Micah Barnes

Jazz For Mara - A History

2011-12-01T08:24:00.000-08:00

JAZZ FOR MARA- a history

When our mom Lilly Barnes's book Mara was published Daniel's Quartet played for the jam packed event at the Pilot Tavern. They asked me to sing a few songs that were mentioned in the Jazz centric book and low and behold Jazz For Mara was born. Telling the story of young Jazz musician Ted obsessed with an older european lady who has been accused of a heinous crime seemed to already be set to music given the way Lilly wrote the story soaked in the Jazz scene of 1964 Toronto.

THE TEXT
When the published suggested that it made a good way to perform "readings" of the book my brother Daniel started to mastermind the creation of an evenings length concert. Building the actual show was a year in development involving workshops, readings, video and lots and lots and lots of editing and rewriting. Thank goodness we had the able hand of director and dramaturge Ed Roy on board to help us shape the piece.

THE MUSIC
Although there are plenty of recognizable Jazz standards in Jazz For Mara, both instrumental and vocal, Daniel and I developed a few original songs that helped set the mood and tell the story. Both "Obsession" and "Mystery Lady" as well as Daniels original "Jazz For Mara" become motifs that reappear and support the characters and plot.

THE REHEARSALS
Because Lilly has always been a writer behind the scenes we knew we would need a series of performance opportunities and so with agent Robert Missen on board we booked a few showcases allowing Lilly to find her feet as a performer and for the show to develop. Getting into the Factory and Lower Ossington Theatre's for on stage rehearsals was an important part of building the show for us as well. Our crunch time Fall 2011 was full of Daniel arranging and scoring, myself writing lyrics for the original tunes and Lilly working out the kinks of her performance with Ed.

THE AL GREEN THEATRE

A place Daniel and I have performed in many many times, including the tribute to our father composer Milton Barnes. So it's a logical and organic place for us to premiere the full length version of JAZZ FOR MARA with our excellent band on board. More about the show later but for now..
memorizing lyrics like crazy! ha ha

Domesticated Tour Pics

2011-07-27T09:18:00.001-07:00

The second date on the tour brought us back to Queen Street West at our old stomping ground The Rivoli.. Ariana Gillis opened the show and her focused powerful set really cast a deep voodoo over the crowd. This shot of me in the back alley brings a lot of good memories back from the days when we regularly played The Bamboo, The Horseshoe and The Cameron Tavern!
Dan and Micah at Parc LaFontaine in Montreal.

As anyone whose ever been on the road will tell you it sounds great in theory and can be a lot of fun. But it also means sleep deprivation, long periods of boring road travel, weird performance situations, bad food that sounded good in theory... and wild parties full of groupies and drugs.

(OK clearly when your band is discussing the relative merits of the smoked meats at different Montreal deli's for most of the tour the wild parties are not so much a reality)

Last Domesticated Tour Date!

2011-07-06T12:56:00.001-07:00

Tour Blog July 6th

Our last show of the season. A special event because I will be joining Daniel Barnes' critically acclaimed Jazz Quartet at The Hillebrand Jazz Festival. An honor and a privilege. Made even more special by the rarity of the occurrence.

Singing Jazz and Blues has always been a very natural place for me. Since my early teen years when I sat with the standards trying to understand the chords and melodies and lyrics of Cole Porter and the Gershwin's my musicality has been informed by the work of Fats Waller, Billie Holiday, Nat King Cole and Sarah Vaughn. I've been lucky enough to work in the Jazz idiom long enough that I feel at home there and cherish the opportunity to join a top notch Jazz Quartet like Daniel's.

Daniel and I have been working out the set list and decided on a few choice standards I have been working with since my teenage years.

Lullaby Of Birdland which is of course best known in it's version by the incomparable Sarah Vaughn is one of the uptempo tunes we're doing. Giving the band a chance to shine and the singer a chance to stumble LOL

Light and frothy lyrically but with a gorgeous melody, it was in fact one of the first of the Jazz standards that I tried to learn how to play and sing back when I was preparing material for the coffee houses and cabarets in Toronto at the tender age of 14 or 15!

I first heard Stormy Weather in Ethel Waters version. She was a huge superstar of stage and screen and recording studio in her day and the song was written for her before it became Lena Horne's trademark tune. I've always been attracted to the deeper spiritual question and the time change on the bridge. A complex and yet simple art song that defines the spirit of the blues.

We're also going to try out hand at the tune Cloudburst as a vocal duet for us brothers. This tune was penned by Lambert Hendricks and Ross in it's vocal version and covered by the Pointer Sisters in their early days as a Jazz vocal group. Daniel and I grew up on these recordings so this is going to be a blast.

The Hillebrand show is in fact the first time I've joined The Daniel Barnes Quartet at a Jazz festival. A very special way to wrap up THE DOMESTICATED tour!

Domesticated Set List (Part 2)

2011-06-09T20:01:00.000-07:00

Exhausted? Yup. Happy? You bet! The London Free Press just gave us excellent converge of tomorrows show at The London Music Club. The shows are going great, everyone's being really supportive and the buzz on the disc is growing by leaps and bounds. I feel like a very lucky artist indeed.

More about the Songs from the Set:

Two Silhoutes On The Shade:

One is my favorite of the old school covers that the Nylons rearranged and recorded, this one on the classic "One Size Fits All" (my personal favorite of The Nylons discs). Daniel and I are singing with only Jon playing bass in this arrangement which allows the classic heartbreaking story of boy who thinks his girl is cheating by spying below her window and then realizes he was just on the wrong street. One of the best of the old school vocal group songs in that the story is so precise and well expressed lyrically and melodically.

Inside Out:

The beginning of a relationship is an exciting time but also a scary experience. Will be accepted for who we truly are when we stop pretending and pull away the masks? Natural insecurities are bound to come out and I wanted to write a song about the struggle to feel lovable that we all feel.

Its true that I have rerecorded this song on each of my solo discs, I believe this time that we have finally gotten it right. You be the judge.

After You:

Living at the end of the freeway right on the ocean in Venice Beach, (the beach town mentioned in the lyric), and struggling to find balance after the end of a long term relationship..I wrote this song to express "just how far a man could fall". The song was the last one completed for the album "Micah Barnes" and ended up opening up the disc with it's deep sense of drama and loss with communication to the lover saying "I thought you'd want to know, this is what happened after you".

Don't You Forget About Me:

OK Daniel and I agreed we needed a "pop" song that would be deeply familiar to our audiences and give them the kick of memory to leave them feeling happy, (Our "in house" name for this tour has been " The Make The People Happy Tour"), but we hadn't figured out what tune would work best. I was shopping at The Metro late at night and heard this Simple Minds classic over the sound system and got a sudden shiver through my body. I guess thats when I knew we may have found our perfect slice of familiar "happiness".

Domesticated Set List (Part 1)

2011-06-02T06:27:00.000-07:00

Thursday June 2nd 2011

I am having the time of my life folks. The Tour dates this weekend are like a pleasure ride waiting at an amusement park. Yahoo!

SoooooI thought I would describe how the songs in the set emerged for us and where they come from.

Firstly a word about the set order and song choices.

I rely heavily on brother/ collaborator Daniel Barnes to find the right balance and not go over board on the ballads which I would sing all night long if given the chance LOL.

We have very similar taste in music, and Dan has the overview about how to build sets that will satisfy an audience much better than I.

…And so our tour set Part 1

(with variations depending on the show and venue and audience of course)...

Wild as the Wind

Been playing with this cover song for years, trying it our while performing solo shows in Los Angeles. I first head this song in the David Bowie version. Bowie's European Cabaret roots emerge from underneath his Rocker image more than just occasionally..both of which I relate to of course.. and his version is a prime example of his deep crooner style. The Nina Simone version is also well known, the original Johnny Mathis version from the film of the same name quiet vapid by comparison to my ears. I find the simple but poetic lyric carries me deep into the wilds of abandon every time I perform the song…making it a perfect way to set the tone and start our sets!

My Teenage Heart

This song from our latest disc "Domesticated" has a Bowie connection as well. While writing that summer in the boat house I was feeling the adolescent messiness of my past romantic behavior and found a way to say I'm sorry to all the past lovers in this tune. Our bridge, which Daniel created, is very much an ode to the classic Spinners sound but the groove idea I was using while writing it was very close to Bowie's "Panic In Detroit" which I've always loved. Although the recorded version which both Daniel and producer Gavin Bradley helped me develop sounds nothing like that recording it's always fascinating to remember the source.

(Now I Know Why They Call It) Falling

I remember well what a simple singable melody does to a crowd from my days with The Nylons. My past solo work has usually been more focused on lyrics and passion and pain…But that same summer in the boat house there was something new happening in my writing. A fresh approach to melody and harmony that held a new sense of joy and happiness and possibility. Writing an open hearted love song is in fact one of the hardest challenges a writer every has. Lets just say there was a bit of inspiration floating in the air that summer that this song tapped into. We used the old Buddy Holly record "Everyday" in our arrangement approach to keep everything simple and straight forward….

Shop Around

When looking for cover tunes the Motown songbook often seems overmined for it's gems…. but this tune, which Smokey Robinson wrote with Berry Gordy and made an early 60's hit with The Miracles, still feels fresh. The sexy and clever lyric always feels playful and a little naughty to me, which isn't a bad thing when you are performing for an audience right? The band (Daniel Barnes and Jon Maharaj) have been turning out a slinky funky groove on this one that feels like we could ride on it all night long. SO much fun to deliver!

More songs later. Off to Waterloo for my first date their as a solo act.

(We're taking this country one town at a time folks ha ha)

Domesticated Tour Blog: Day 5 Song Selection

2011-05-07T06:02:00.000-07:00

Day Five: Friday May 6th

Wow so much going on it's hard to stop and breath and write.

Approving website changes, putting together technical info for the Rivoli and other dates, coordinating between PR lady Sue McCallum and venues, making sure the Facebook events page is built before we announce tour dates etc. It's a kooky kind of fun but it's also jam packed and all time specific.

I have found myself in a kind of a round the clock frenzy. (Actually haven't been able to make the gym much grrrrr). But because of the experts on the team (like ROO! Big Shout Out to Dale Speaking "Online Marketing Dood"!) we are now entering the world of online promotion with a lot of new ideas and a powerful locomotive engine driven by creativity and playfulness!

My online team at Dale Speaking and home skillet web mistress Lulu have been working around the clock to prepare the Micah Barnes world for The "Domesticated" Tour. It's been a huge job and I'm frankly really looking forward to how people respond to the new look and feel of all the sites. Twitter, Myspace, You Tube, Facebook and the home website… all updated to reflect the new disc and 8 city tour. Talk to me people are we looking ready for action? LOL

This week I also had the opportunity to see a whole batch of live acts at a big fundraiser for the Stephan Lewis Foundation, reminding me of just what this whole machinery is all FOR. Bringing the music to the people! Performers like old pals Holly Cole and Lorraine Segato and Ka'nan performed in support of the foundations work around Aids in Africa.. along with Rufus Wainwright, Alicia Keys and Angelique Kudjo. Inspirational indeed. I actually got to meet the legendary Harry Belafonte who co-hosted! Wow. Still a handsome devil too. Hows he doing that?

The biggest inspiration for me that evening came from Angelique who tore the stage up as only she can. Do not miss this powerhouse if you have a chance to feel her voodoo live. Rufus and Alicia, although both brilliant incredible songwriters proved to me that they are both best experienced as recording artists.

So..What is it that makes a performer truly great? Been doing some thinking about this.

A willingness to be fearless and completely honest with their audience seems essential. A confidence that they truly have a gift to give and a desire to move people at a core level is important too….

Will I achieve this on the "Domesticated" tour? Hmmmmm. I keep visualizing the venues filed with people, my heart open to give… as the lyrics and melodies and grooves wash over the crowd……

Rehearsals with Daniel went great this week as we locked down the arrangement details on the new material we're presenting during this tour before starting sessions with bassist Jon Maharaj who joins us next week.

The shows are built to present the songs from the new disc "Domesticated" along with some old chestnuts from the world of Jazz and Blues and Soul. I wanted people to get a sense of the entire musical world I live in during this show… and also have a chance to perform some special songs I've wanted to sing for a long time.

Hence, although I am shy to give away the titles, we have material by Smokey Robinson, Nina Simone, Marvin Gaye, Cole Porter, Peggy Lee, Laura Nyro, The Drifters, The Supremes, Lee Dorsey, Allan Toussaint, The Originals, etc on deck….as well as a few Nylons chestnuts of course!

There will indeed, be something for everyone. We're jokingly calling it the "Keep The People Happy" tour.

Ok this is the million dollar question. If there was one song you'd like to hear us perform on this tour what would it be?

"Domesticated Tour Blog: Day One

2011-05-02T20:53:00.000-07:00

Day One. May 2nd. 2011

I've decided to take you guys on this journey with me as we prepare for the spring tour dates, both so you can have a peek at the process behind the scenes, and also so we can feel a little closer to the folks we are doing this all for…YOU, our peeps!

This past weekend I was still recovering from a week in NYC and literally couldn't get off the couch. Glued to my Michael Connelly crime novel (they are like crack aren't they?) and just managing to do what litle socializing I had already booked.

I actually was awoken in the middle of the night by a combination of Obama's announcement about Bin Laden on the radio and the panic in my head thinking through everything we have to accomplish this month before we kick things off. A little meditation calmed me down and let me sleep the rest of the night. -phew-

The day today started with a little chat with my romantic partnering NYC who is on Broadway (The Tony's are being announced tomorrow, so exciting!), before

rehearsal with my collaborator and bandleader brother, drummer and vocalist Daniel Barnes. Daniel and I warmed our voices up (he has become an excellent BG singer which is a LOT harder than it looks I might add) and we reviewed existing arrangements on the "Domesticated" CD before jumping into a new tune which we are preparing especially for this tour. Danielis always joking that all I bring to the table are ballads but for once I found a rousing rocking tune that will satisfy some of you Nylons fans as well as those people who love a good old fashioned soul rave up. Bet you can't guess which tune it is people! huh? huh?

Then I came home from Liberty Village where Dan's studio is to my own Queen Street apt and brainstormed an idea with Sue McCallum our publicist over the phone. Sue and I agree, she is actually well within my "audience demographic" so when we are talking through potential pitches to media etc I know she has a good handle on whether an approach will work or not. The key thing is she gets the music, which is a good thing, cause we have to fill seats for 8 shows! Tickets for London's show at The London Music Club went on sale today yahoo!

Then after some more e mail business pertaining to tomorrow mornings meeting with my online team Roo and April over at Dale Speaking I headed off to my local Y to follow through on my commitment to make my body as strong and as in shape as possible.

Performing is a physical act and the more in fit I am the more energy I feel I have left for the performance, (not to mention the traveling and the hauling gear and the missed sleep etc.) Thats one thing I learned early in the business. A good show is dependent on good rest, a peaceful unstressed out approach and being in the best physical shape possible. Thank goodness I paid attention while I was being trained this past year because now is the time when it all pays off.

Ones mental attitude changes when you are working out as well. I feel like I have the energy to do anything…which is a good place to be facing the mountain in front of us!

Naked Singing

2010-11-28T08:01:00.000-08:00

Yeah. I have a lot of masks I wear as a singer. Born of insecurity. About my voice, about myself. About whether people will love me. Just human being stuff really but for performers that can be trouble. If I build a performance from my need for you to be impressed then I'm not really singing from the truth of the material am I? I might impress you but ultimately what am I really communicating about the song?

Producer Gavin Bradley helped me identify a habit I had of over singing to try and communicate the intensity of feeling in the material…like a stage actor who is a ham and goes over the top. He pulled me back to being more like a screen actor who feels the emotions in a scene and allows the viewer to go on the journey with him. Thats how we approached the vocals on "Domesticated"..and it was a real adventure of trust and faith for us.

Gavin asked me to trust him enough on one complete vocal to prove to me that this more vulnerable approach would suck the listener into my world in a more compelling way. We chose "I'm Coming Home" which was a real challenge because I had been singing that song for years before Daniel suggested we brush it off and work up an arrangement for this disc.

The experiment worked for me (you be the judge) and launched us into the rest of vocals which we recorded at Gavin's home studio "Afternoon Tea" where we could take our time to develop the approach that would work best.

I like long takes as much as possible..and although at the beginning Gavin had to work me hard to keep me naked and "open" in my performance we got to a shorthand by the end of the disc. By the end of summer 2010 we were flying along stacking those back up vocals sweltering in the August heat and surrounded by a Futon for sound baffling.At one point it was actually close to "naked" singing with me stripped down to my underwear having been caught in a rain storm while biking over. LOL

Finding The Producer

2010-11-17T20:12:00.000-08:00

Daniel and I started to think through who could guide this music through it's final recording stages summer of '09 while most of these songs were just being written. We had building and focusing the sound for a while and knew it would take a special touch to get things just right and so were interviewing producers that seemed like a potential match. I had been introduced to Gavin Bradley and his music through a few friends in the business and was songwriting with a batch of folks including him.. but something just clicked with Gavin and we ended up becoming good friends during the process.

We had been writing in his Afternoon Tea studio in the College and Young street area of downtown Toronto, slipping out for Thai food and to talk about music and love and life and Gavin seemed to have an intelligence about this music and who I am as an artist that really impressed me.

He had an understanding of both my R&B/Soul and Rock N Roll influences and how those elements would eventually feed the Orchestral Pop-Cabaret of "Domesticated".

One day during a session I just turned to him and told him I thought we should be asking him to produce the disc. Crazily he said yes! and we spent the better part of year sweating it out in the trenches to bring you the final product. Because this disc included recording organic instruments live off the floor Gavin had the bright idea to bring in engineer John Nazario to record the instruments just right and eventually to mix this puppy. Although that kind of process was new for Gavin a more meticulous and magical producer could not have been found for this disc. I'll be talking a bit about the whole recording process in the next blog entry.

2010-11-07T06:21:00.000-08:00

Hi Folks! I want to talk a bit about the songs on "Domesticated" and how they came about. It took a long time and a lot of writing time to create the material recorded for this disc. We actually went after the beast three times!!

A few years ago my brother Daniel and I started collaborating and building the adult pop "sound" of the disc which included intimate lyrics with softer drums and piano based arrangements and Daniel singing back up vocals. A few tunes survive in the live show from that first period including our "take" on the David Bowie/Nina Simone classic "Wild As The Wind" and Goffin/King "Brill Building" chestnut "Up On The Roof".

On the first round we had feedback from our resident song person Catharine Saxberg, (who was the sort of de facto executive producer of the disc), that our first material was smart but meandering and not yet focused enough for a strong disc. So, excited to have such top level input we went back to the drawing board and wrote and demo'd up another batch of songs that tried to address the issues of length and form. None of them were actually from the heart but they were all very short and well fashioned. LOL. The demo's in Daniel's Liberty Village Studio during that second period gave us a run at arranging the vocals and instruments and so we found out a lot more about how to support this sound musically.

A third period of focused writing proved the charm. I went after the songs with all the knowledge and smarts we had accumulated over the period of development and gave myself over to talking about what was really happening in my life. Thats always how my best material has come about in the past. I seem to have to relearn the same lesson every recording project though.

I headed north to write sketches in the early mornings in the boathouse of the family cottage during the summer of 09.

The many moods of the lake kept me open and peaceful and I found the harmonies and melodies showing me the way to a batch of happier songs that described the deeper truths of my experience in a much punchier and more direct communication. I wrote early before anybody got up at the cottage and felt those hours as a kind of holy communion with the muse that was feeding me daily inspiration and joy in the foam of these songs.

Moving to a new location seemed important to get another perspective but Toronto proves too busy for me with my coaching business and friends etc. I asked my pal Bill in Montreal to recommend a spot and his pal Patti was finished off the Bed and Art apt above her art gallery. Perfect artist hideaway for writing.

By the time I was polishing off the lyrics there I could feel the simple power of these melodies working all together in a song cycle. Coming home to record simple piano and voice demo's at the Rogue Studio's in Toronto with JP (which has become part of my working process) I slid the finished tunes to my team of Daniel and Cathie with no expectations.

When Cathie said "you nailed it" we knew it was time to start the process of arranging and recording them. -phew- A three round process was finally finished!

"Domesticated" is finally delivered!

2010-10-17T10:54:00.000-07:00

Sunday Oct 17th

Wow folks. Just handed over the final mastered version of "Domesticated" on Friday and am still unwinding from meeting all the deadlines.. (our Toronto release show is just 2 weeks away and we wanted the disc to be ready!)

The decisions about artwork happened just before Canadian Thanksgiving and thanks to Michael Wrycraft's speed and creative smarts we solved a whole lot of problems real quick. We only shot the cover photo during mix sessions the week before. Final copy on press materials happening at the same time as final mixes and mastering sessions. Yikes! I'll be unwinding until next year.

This disc "Domesticated" is the best recorded work I've ever done (and that includes the 2 discs with The Nylons that I am very proud of!) The songs reflect a new kind of happiness in my soul.. but also the rough journey it took to get here. I'll be telling the story of this disc in following blogs

but today just want to take a moment to breath and reflect on the incredible experience. Drawing a team around these songs has been a deeply fulfilling journey, one of the best of my professional life to date and I really look forward to your feedback as we bring this music out to you starting with the Hugh's Room show.

This music doesn't exist without you after all..if a man sings at the top of his lungs in the forest where no one hears him..is there really music?

Trash Circus

2010-04-19T10:43:00.000-07:00

The unholy marriage of rock n roll and cabaret has always attracted me. This second track from the "Micah Barnes" disc tells the story of my touring the previous disc "Loud Boy Radio" across America. (We called it the "couch and cuddle" tour) :) The glitter and glam influence of the LoudBoy rock n roll experience can be felt in the lyric and edgy vocal even though it's performed on voice and piano. From the safe vantage point of the present day I sound like I am out of my mind. Hmmmm. Maybe I was.

Long Drives. Ugly Hotel Room. Bad Food. Medication for the Blues.Filthy Dressing Rooms.

We musicians are lucky to get to make a life of music but we pay the price for the lifestyle. The road can be a depressing experience that makes you feel unhooked from the world and desperate to put your feet on the ground. This song Trash Circus was written to capture both the allure of the road and also some of the sadness and pain I've experienced out there feeling lost and desperate.

I stared writing Trash Circus as spoken word sketches for a about a year and finished it off as a song in Vegas while working on the track "Good Soldier" for LA based rapper Deadlee's disc. His label had a whole bunch of us staying up at a hotel on the strip while we recorded our parts and there was lots of waiting around so I kept working on Trash Circus while I viewed the decadence of Vegas from behind the Neon sign outside my window. Perfect.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/micah-barnes/id324429103

Venice Beach

2010-04-16T15:50:00.000-07:00

Los Angeles is so intense under the easy going vibe. It takes so much of ourselves just to feel like we're doing OK, let alone great, and you need a safe place to chill and feel protected and peaceful and that's how Venice worked for me.

It was built as an amusement park around the turn of the century by Abbot Kinney (Which is how it's high end shopping street got it's name), and designed as a version of the actual Venice in Italy, with little cottages lining sleepy canals and public bathing houses along the ocean back when the public thronged to amusement parks. The freak show boardwalk still exists giving the tourist a destination,(and the drug dealers an office front!).

Back in the day the trolley went out from downtown Los Angeles along Venice Blvd taking inland residents to the big party at the beach and many of them ended up taking up residence in the little cottages. Especially the artists and writers who were attracted by the beautiful light and the idylic lifestyle. Soon Venice Beach stood for "the bohemian lifestyle" and it's denizens including post war european artists, mixed race couple and gays and lesbians who created an enduring stamp on the town. The 60's and 70's saw Venice become one of the destinations of choice for traveling hippies and grew a beatnik culture of it's own. By the time I came along in the 90's after all those decades of being a safe haven for freaks of every kind the decay and drugs and violence had taken their toll.

We moved into a one room railroad style apt on a crack alley and I proceeded to write the material that would become a series of spoken word and music pieces. Digging into myself for the unfigured out chaos under cover of morning fog that would burn off by noon leaving a brilliant sunny day for the wandering and suddenly this Canadian used to four seasons had found a writers retreat that seemed to go on forever allowing me the time and space to cook the songs that became this album.

Blood On The Keyboard

2010-04-14T07:45:00.000-07:00

All those years of singing classic pop material in The Nylons gave me a real thirst to talk about my own experience as a solo artist. After some years experimenting and stretching myself combining spoken word and electronic oriented music I finally bought an old acoustic piano and put it in my Venice Beach apt.so that I could get back to creating music the old fashioned way. In time I found that my own songs worked best for the listener when they emerged from deep inner world that I had no way to communicate other than in song. You know,the messy unworked out stuff that is hard to name.

AFTER YOU "I took this ugly room with the parking lot view, so I could small the cheap perfume of lonelyness my love"

Working with producer Clint Yeager who comes from a rock n roll background meant taking a risk. Clint pushed me until I was raw. Both as a songwriter and as a recording artist. He said he wanted the audience at home to hear blood on the piano. LOL. You be the judge.

The first song "After You" on my piano and voice disc is written as a communication to an ex-lover, detailing just how bad things have gotten after the break up. Guys tend to hole up inside and wallow and this song is a kind of celebration of that particular state.

Although "After You" was the last tune written for the disc "Micah Barnes", producer Clint Yeager really felt that it defined the overall mood and would work as a good introduction to this particular journey and landscape....http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/micah-barnes/id324429103

Making "Micah Barnes"

2010-04-01T20:50:00.000-07:00

Greetings Folks!

I thought before jumping into telling you about the writing and recording of the new tracks we are making in Toronto, it would be good to have a little look back at the adventure of the last disc and how it all came together.

I was living in Venice Beach, Los Angeles, a single man recovering from a very messy love affair and lifestyle that had literally brought me to my knees in every which way. Sounds kinda ridiculous now that I am so much stronger but sometimes life gives you the kick in the pants that you really need. Buncha intensely personal songs came out of it and focused the album which we called simply "Micah Barnes".

I was writing and performing shows with my rock n roll band LoudBoy and we had recorded songs with legendary producer Geza X. at his Malibu studio which were already finding license for film and T.V. In the middle of all that my buddy (and the bassist in LoudBoy) Clint Yeager turned to me and said that he felt the songs felt more powerful when I performed them solo at the piano ...and suggested that was how I should record them. It was a resounding shock to hear the truth coming from someone who I so respect (and who can eat even more than me at one sitting). I had started my career at the piano and it really and truly seemed the deepest place for those songs to exist. So I told him great idea but he had to produce the recording. :)

After some fun distractions, (involving a Billboard #1 Club single called "Welcome To My Head" produced by pals Thunderpuss), we got to work on choosing the songs and perfecting the arrangements for my own disc in my little Venice apt on Breeze Avenue. Clint would come out from Silverlake (where we had met performing in bands and working the door together at clubs) and we'd have a good visit, we'd play through the stuff and go eat and go for long drives playing music and talking about how important rawness and passion and personal truth were to pulling off this new kind of rock n roll cabaret material solo at the piano.... more on the songs as we go..

Album available online from CD Baby and itunes!

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/micah-barnes/id324429103

Ye Ole Hometown Concert

2009-12-31T16:57:00.000-08:00

DANIEL AND MICAH BARNES IN CONCERT AT THE AL GREEN THEATRE WITH SPECIAL GUEST LORRAINE SEGATO!

So way back in the spring when program director of the Jewish Y Harriet Wichin asked if my Jazz band leading brother Daniel and I wanted to do a concert at the brand spanking new Al Green Theatre in our home neighborhood of The Annex downtown Toronto we jumped at the chance. After all the tribute show to our father composer Milton Barnes had been a sold out success at that venue. Indeed Harriet Wichin is an intelligent producer who knows how to treat artists well.

Our first job was to find a suitable guest to round out the evening that would open with Daniel's Jazz Quartet and end with my more Alternative Pop-oriented trio. Of course our good friend from the Queen Street West days Lorraine Segato was the top of our list and we were thrilled she said yes.

We were also thrilled to have videographer Andy Frank and co. on board to provide live streaming footage of the concert to our friends and fans near and far.

The highlights of the whole event for me were rehearsing the duet of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" with Lorraine at my apartment, joining Daniel's top notch quartet on stage for a couple of songs including the self penned "After The Sun Goes Down" and performing the Nylons cover "Up On The Roof" for the audience that included The Nylons producer/arranger Peter Mann along with other notables including good pal Molly Johnson and her whole family.

A Yummy night of family and music all around.Thanks to those who attended or watched from home! FYI for the local folks Next Toronto Concert event will be June 11th at Hugh's Room.

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

2009-10-26T08:03:00.000-07:00

WHAT I DID ON MY SUMMER VACATION"
So my team of collaborators suggested there might be a missing song for this new batch of recordings we are making this fall. Always the kind of challenge I secretly love even though the pressure to come up with "the right material" can make for a lot of inner anxiety and drama don't you know. The timing for the suggestion was perfect though, as I had a few summer months where I could book off coaching in the city and work at the family cottage. Perfect, I've always found North Ontario a dreamy, intense place to write.Perfect also because my mom author Lilly Barnes was doing the final editing on her novel "Mara" (which will be published in the New Year) so our little family cottage functioned as a kind of a writer's retreat all season.

I remembered back when touring with The Nylons the way the audiences responded to our biggest hits, (Like The Lion Sleeps Tonight, Kiss Him Goodbye etc), standing and singing along and sending this huge wave of love and energy back to us on stage.
This summer I found that I was able to tap into that more joyous feeling in the new melodies and rhythms by getting out of my head and getting out of the way and just letting the universe guide me to the songs.

Starting my day in meditation before anyone was awake, I worked during the morning down in the boat house with a view of the moody, intense lake all of July and August. And gradually something special started to happen. Whereas the material from my last solo release "Micah Barnes" is all very dramatic and intense, mapping my experience of becoming lost in Los Angeles far away from home, the new songs that started to emerge this summer were much happier in their emotional vibration. Hmmmm.

MONTREAL CITY OF MY DREAMING.
By the end of the summer I had a batch of tunes that felt strong enough to want to demo and present to my team. But they sat in various states of unfinishedness. A missing bridge or second verse here and there kept them from being presentable. As luck would have it by dear friend Kathy and I had been talking about sharing an apt in Montreal where she goes for business. I have been having trouble focusing on the writing amidst my busy coaching life in Toronto and wanted a little "get away" place. No sooner had I put the word out to my Montreal singer pal Bil Ringenberg than he got back to us with the perfect suggestion. His friend Patti was starting an artists B&B above her Art Gallery Pink Espace in the Little Burgundy area downtown Montreal. So off I went for a concentrated week of hard work finishing the tunes while the end of summer heat beat down on sexy swinging Montreal. Yummy.
Coming home to Toronto in Sept I used the deadline of studio time to help me stay focused and booked myself a couple of sessions at JP's Rogue Studio's down where I live on Queen Street West. Engineer JP and I cut demo's of six songs
My Teenage Heart, First Steps, Everything, Domesticated, One Last Hurrah, Falling (Now I Know). You can hear the demo's up on MySpace (just click the button from this sites home page).
At this point of the fall brother Daniel and I are putting the new material up on it's feel for shows and working them into the concert set list. Let me know what tunes are speaking" to you! It's all about communication don't you know!

On The Road

2009-08-30T11:24:00.000-07:00

Looking back at our spring tour dates from the lazy hazy days of summer
it all feels like a big blur of motion and excitement.
Jazz vocalist Shannon Butcher and I began making preparations while it was still freezing in Toronto and so named the tour "Up Jumped Spring" with hope in our heart. The idea was to share a band (Micheal Shand on keys, Ross MacIntyre and Daniel Barnes on drums), and duet on a few tunes at the end of the night. Turns out Shannon and I made a great team, she's logical and professional, I'm moody and impulsive..perfect. The clip included on this blog of us trying out different "duet requests"from the fans captures the fun.
Hamilton's historic Corktown was the perfect start. Everyone remembers getting drunk there back when it was Steeltown's only punk venue. The Donefors opened the show which was a lovely thing for us since we love their music and Janine had designed our classy tour poster.
Traveling in Daniel's Van was always exciting being that masking tape holding several important parts of the vehicle together. Losing a windshield wiper in the rain on the way to London sorta increased the whole excitement of being out on the road. Nothing like an emergency to bring folks together.
So our second show was at The London Music Club a real "music first" kind of venue that helps builds acts to local audiences in London Ontario. Crazily Shannon had just flown in from a performance in London, England for tourism Ontario the night before. Very international indeed.
By the time our little tour headed east to Ottawa's Mercury Lounge our show had been very nearly cancelled due to gun violence near the club the week before. In our nation's sleepy capital! Luckily everything was back to normal by the time we arrived and our hostess Sara Ainslie made us feel deliriously happy as always. The Mercury Lounge turns into an excellent dance club after and it was fun for us to hang out and "part-ee".

The next show was in Kingston at the downtown public library and my good pals Kathy and Rose fed and boarded the band in their century old homes, giving us that homecookin' feeling and full tummies before we headed off the next day to Montreal.
The Upstairs in Montreal was certainly my favorite show of the tour. Audiences in Quebec are always eager and the new fans I met while opening concerts for pal Molly Johnson came out to see us. We played encores till we ran out of material. After the audience left, bassist Ross and pianist Micheal Shand started playing old funk favorites and kept us singing and grooving until the wee hours. My favorite moments of the whole tour!

The last show at Toronto's Lula Lounge was filmed by our new pal Andy Frank and we've posted the first clip on You Tube ("I Came Back"). I have to say dueting with Shannon on The Beatles "The Two Of Us" and "Centerpiece" was a thrill for me. Ms. Butcher, who was also a member of a vocal group, (Swing Rosie),and knows harmony well has impeccable intonation and tone. Plus she knows all the words to 90's grunge songs. Now thats a jazz diva who is fun in the van!

2009-05-07T07:06:00.000-07:00

Hey Folks.
Last week was CRAZEE with my musical direction gig on "The Ecstacy Of Rita Joe" opening in Ottawa at The National Arts Centre AND the kick off of our Spring Tour in Hamilton. BUT working with the cast and creative team on "Rita Joe" was very interesting and enjoyable.
The new score really recasts the whole tale as a spiritual journey that Rita is on so she's less of a victim and more of a seeker.
Given the unreported and unpunished rape and murder rates for native women I think thats an important change in this historical work which opened the National Arts Centre in the 70's. The current cast is strong indeed and the story is sadly still topical.

So, the very next night after opening I flew back to Toronto and Shannon and I kicked off the tour at The Corktown in Hamilton! A perfect night to start things rolling with a full house and a strong opening set by Janine Stoll and her group The Donefors! (Janine designed our excellent tour poster which really gives us class and swank).
Shannon and I tried the Beatles "The Two Of Us" (from the Let It Be album) as a duet and it worked like a dream...
The picture above is us at the stage door before loading up on greasy fries. Looking forward to London Ontario tomorrow!

Up Jumped Micah

2009-04-24T05:45:00.000-07:00

Queen Street West is so nice and quiet first thing in the morning. No shoppers yet. No clubbers left from the night before. Only the birds and the sun peeking up over the buildings. Different from Venice Beach where I ran on the beach all those years in the morning...ah but Trinity Bellwoods park is the reason I held out for this apt!!

OK. This whole getting ready to tour thing is a lot more details that you ever think of right? Like where does the band stay in Montreal? And what duet are Shannon and I going to sing? AND AND AND..but I am reminded that this whole idea is about being able to play the music and bring it to the people man! So we're out talking to the press and updating our You Tube with new clips and making sure that the folks know we're coming to their town on Facebook etc and in all of this I am trying to stay focused on the reason ...by playing over the new songs Daniel and I are arranging for the upcoming disc every morning (driving my hard working neighbors crazy I'm sure). The Gypsy Heart tune might be a good title for the collection. We'll see.

"Up Jumped Spring"!

2009-03-30T17:19:00.000-07:00

So, today my partner in crime Shannon Butcher and I filmed and posted our first You Tube Video Clip announcing the SPRING TOUR DATES! The whole thing was fun and breezy. (We are holding back the outtakes because they are just so damn cute and really we dont want to swamp the internet with too much charm all at once).

The whole reaching out to "new audiences thing" (which is what this spring tour is all about ),is feeling really exiting. For the past year or so my brother Daniel Barnes (drummer-composer extraordinaire) and I have been creating the material and arrangements for a new collection of songs. But of course that means lots and lots of time down in the rehearsal studio.

Joining forces with Shannon Butcher for tour dates is an opportunity to bring this music to a whole bunch of new faces who might remember me from my years singing as a member of The Nylons. Hope to see you out at the shows.