Beards have been around forever

Words by Micah Higbed

Creighton Barrett, the drummer for Band of Horses walks in looking more skatepunk than alt-country, he has the words ‘Lost Paws’ tattooed  across knuckles which hold a jumbo sized cup of coffee, he sits down opposite me on the couch and we talk about his place in the Band.

How did you join Band of Horses?
Me and Ben grew up together and we played in a punk band together in South Carolina, we were called ‘the Steadmans’ after Oprah’s boyfriend. The first drummer from the Band of Horses, he quit halfway through the recording process of the first record, our friend Sera joined in and then I was asked to be the touring drummer, so I kind of fell into this spot.

Indie rock I have to say, indie rock did change my life,  going from punk and metal being pretty much my flavour. There’s just a time when you realise what melody is and there’s a time when your ear finds it pleasurable, harmonies and stuff like that, so it’s actually in a lot of ways just a maturing of taste. Twenty years ago or even  ten  years ago I would never have thought I’d be a mid tempo drummer you now what I mean? And it’s the hardest tempo in the fucking world, just to hold it down., you’ve gotta be the fucken anchor. As a drummer I think as well if you’re not gonna be all over the place performance wise, at least let it look like you’re having a good time, give people something to watch. The irony is that now, I usually listen to music that has minimal drumming to it like Smog and stuff like that. Also I’ve been listening to a lot of dub and reggae. Reggae drumming has always been such a mystery to me it’s so crazy and quirky and it’s so solid.

There’s a lot of white guy’s with dread locks in Australia, what do
you think of them?
I think it’s embarrassing personally. I mean to each their own hair is hair but I guess I hope they grow out of it.

Coming into an established band, do you get much say in how the music goes?
It’s pretty democratic but to me Band of Horses is really about Ben, I believe once his voice is on it, it is a Band of Horses song. I do what I can to embellish, see if it works and if not tone it down

Is there a question you get tired of getting asked?
I dunno maybe the beard thing.

The beard thing?
We always have to talk about our beards, I don’t even think about having a beard,  I just don’t fucking shave.

Apparently it’s the ‘in thing’ in Melbourne to have a beard…
I think it’s the in thing everywhere, it’s beards man! They’ve been around forever.