the UK full stop. At Le Pub in Newport, Greg looks up after a song and asks the crowd: "Is this something that's going well?"

"I’ve never been alone on stage before," Greg says beforehand, as his brother prepares for his set upstairs. "The little things about it are what’s scary. When you stop talking, the crowd stops talking. All eyes on you. The other day I turned around and spit on the stage, a bad habit I have with the full band, and everybody was like: ‘Ugh. What are you doing, man?’ It’s a different mentality.”

The brothers rarely fought as kids and, while growing up in Lake Ariel, a small town about half an hour outside Scranton, Pennsylvania, leaned on one another as their musical education spun from skateboarding into punk rock. When Greg got his first guitar, it was decided that Bobby would have to get a bass in order to fill out his nascent riffs.

"Tom May [Menzingers guitarist] and his younger brother, Mike, who’s my best friend, they were at each other’s throats growing up," Bobby says. "And they always thought it was weird that me a Greg just weren’t. Maybe that’s just because I’m too much of a baby. As kids, Greg would be like: ‘Alright, you’re to play with these toys for about a half hour. We’ll then switch. I’ll play with that toy, you play with this.’ I’d go: ‘Yeah, sure.’ That’s how it’s always been. He got a guitar and was like: ‘I’m playing this guitar riff but I need bass so you have to get a bass now.’

"His first band, I think, the drummer quit and then he says: ‘You have to learn drums now.’ We would get home from school and I’d go downstairs and play drums. Then it was like: ‘The new band I’m in, the bass player quit. We need you to jump on bass.’ After that band, he was like: ‘I found this new band called the Menzingers so I won’t ever need you again.’ Alright...time to find my own band."

There aren't many recent punk records that could go 12 rounds with the Menzingers' 'On The Impossible Past'. One that might, though, is Captain, We're Sinking's 'The Future Is Cancelled'. The two albums are very different, but very effective. 

Where Greg's ragged roar provides the emotional ballast for his band's huge hooks, Bobby's work is generally more low-key. His melodies, even when delivered by the group's deliriously fuzzy guitars, are plaintive. The duo’s writing has shared DNA, though, something they both acknowledge separately in a roundabout, brothers-being-brothers sort of way.

Greg: “It would be such a funny thing if he heard this interview and he was like: 'Greg listens to my songs?' We appreciate certain songwriters and appreciate certain things about songwriting. He has a different style. I’ve always been more of a sucker for big hooks and catchy singalong stuff. He’s more the intricate, alone by yourself, sombre type of music. Most of the songs I write are songs that I like to know that I can play in front of a group of people who’d like to jump off of speakers on top of each other. They mix halfway.”

Bobby: “I don’t know if he listens to my songs. He probably doesn’t. He wouldn’t say it but he’s the more outward kind of guy. More social than I am, even back as kids when we first started writing songs. He was instantly in bands. He got three chords down: ‘Good, I got a band.’ I’d be up in my room, door closed, playing on one string of the guitar like: ‘I don’t think this is very good and I don’t want to show Greg because I know he won’t tell me it’s very good.’ I like to listen to music with headphones on and find my own way through it."

The point at which the brothers' musical paths veer off in separate directions is in the manner their bands operate. The Menzingers are a touring concern. They have thousands upon thousands of miles on the clock, major festival appearances in the bank and a show that, when things click, makes getting sweaty and hoarse sound like the best thing you've ever done. They write and release records with a regularity that almost belies their quality.

Captain, We're Sinking aren't that band, at all. They rarely play live and are content to work at their own pace. There's been nothing concrete on a follow up to 'The Future Is Cancelled', released just over three years ago, until very recently, but right now the brothers Barnett are in a similar place for once. Both the Menzingers and Captain, We're Sinking are currently writing new records and the going is good.

"I just graduated from college with an education degree," Bobby says, also confirming that the band are roughly eight songs down. "I have this weird lifestyle where students might know the band and you have to balance both things. I like the balance. I’m very antsy. I get sick of things very quickly. Tour for two weeks and I think it’s like nine years. But writing this new record is so much fun. Everyone’s on the same page for probably the first time ever as a band.

"Everything has fallen into place really nicely. Who knows what the band has after that? Usually it’s like: Write a song. Hate it. For three months, no-one speaks to each other. Practice again. Play that song again. Hate it even more. Try to write a new one. Hate that. That was the last album we did. It was a nightmare to write. Maybe this one will suck now!”

A new Menzingers record, meanwhile, is an event in punk circles, with the follow up to 'Rented World' currently taking shape at home and abroad. Having got the process underway at their Philadelphia practice space, Greg has used this UK tour as a further writing tool and enjoyed the breathing space that comes with being one step removed from a breakthrough. The band intend to record in April through to May with eyes on a possible autumn release.

"There are songs that are finished and done and there are things that we’re leaving purposely open so that we can do a 'realising what they are in the studio' type of deal," Greg says. "We’ve always put so much emphasis on finishing a song and then going to the studio. This time we’re a little more loose and can experiment more. We’re a good chunk into it but compared to past records it seems like not as much because there’s a lot of full ideas, a lot of choruses, a lot of verses but there’s not things put together.

“The four of us feel comfortable and established at the point we’re at now. We have more creative freedom than we did on ‘Rented World’ and ‘...Impossible Past’. We can honestly do what we really want this time. What it’s shaping up to be is that it’s not even like we’re going to make this weird outcast record. We want to revert away from that almost. That’s what people are expecting of us. There’s no pressure of  ‘Where’s the big hook? Where’s this? Where’s that?’ Let’s just let these songs breathe.”

Barnett Brothers Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:

Fri January 22 2016 - KINGSTON Cricketers
Sat January 23 2016 - LONDON Lexington

Click here to compare & buy Barnett Brothers Tickets at Stereoboard.com.

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