“We hope that our listeners hear an inspiring life force in this music” – Mister Barrington Bounce Back

Fiery, funky and fearless US/UK electro-soul-fusion trio Mister Barrington have become something of a cult phenomenon since their self-titled debut album in 2011. Comprised of a heavy-hitting trio of players – singer/keyboardist Oli Rockberger, bassist Owen Biddle and drummer Zach Danziger – the band have wowed audiences with their unique mix of soulful jazz-influenced song writing, ultra-heavy funk grooves and a daredevil embrace of cutting-edge-technology. Individually they’ve racked up numerous high-calibre sideman credits, keys man Rockberger has toured with Laura Mvula and written and recorded songs with the likes of Gregory Porter, Randy Brecker and Steve Gadd; Nashville-based bassist Biddle made a sizeable impact holding down the low-end for superstar hip hop band The Roots among countless other sessions; while Danziger is widely considered to be one of today’s leading jazz-fusion drummers with a long list of credits including Donny McCaslin, Michel Camilo, Leni Stern, Bob Mintzer and many others.

Yet, Mister Barrington is where the three virtuosos’ personalities shine as they push sonic boundaries and dive deep into a compelling blend of finely honed melodies, edge-of-the-seat broken beats and daring production techniques. The band have been quiet since 2015’s album, Can’t Turn Back, but as lockdowns ensued due to the global pandemic, the band began to work on new music, which snowballed into a new album. The recently released album, Regenerate, is their fourth to date and burst out of the slumber of lockdown with a set of beat-laden bass-heavy, life affirming songs.

Jazzwise spoke to the band about their origins and why they decided to reawaken the quirky musical character that is Mister Barrington.

For people who don’t know the band how did you guys form?

Oli Rockberger (OR): “Zach and I met through a mutual friend, Adam Dorn aka: Mocean Worker, as part of his band. It was a great project, which also fused live playing with electronic elements. Zach and I would often play duo in soundchecks and there was something kindred there. We then began working on a duo project – Danziger/Rockberger – making tracks together. We eventually wanted to bring a bass player to the fold. At the time The Roots were playing regularly in NYC. We went along to some gigs and were just so knocked out by Owen Biddle’s bass playing. We kind of semi-stalked him for a little bit, had a jam together and went from there. That was just before the first Mister Barrington album and we’ve been working together ever since.

Was there a burning desire to really fuse technology and obviously song-writing and improvisation was that the kind of starting point for this project?

OR: “Initially it was an admiration for each other musically which sparked things and wanting to work together. And from there, a kind of curiosity emerged to combine the various elements you mention, and bring together the things, which resonated with each of us musically. Zach has been at the cutting edge of integrating electronic production with improvised music for a while. I think we felt that there was something exciting potentially between a marriage of this with my songwriting sensibility, Owen’s unique approach bass-wise, and our collective love of jazz, soul and electronic music.”

You’re all involved in different projects, in different settings, how does your approach differ from Mister Barrington to say working with Gregory Porter or Donny McCaslin or other people that you work with?

GROUP: “I think working as a founding member of an original band is quite different than roles in say a solo project, or as a co-writer or sideman. We all enjoy the variety of doing these different things in our careers. But, with Mister Barrington, there’s something about the sum of what we all bring musically which allows us to take some different kinds of musical risks together that we wouldn’t in other settings. I think we’ve also inspired each other a fair bit in different ways by pushing each other musically. Also having the chance to shape an identity beyond just the musical side of things, for example with the design, promotion, touring, and overall aesthetic under a collective banner, has been a different challenge that we’ve really enjoyed.”

I love the way you use your voice Oli on a lot of the tracks, you seem to be surfing over a lot of heavy rhythmic and groove stuff underneath, how do you change your approach when singing and writing songs with Barrington?

OR: “Thank you! I think that the rhythmic and groove elements are such a key part of what makes ‘Mister Barrington’ distinctive, and is often the starting point for the tracks from a jam or what have you. This foundation inspires my vocal top line approach, and often there’s a specific phrasing which seems to fit what’s underneath. It’s almost like I’m looking for that particular slot, like a jigsaw puzzle where the vocal locks into a particular place, to hopefully draw something else from the groove. So really thinking about my vocal in Mister B as another interlocking rhythmic piece is perhaps a different emphasis than on other projects. It’s a delicate thing with the vocals generally in Mister B – and a good challenge for me – because we all feel that there’s an equal billing between production, playing, groove and songwriting elements. So we want to make sure that there’s enough air in the lyrics for those other elements to also speak. One approach to achieve that as you touch on are moments where the vocal takes more of a textural role, floating over the top, which in turn allows more space for the rhythmic elements underneath. Overall I’d say that the rhythmic foundation created by the three of us is unlike anything I’ve experienced in other projects. It definitely leads me to choices as a vocalist, which I might not make elsewhere. For me that’s part of the excitement of writing with Mister Barrington – it has really stretched me in different ways as a singer, songwriter, player and producer.”

Obviously we’ve been in a semi or full lockdown for quite a lot of time since March, so was that the ideal opportunity to re-start doing this band?

GROUP: “Yeah... it kind of evolved organically, really as a chance for us to come together through music in a moment where we could all do with a point of connection – to give a break from isolation and another way to spend time productively. There were no thoughts at that point really of a full record or re-starting the band. It was just to enjoy the hang and camaraderie, and make music as a means of supporting each other through this mad time. Once we started, it seemed that there was a lot for us to channel through this outlet, and an album began to take shape.”

The songs have a really bittersweet flavour on there, is that reflecting the times that are in?

GROUP: “All of these tracks came to fruition between April-June time, charting a course through lockdown and all that happened in that period. So the bitter part of what you mention is really our dealing with the isolation, and channelling the feelings of unfairness, and suffering brought about by these difficult times. Perhaps any positivity – or sweetness – comes in moments where there’s a feeling of hope in the music for renewal and a better life on the other side. We hope that our listeners hear an inspiring life force in this music.”

I love the idea of regenerating and restarting or rekindling the fires of a life for a relationship and I’m guessing that’s also based on what a lot of us are going through right now?

GROUP: “It was interesting for us because ‘Regenerate’ was one of the final tracks we produced. When the title emerged there was a kind of light-bulb moment for us, where it felt like we’d locked in to the core theme of the album. The title resonated with us for a number of reasons; there has been such a need to take stock on many levels, with the hope that we’ll all re-emerge in a new way. For us, ‘Regenerate’ really spoke to that idea and in other sense, also to the reawakening of Mister Barrington.”

You are quite well known for using Ableton Live as part of your setup and linking all three of your set ups together to play in sync. Did you do that at all on this album or is it much more of a traditional studio affair?

GROUP: “Ableton has been a huge part of our setups for both the live and composing/production process over the years. For this particular record Ableton played a hand, mostly in the conventional DAW sense. That said, some of the songs that we sourced from older sessions were made with our Ableton rigs connected and synced. We also used Logic Pro in the writing/mixing/mastering process. With our records to date, we had all been living in NYC with the ability to go in to the studio and record things together and then edit after the fact. With us now scattered around (Zach in NY, Owen in Nashville and Oli in London) – and also in lockdown in our respective cities – we needed to work in a different way. The hope was that these tracks could maintain the aesthetic from our last records i.e. a live performance feel combined with electronic post-production. We revisited and reimagined older recorded sessions, some dating back to the time of our first release. The good thing about starting from that foundation was that the live playing aspect was at the core… We then edited, added parts from our home studios, and wrote to those new versions. In spite of the limitations of distance, it was still really important to us that this record would reflect the approach from our albums to date – and we hope that’s the case for fans of the group.”

I have to ask one ‘bass geek’ question to Owen, how are you getting a lot of the sounds on the bass? There’s obviously a ton of new synth petals on the market but you’ve also been known to use Soft-synths in Ableton did you do that here as well?

Owen Biddle: “Not a lot of software processing, or any midi tracking/soft synth on my bass for this album. The main pedal I've been using is a Mike Beigel Octave Divider. I use UAD plugins, and have a few different chains in Console for tracking bass, which usually include some combination of Empirical Labs Distressor, 610-B, or SVT-VR Classic.”

Obviously touring isn’t possible right now so how are you guys keeping yourselves busy?

GROUP: “Working on this record has been a really vital way for all of us to keep sane and productive. We’re all working on various creative projects remotely at the moment, and like everyone, looking forward to touring and performing when things re-open.”

And hopefully will we see you again playing gigs with this band?

GROUP: “You never know - it could happen! Depends on where we are all up to by the time the gates reopen and how the record is received. We’ve always enjoyed playing and hanging together on the road, so let’s see what the future brings.”

Regenerate is out now on all digital platforms