''Barbara'' is the third studio album by

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

band

We Are Scientists We Are Scientists is a New York City-based rock band that formed in Berkeley, California, in 1999. It consists primarily of guitarist and vocalist Keith Murray and bass guitarist Chris Cain, with drummer Keith Carne joining the band in the studi ...

, released (digitally and physically) in the UK on June 14, 2010. The release was supported by singles "Rules Don't Stop," released on April 5, 2010, and " Nice Guys," released June 7, 2010. Following the band's split from

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...

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in November 2009, the record was released by

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in the United Kingdom.

Background and recording

In March 2008, We Are Scientists released its second studio album '' Brain Thrust Mastery'' through EMI Records. It was a moderate commercial success, and charted at number eleven on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

. Some critics dismissed the album as inconsistent and a let down when compared to the band's 2005 debut ''

With Love and Squalor ''With Love and Squalor'' is the major label debut album from rock band We Are Scientists. It was released in the United Kingdom in October 2005 on Virgin Records and charted at 43, with a large cult following which enabled it to after near ...

''. Dom Gourlay of '' Drowned in Sound'' in particular wrote: "''Brain Thrust Mastery'' was a largely forgettable experience ... it reeked of a record overshadowed by record company interference whose ultimate aim was instant payback via radio playlisting and that all-important monster hit". We Are Scientists lead singer Keith Murray said the band had some steep financial obligations at the time, and were advised by management to release another album quickly as to relieve themselves of these obligations. Murray also noted there was in fact some interference from EMI: Before recording ''Brain Thrust Mastery'', longtime drummer

Michael Tapper Michael Tapper is an American musician and member of the Los Angeles band Fool's Gold. He was a member of the indie rock band We Are Scientists, with Keith Murray and Chris Cain, until November 2007. He played the drums for the band and assiste ...

left We Are Scientists. For the next few years, the band performed with several interim drummers before settling on

Andy Burrows Andrew William Burrows (born 30 June 1979) is an English songwriter and musician. He's best known as the drummer for Razorlight from 2004 until 2009 before rejoining in 2021. He's also served as the drummer for We Are Scientists from 2009 to ...

. At the time, Burrows had left his previous band

Razorlight Razorlight are an English indie rock band, formed in 2002 in London by lead singer and guitarist Johnny Borrell. Along with Borrell, the current line-up of the band is composed of founding members Björn Ågren on guitar and bassist Carl Delemo ...

, and the two members of We Are Scientists asked him to join the band. Murray said while he and bassist Chris Cain had become great friends through touring, the duo never felt like a true band. According to Murray: "Doing it with Andy it felt like a band again it felt like 3 dudes who wanted to run into a room and be loud, be crazy, and also finish up so we could go to the pub together and hang out and forget everything we had rehearsed. It was definitely rejuvenating to have him". Murray wrote the majority of the songs on ''Barbara'' whilst staying between a rented cottage in

Athens, Georgia Athens, officially Athens–Clarke County, is a consolidated city-county and college town in the U.S. state of Georgia. Athens lies about northeast of downtown Atlanta, and is a satellite city of the capital. The University of Georgia, the sta ...

, and Miami Beach, Florida. ''Barbara'' was then recorded at various studios in

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and

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. Rechtshaid produced the album, while Dana Nielsen and Mike Boden served as the engineers. The recording sessions for ''Barbara'' proved difficult for the band members, as they dealt with what Cain described as "a lot of label-juggling, a lot of management juggling".

Promotion and release

During January 2010, the band played in support of the new album on their "Big Fuckin’ Deal Tour", performing three small shows in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

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and

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, with temporary drummer Danny Lee Allen (of Youth Group). The dates were the band's first live performances since appearing at the

All Points West Music & Arts Festival The All Points West Music & Arts Festival was an annual music and arts festival held at Liberty State Park in Jersey City, New Jersey. First held in August 2008, it was hosted by Goldenvoice/AEG Live events, the same company that hosts the simila ...

on August 2, 2009. In an interview prior to the Washington date, bassist Chris Cain stated "I think May is looking like a fairly solid release time, although we don’t have an actual week yet", as well as describing it

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and

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-laden. Cain also confirmed that the band had parted with their record label in November 2009, with the record being released by various labels including

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. During the performance, the band played new tracks "Jack and Ginger", "I Don't Bite", "Nice Guys" and "Rules Don't Stop". On February 8, 2010, ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'', Gigwise.com and ''The Fly'' announced the release of the album in June 2010. "Rules Don't Stop" was announced as the lead single, scheduled for release on April 5, 2010. As well as this, the band performed a sold-out show at

's Hoxton Bar & Grill on February 23, 2010, as part of the ''NME'' Awards Shows and to promote the album. Tickets were confirmed to sell out in less than four minutes. The album's first

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

is scheduled for shooting during late February. Two live videos (Pittsburgh and Rules Don't Stop) from the Hoxton show were also released as a freebie via the website. Second single "Nice Guys" was premiered on Zane Lowe's Radio 1 show on April 29. The third single from Barbara was announced on October 11, 2010 to be " I Don't Bite", with pictures posted on

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in early August of the band filming the track's music video.Alexa Chung Teams Up With We Are Scientists On New Single
Gigwise.com, September 03, 2010

Track listing

;B-Sides

References

External links

Official website

What's The Word
{{Authority control We Are Scientists albums 2010 albums Albums produced by Ariel Rechtshaid