Dec 10, 2019

Behind The Life & Music: The Barrens

Today we would like to introduce you to The Barrens.

The Barrens are a band based out of San Antonio, TX with a rhythmic, free, and pure sound. They just wrapped recording their debut EP, "Young", and will be releasing the first single from it early 2020. You will for sure need to be on the lookout for them in the close future! The Barrens are comprised of Jordan Gibbons (Lead vocals, primary songwriter, rhythm guitar) Dana Smith (Backing vocals, lead guitar) Trey Connor (Backing vocals, lead guitar) Nick Chambers (Drums) Cory Chennoweth (Bass).

Interview With The Barrens

Background

"Dana and I moved to Austin two years ago to start this project. We met playing in a country cover band from San Antonio, where we spent our weekends playing weddings, dive bars, farmer’s markets, etc. We felt it was time to make the move to Austin and focus more on our songwriting and establishing ourselves as an original act. We spent a year writing, recording demos, and finding the right players. Funny enough, we met the other three on a music forum on Facebook. Does that scream millennial? We describe our sound as “somewhere in between” organic and polished; country and alternative; modern and traditional. We draw inspiration from country, alternative rock, and pop influences. The (Barrens) name is a hand me down from Dana's Uncle, who was in a Chicago jazz band in the ’70s called “Mike Smith and The Barrens”. We liked the tradition of passing down the name and felt it reflected the rural, dry, barren landscape of Bergheim Texas, where Dana and I met and began playing music together. Not to mention the barren bank accounts that come with trying to make it as a young musician, haha." - Jordan

Who are you inspired by?

"Maren Morris, Kacey Musgraves, Michelle Branch, Alanis Morissette, Holly Williams, Little Big Town, Dawes, Jamestown Revival, Ryan Bingham, The Wreckers, Kings of Leon, The Killers, Matchbox 20."

What is your musical history?

"Everyone in the group has grown up playing in different projects. Dana [Smith] and I [Jordan Gibbons] met playing in a country cover band from San Antonio. Nick [Chambers] was formerly drumming for the Americana group, Birds of Chicago. Trey [Connor] is originally from Detroit and has his own solo project going on. Cory, [Chenoweth] an Indiana native, has played in various groups over the years."

What's the biggest problem you have had to overcome

"The toughest part has been getting our foot in the door at new venues. It's a lot of unanswered emails and phone calls at first, but we're starting to get some traction and hope we can continue to fill our calendar and share our stuff."

If you could change anything about the industry what would it be?

"With the way the music industry is today, you have to learn to split your time between the music and the business side of things, especially as an independent band. It can be hard to strike a balance between the two. In a perfect world, we would only have to worry about writing songs and playing. But we want to make a living doing this, so we've had to learn how to treat it like a business."

Are there hidden meanings to your music?

"Our lyrics are usually pretty simple, conversational, straightforward. We write about what we know or what we've gone through. There are stories behind each song that aren't explicitly communicated, so you could say those are the hidden gems that we keep for ourselves. We always hope that our listeners are able to take the words from our songs and relate them to their own experiences."

What is one venue you dream of playing?

"The Ryman & Red Rocks."

Are you working on any new music?

"We just wrapped recording on our debut EP, "Young", and will be releasing our first single in early 2020. We've been working on this project for a while now and are stoked to finally be able to share it. We tracked the songs at The Zone Recording Studio, Mike Morgan's place out in Dripping Springs. Pat Manske engineered for us and made us feel right at home. We had the best time and are really happy with how everything turned out."