Monster Bobby
Monster Bobby (performing with The Pipettes, 2007)
Monster Bobby (performing with The Pipettes, 2007)
Background information
OriginBrighton, England[1]
GenresIndie pop
Years active2003–present with The Pipettes
2006–present Solo
LabelsHypnote Recording Concern
WebsiteOfficial MySpace

Monster Bobby (born Robert William Barry, 1981) is an English singer-songwriter, best known as the creator of and guitarist for the indie pop girl group The Pipettes.

Overview

In 2001, when Monster Bobby was just Bobby Barry, he starred in Weirdsister College, the spin-off series of The Worst Witch, in which he played the mysterious Nick Hobbes. Prior to that he starred in the film New Year's Day as Stephen, written by Ralph Brown and directed by Suri Krushnamma and released in 2001.

Monster Bobby is most well known as being guitarist for The Cassette(s), The Pipettes' all-male backing band. He is frequently credited by The Pipettes both with developing the idea of a modern girl group, and with introducing the members of The Pipettes to one another.[2] He has been described as the group's "Svengali",[3] but rejects any notion of "individual genius" in his role with The Pipettes, stating that "most of the most interesting music is made in such a collective fashion that it is very hard to assign individual responsibility".[4]

Monster Bobby's solo work is a conceptual mix of electronic samples, offbeat songwriting and avant-garde intellectual influences, significantly different from the upbeat girl group pop of The Pipettes. To date, many of Monster Bobby's recordings have appeared as limited edition singles and on compilations, though his debut album, "Gaps" released in 2007, was made up of original material and was widely available.[5]

Since the late 1990s, Monster Bobby has run an irregular series of club nights, concerts, events and a fanzine called Totally Bored or "TB".[6] The bands that were initially involved in TB included The Electric Soft Parade, British Sea Power, The Tenderfoot and The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster, who were based around Mockin' Bird Studio, run by Marc Beatty, keyboardist in Tenderfoot and later, member of Brakes. It was in this milieu back in Brighton that the idea for the Pipettes was eventually conceived. Totally Bored eventually spread along with Monster Bobby's more "academic" interests to London's New Cross, where it grew into a zine and a radio show.[7]

Monster Bobby claims his music to be as affected by Freud, Stockhausen and Derrida as it is by The Human League, The Archies and S'Express.[8]

Monster Bobby also writes a blog at thebombparty and frequent online and printed articles principally on music and film in amongst others "the Quietus" "Electric Sheep" "the Wire" and "Frieze". He is also the author of Music of the Future, which was published by Repeater Books in 2017.[9]

He started the "Little Orchestra" to play original contemporary classical music and contemporary classics such as "Terry Riley's" "In C"

Filmography

New Year's Day (2000)

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
2001 Weirdsister College Nicholas "Nick" Hobbes Series 1 (13 episodes)

Discography

Albums

Year Album
2007 Gaps[1]

Singles

Year Title
2006 "Even Monsters Can Be People"
2006 "Heaven Hides Nothing"
2008 "I am a Pedestrian"

References

  1. 1 2 Samantha Promisloff (17 July 2007). "Wrap Your 'Arms' Around Monster Bobby". Spin. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  2. ↑ National Student: Pipettes Interview Archived 25 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ↑ Interscope.com: Of The Morning Call
  4. ↑ Current Press Priorities: Monster Bobby Interview
  5. ↑ Hypnote Recording Concern
  6. ↑ Goldstar Public Relations (link)
  7. ↑ Hypnote Press Release Archived 6 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ↑ Dodero, Camille (30 July 2007). "Hugs and Kisses, The Outbursts of Everett True: Monster Bobby, The Pipettes". The Village Voice. Archived from the original on 7 August 2007.
  9. ↑ Barry, Robert (2017). The Music of the Future. Watkins Media Limited. ISBN 978-1-910924-96-9.
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