Barry Andrews (born 12 September, 1956 in West Norwood, London) is an English songwriter, singer and keyboard player who is a co-founder of

Shriekback Shriekback are an English rock band formed in 1981 in Kentish Town by Barry Andrews, formerly of XTC and the League of Gentlemen (keyboards/synthesizers/vocals), and Dave Allen, formerly of Gang of Four (bass), with Carl Marsh, formerly of ...

and was formerly a member of

XTC XTC were an English rock band formed in Swindon in 1972. Fronted by songwriters Andy Partridge (guitars, vocals) and Colin Moulding (bass, vocals), the band gained popularity during the rise of punk and new wave in the 1970s, later playing in ...

and League of Gentlemen.

Early life

Barry William Andrews was born in West Norwood, London, on 12 September, 1956, the only child of bricklayer William Andrews and Minnie, a housewife. Andrews attended Hitherfield Primary School in South-East London before moving with his family to Park North, Swindon, at the age of seven. He attended Park North Junior School, Richard Jefferies Secondary School and Park Senior High School, leaving full-time education in 1976.

Career

On leaving school, Andrews played keyboards in covers bands in Swindon and Exeter before joining XTC in 1978. He played on the band’s first two albums, ''

White Music ''White Music'' is the first studio album by the English band XTC, released on 20 January 1978. It was the follow-up to their debut, '' 3D EP'', released three months earlier. ''White Music'' reached No. 38 in the UK Albums Chart and spawned the ...

'' and ''

Go 2 ''Go 2'' is the second studio album by the English band XTC, released 6 October 1978 on Virgin Records. The United Kingdom version contained no singles, but the American and Canadian versions included the single "Are You Receiving Me?" (release ...

'', before leaving in 1979. That same year, he recorded the solo EP ''Town and Country'' (

Virgin Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...

) and played on

Iggy Pop James Newell Osterberg Jr. (born April 21, 1947), known professionally as Iggy Pop, is an American singer, musician, songwriter and actor. Called the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Godfather of Punk", he was the vocalist and lyricist of ...

’s ''Soldier'' ( Arista) with

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

Ivan Král Ivan Kral (12 May 1948 – 2 February 2020) was a Czech Americans, Czech-born American composer, filmmaker, guitarist, record producer, bassist, and singer-songwriter. He worked across genres including pop music, punk rock, garage rock, rock, ja ...

Glen Matlock Glen Matlock (born 27 August 1956) is an English musician, best known for being the bass guitarist in the original line-up of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols. He is credited as a songwriter on 10 of the 12 songs on the Sex Pistols' only alb ...

, Klaus Krüger and

Steve New Stella Nova, born Stephen Charles New (16 May 1960 – 24 May 2010), was an English guitarist and singer who performed with a number of punk rock and new wave bands in the late 1970s and early 1980s, including the Rich Kids. In the 2000s, sh ...

. In 1980 he recorded the single ''Rossmore Road/Win a Night Out with a Well-Known Paranoiac'' on Virgin. Also in 1980, Andrews joined

Robert Fripp Robert Fripp (born 16 May 1946) is a British musician, songwriter, record producer, and author, best known as the guitarist, founder and longest-lasting member of the progressive rock band King Crimson. He has worked extensively as a session ...

The League of Gentlemen ''The League of Gentlemen'' is a surreal British comedy horror sitcom that premiered on BBC Two in 1999. The programme is set in Royston Vasey, a fictional town in northern England, originally based on Alston, Cumbria, and follows the lives o ...

with

Sara Lee Sara may refer to: Arts, media and entertainment Film and television * Sara (1992 film), ''Sara'' (1992 film), 1992 Iranian film by Dariush Merhjui * Sara (1997 film), ''Sara'' (1997 film), 1997 Polish film starring Bogusław Linda * Sara (2010 ...

and Jonny TooBad. They recorded one album for

E.G. Records E.G. Records was a British artist management company and independent record label, mostly active during the 1970s and 1980s. The initials stood for its founders, David Enthoven and John Gaydon. The pair signed on as managers of King Crimson in ...

before Fripp dismissed the band. Andrews then formed Restaurant for Dogs with

Kevin Wilkinson Kevin Michael Wilkinson (11 June 1958 – 17 July 1999) was an English drummer, who was based in Baydon, Wiltshire, England. Career Born Kevin Michael Wilkinson in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, he is credited as a former official member of s ...

, Dave Marx and Bruce McRae. Latterly Clare Hirst, Sara Lee and Carlo Asciutti joined the band. Baz hedd onstage

In 1981, Andrews met up with bassist Dave Allen who had recently left

Gang of Four The Gang of Four () was a Maoist political faction composed of four Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials. They came to prominence during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) and were later charged with a series of treasonous crimes. The gang ...

and the pair, along with guitarist/vocalist Carl Marsh, formed

have been active for 41 years, recording 16 albums in that time, and are currently working on a 17th album. Barry Andrews and Wolsey reading

In 2003, Andrews began releasing solo projects through his own Shriekprods label. These form two main strands: the Haunted Box of Switches series of piano and voice albums which feature original material alongside minimalist reimaginings of Shriekback songs; and the Stic Basin series of albums of experimental electronica, of which there are now three volumes. In 2005, Andrews played keyboards on

Brian Eno Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop an ...

’s album '' Another Day on Earth''. 2007 saw Andrews reunite with former XTC bandmate

Andy Partridge Andrew John Partridge (born 11 November 1953) is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and record producer who founded the rock music, rock band XTC. He and Colin Moulding each acted as a songwriter and frontman for XTC, with Partridge writi ...

alongside Shriekback drummer

Martyn Barker Martyn Barker (born 14 September 1959, Merseyside, England) is an English drummer, percussionist, multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer, best known as the drummer for Shriekback. He has also been a member of King Swamp, and worked with R ...

on ''Monstrance'', a double album of instrumental improvisations. In 2015, Andrews recorded a six-track EP called ''Juju Grid'' with

Mike Tournier Michael James Tournier (Mike Tournier) (born 24 May 1963, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England) is an English electronic musician, and one of the co-founders of the electronic music group Fluke, along with Mike Bryant and Jon Fugler. He firs ...

from

Fluke Fluke may refer to: Biology * Fluke (fish), a species of marine flatfish * Fluke (tail), the lobes of the tail of a cetacean, such as dolphins or whales, ichthyosaurs, mosasaurs Mosasaurs (from Latin ''Mosa'' meaning the 'Meuse', and Greek ...

, under the name of Anaxaton6. ''Contaminated Pop'' in 2019 was Andrews’ first solo album released under his own name. During a six-year hiatus from music from 1996 to 2001, Andrews began to design furniture and sculpture and studied for a degree in 3D Design in Metals at

Camberwell Camberwell () is a district of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast of Charing Cross. Camberwell was first a village associated with the church of St Giles and a common of which Goose Green is a remnant. This e ...

and

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

universities. He also ran The Hoxton Gift Shop with Régine de la Hey in 2001, a gallery which sold original artworks.

Personal life

Andrews lives in London and Stroud, Gloucestershire. He has a son,

Finn Andrews Finn Andrews (born 24 August 1983) is a British/New Zealand musician. He is a solo artist and lead singer and songwriter of London-based rock band The Veils. His father Barry Andrews is a current member of Shriekback, was a member of XTC, and ...

, the lead singer/songwriter of

The Veils The Veils are an English/New Zealand indie rock band fronted by singer and songwriter Finn Andrews. History Early years, ''The Runaway Found'' (2001–2004) Finn Andrews was born in London but spent his teenage years at high school in A ...

, from his marriage to Vivienne Kent in the early 1980s.

Discography

XTC * ''

3D EP ''3D EP'' (stylised as ''3D • EP'') is the debut record by English rock band XTC, released on 7 October 1977 through Virgin Records. The songs were recorded and mixed at Abbey Road Studios with production and engineering by John Leckie. "I'm B ...

'' (EP, 1977) * ''

'' (album, 1977) * ''GO2'' (album, 1978) Shriekback * ''Tench'' (EP, 1982) * ''Care'' (album, 1983) * ''

Jam Science ''Jam Science'' is the third studio album by English pop group Shriekback. It was released in two versions in 1984 and was reissued on CD in a two-disc special release from the band themselves in 2014, the second disc being a live show at Hatfi ...

'' (album, 1984) * ''

Oil and Gold ''Oil and Gold'' (1985) is the fourth full-length album by English musical group Shriekback, released on Arista Records in UK and Europe, Australia and New Zealand and on Island Records in the United States, The album is widely considered the ...

'' (album, 1985) * ''

Big Night Music ''Big Night Music'' is the fifth full-length Shriekback Shriekback are an English rock band formed in 1981 in Kentish Town by Barry Andrews, formerly of XTC and the League of Gentlemen (keyboards/synthesizers/vocals), and Dave Allen, for ...

'' (album, 1986) * ''

Go Bang! ''Go Bang!'' is the sixth studio album by Shriekback, released in 1988. It produced a significant number of '' Billboard'' modern rock hits, including "Get Down Tonight," "Intoxication," and "Shark Walk". Released after the departure of founding ...

'' (album, 1988) * ''

Sacred City A shrine ( la, scrinium "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred or holy space dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, daemon, or similar figure of respect, wherein they ar ...

'' (album, 1992) * '' Naked Apes and Pond Life'' (album, 2000) * ''Having a Moment'' (album, 2003) * ''Cormorant'' (album, 2005) * ''Glory Bumps'' (album, 2007) * ''Life in the Loading Bay'' (album, 2010) * ''Without Real String or Fish'' (album, 2015) * ''Why Anything? Why This?'' (album, 2018) * ''Some Kinds of Light'' (album, 2019) * ''1000 Books'' (album, 2021) * ''Bowlahoola'' (album, 2022) Solo * ''Town and Country'' (EP, 1979) * ''Rossmore Road'' (single, 1980) * ''Stic Basin 1'' (album, 2003) * ''Haunted Box of Switches 1'' (album, 2003) * ''Contaminated Pop'' (album, 2019) * ''Haunted Box of Switches vols 1&2'' (album, 2019) * ''Stic Basin 2'' (album, 2020) * ''Stic Basin 3'' (album, 2022) Collaborations/Guest Keyboards * Robert Fripp: ''Exposure'' (album, 1979) * Iggy Pop: ''Soldier'' (album, 1980) * Robert Fripp: ''League of Gentlemen'' (album, 1981) * Restaurant for Dogs: ''Live at the 101 Club'' (album, 1981) * Brian Eno: '' Another Day on Earth'' (album, 2005) * ''Monstrance'' (album, 2007) * Anaxaton6: ''JuJu Grid'' (EP, 2013)

Early life

Career

Personal life

Discography

References

External links