As illogical as it may sound at the outset, Los Angeles-based
band My Barbarian is in fact the logical result of the combination
of an actor, a filmmaker, a video director, a playwright and a
trained artist. Oh, and they play music, too.
It would be easy to lazily describe the band, especially their
energetic cabaret-style live show, as being impossible to define.
Caught somewhere between the more quirky humor of a Christopher
Guest film and the intense sincerity of a smash Broadway musical,
My Barbarian currently finds itself in the unique position of,
without sounding pretentious, actually being able to claim it is
unlike anything else going on in music today.
Here’s just one example: At a recent show at the Los Feliz
Moroccan eatery/nightclub Tangier, the group performed the song
“Upstairs,” during which members of the band launched
into a dizzyingly intricate vocal harmony, performed
pre-choreographed, disco-inspired dance moves, and belted out
insightful lyrics about apartment life ““ ranging from topics
like shared laundry facilities to excessive masturbation. More than
a few members of the appreciative crowd, seated at low tables and
in overstuffed love-seats in front of the Tangier stage, nearly
fell on the floor laughing.
But as the improbable combination of some of the musical
influences the band members site suggests (Cole Porter, the
B-52’s, Kate Bush, and Tin Pan Alley are just a few,) My
Barbarian is not always received so well by an entire audience.
“Sometimes we’re just a little too much for people
to handle,” explained Jade Gordon, the band’s lead
female vocalist.
Gordon, an actress who was nominated for an IFP Independent
Spirit Award for her work in “Sugartown,” was quick to
admit that not every venue the band has played worked for their
particular style. “It also depends on who we’re playing
with,” she added.
“(Often) it’ll just be one person in the room who is
getting it, but we can tell that that person is there,” added
Alex Segade, the lead male singer, who also graduated from UCLA
with a B.A. in English in 1996.
Segade, who sports a decidedly not-of-this-era moustache that
suggests a certain amount of devotion to the kind of
decade-blending theatrics often employed by My Barbarian during
their live shows, is also a video director, having helmed the
surrealist video of My Barbarian’s song “Unicorns
L.A.”
That each band member comes from an entirely different artistic
background is the essential and defining feature of My Barbarian.
These are not guitar-obsessed garage rockers, desperately trying to
cling to an indie sensibility while reaching for a mainstream
record deal. These are the musical theater geeks you used to make
fun of in high school, only to discover that as grown-ups, being
talented singers and dancers is actually cool.
The point is that if Gordon and Segade lacked the acting chops
they so brazenly display on stage, My Barbarian’s humor would
not translate. And if keyboardist and vocalist Malik Gaines, who
has a B.A. in history from UCLA, was not also a playwright, the
well-crafted narrative structure of their songs would no doubt be
missing.
The result of My Barbarian’s genre mixing is a performance
style the band has dubbed “Showcore,” an apt enough
name for a sensibility that seems to be continuing to evolve.
“In art and music and the theater, all these people
don’t really hang out together, they don’t know each
other,” Segade said. “The only way to make anything
really interesting is to mix it up.”
My Barbarian performs at Spaceland tonight, along with La
Guardia and The Hardplace. Visit www.clubspaceland.com or call
(323) 661-4380 for details.