Barry and his younger brother, drummer Dave, are descended from circus proprietors
My maternal grandmother’s family were called Newsome and there were two brothers, James and Timothy, who had several hippodromes in the UK. James was a lion tamer and so was his wife. He was mauled and died – just down the road from where we live. Timothy was an equestrian master. For a while he lived in Russia with a tsar because he could tame any wild horse within half an hour. It’s all true!
Gang Of Four’s Andy Gill got Barry into fine dining
He’s a total gastronome. I was like, ‘Andy, what are oysters like?’ He said, ‘Barry, oysters are like eating the essence of the ocean.’ (Laughs) Raw sea urchins are the best thing ever. It’s like [having relations] with the ocean. In your mouth.
Barry once took an award-winning turn as Tarzan
I was five years old and we went to Pontin’s. I had a bin liner for clothes and a bow and arrow, but perhaps I won the competition more for my ability to behave like Tarzan.
The band’s rather popular in Dubai
We’ve played there five times. If you live on the north-east coast of England and someone rings up and says, ‘Do you fancy going to the desert for the weekend?’ you’re like, ‘Yes please!’ I don’t care if I’m arrested or probed for looking like a musician, I’ll still take some of those damaging rays. There’s no moshing. They’re all too weighed down by their jewellery. You see some very affluent, vulgar people there.
If he could be any creature, Barry says he would be an African lungfish
It’s immortal. It lives in fresh water and when the sun evaporates it, the lungfish burrows into the ground where it can remain for a year or for 20. As soon as the water comes back, the lungfish will come back to life. It’s like cryogenics!
He’s an advocate of meditation
A couple of years ago, I was having problems with anxiety and stress and it was affecting my behaviour. I went to our manager, Jazz Summers, a meditation master, and he gave me some books. I read them when I was on honeymoon and it really sunk in beautifully. I realised that the way I’d been approaching life had been a little naive, certain things that I thought were important really weren’t. I had a lot of aggression, anger and unfulfilledness. Then I got into meditation and gradually I found I could change my attitude. It’s made the world a far more interesting place.
