Brendan Fowler is a musician, artist, and writer who performs under
the pseudonym BARR. He helps run a record label called Dogg and
Pony, is coeditor of the arts and culture magazine ANP
Quarterly, and has performed his music in seminal art spaces all
across the world. These things are all great, but what makes Fowler
(BARR—it’s all the same, really) unique is how open he is to
earnest communication.
The guy simply holds nothing back. In a recent conversation, he was
candid about a recent point of controversy in his life. BARR was asked
to play a couple of shows with the bands AIDS Wolf and Jay
Reatard, but Fowler simply couldn’t roll with those band names.
“It would be like calling your band Jay Faggot,” he says. “No one
would let you call it that, but you can get away with calling it Jay
Reatard.” He canceled his performances at both concerts and put
together an art show to challenge artists with inappropriate
monikers and call for social accountability. It is currently
hanging at Rivington Arms, a contemporary art gallery in New York. “I’m
not coming at them from any sort of personal thing, but those band
names are just supposed to stress you out,” he says.
While the up-front vibe and message of his music is positive and
motivating, BARR also tackles difficult personal and social issues,
“forcing dialogue” and using his music as a way of dealing with the
stress of everyday life.
“I’ve always wanted BARR to be really direct and honest,” he says.
“I guess I’m trying to make people feel not alone and, ideally,
empowered.” He hopes that people can believe that in life there is
“space for triumph.” He speaks of this space in “Context Ender”
off his latest album, Summary: “There is so much space on this
earth that is full of whatever you’re looking for.”
While he may write a song about a bad breakup so that you can feel
better about yours, BARR is also helping himself by getting it off his
chest. Therapy is expensive, friends get busy, and parents just
don’t understand. Why not write a song about it? 