Barbarian Hermit: Exit The Hermitage
After some time in the wilderness, no doubt spent skinning beasts, tanning hides and battling fearsome foes, Manchester’s psychedelic doom lords BARBARIAN HERMIT finally return to the musical fray this Summer with new album Mean Sugar. The follow-up to 2019’s full-length debut Solitude And Savagery, it promises to be one of the stand-out records of 2024. But what have the band really been up to over the past five years? We caught up with returning vocalist Simon Scarlett to find out.
Having been a part of the band’s original lineup, and vocalist on the band’s 2016 debut EP One, how did Si’s return to the band come about?
“Firstly, it’s great to be back!” Si beams. “Mike [Regan, guitars] and I have known each other for years and during a drunken lockdown Zoom we got to chatting about doing some music together again. It just so happened around this time that Ed, who sang vocals on the first album, was looking to focus on his other projects as things were starting to open back up again. So I was straight back in there. Fast as a whippet! Gaz [Manning, drums] and Bobby [Sutcliffe, bass] had joined while I was away so it kind of felt like a new band with the dynamics and all but with Adam [Robertshaw, guitars] and Mike still on guitars, we kind of just picked up where we left off in 2016 but this time with new skills and ideas.”
Mean Sugar is being released through APF Records, a label that over the last ten years has established itself as one of the UK’s finest purveyors of filthy sludge and doom. Having released their previous work through APF, the band felt it was only natural to return to their spiritual home for the new record. “Of course it had to be APF! Fieldy (Andrew Field, head of the label) was at our first ever gig back in 2014. He was super supportive from the beginning, even before he started the label. He always eggs us on!”
Since their inception the band have been a part of a scene in Northern England that is constantly going from strength to strength, with APF, Riffolution Promotions and bands like BOSS KELOID, BATTALLIONS, CONAN, RITUAL KING, MASTIFF and many more at the heart of it. It’s a community that BARBARIAN HERMIT recognise as being pretty special.
“Yeah totally! There must be something in the water!” Laughs Si. “I think what makes it work is how collaborative it all is. We play in each other’s bands when someone can’t make a gig, drive each other about, lend kit, share costs, cross promote. We’re all just fans of each other and want everyone to do well. Many of us have actually been part of it since our school days. We’d attend the same rock clubs, have metal and doom house parties and play guerrilla gigs in squatted buildings.”
After Si rejoined BARBARIAN HERMIT, they instantly started working on what would become Mean Sugar. That process has taken the best part of three years but, as Si tells us, that doesn’t mean it’s been a painful or difficult process at all. “We’ve absolutely loved it. I wish I could sequester the rest of the band for like three solid months in a cave with nowt but Berrocas, Jaffa Cakes and all our recording gear. We’d pump out three full albums and a few concept EPs in that time, no problem. Crafting a song together is so fulfilling when you get in the flow. It’s just mad how long some things take when you’ve got other commitments. Some of us have families and businesses to run which is, of course, very inconsiderate!”
The new record was recorded and mixed by Joe Clayton (of Manchester post-rockers PIJN) and mastered by former CONAN bassist Chris Fielding, which must have been a really positive experience, especially given that Northern metal community we talked about earlier?
“Yeah, we loved recording with Joe. He is an absolute beast of a workaholic. His studio, which is in an old slaughterhouse basement under the shadows of Strangeways prison, is busy for a reason! He’s full of ideas and knows when to be hands-on but also just creates an environment where others can flourish, which in itself is an art. Having Chris mastering it made sense and gave continuity to our sound as he recorded and mixed the debut.”
Interestingly, Mean Sugar is effectively a concept album that focuses on the trials and tribulations of growing up in the North; something the band of course draw a great deal of inspiration from. “Well, the North is a place of rebellion, of trade unionism, the cooperative movement,” continues Si. “There’s baked-in collectivist thinking. Lyrically, I’ve kept to that idea and tried to use regional phrasing to tell stories in a Northern tongue. Musically we play with contrasts and try to make it all a journey. Think of it as a trek across the Pennines – you’ll be struck by a bit of everything.”
If any of you have come across BARBARIAN HERMIT recently, it’s most probably through the hilariously weird video for Stitched Up, the first single off the new album and it sounds like the band had a great time recording it.
“Yes, you can blame my mate Kane Von Pencilcase for that!” Si laughs. “He’s an old school mate and film maker. When he did the video for 2015’s Burn The Fire, he basically trolled me through the medium of our own music video – I’m allergic to cats and prawns so he superimposed them on to my head. Of course, we were delighted when he said he would do Stitched Up. The volcano of pugs you see in the video is my dog Dita Von Pug, who has more Instagram followers than I do!” And with that joyous exclamation, Si is off into the sunset to rejoin his fellow Hermits, ready to pillage a town near you with some unmissable live shows.
Mean Sugar is out now via APF Records.
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