Monster Bobby (born Robert William Barry, 1981) is an English singer-songwriter, best known as the creator of and guitarist for the

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and sub ...

girl group

The Pipettes The Pipettes were a British indie pop girl group formed in 2003 in Brighton by Robert "Monster Bobby" Barry. The group has released two albums, '' We Are The Pipettes'', and '' Earth vs. The Pipettes'' and released numerous singles to support ...

Overview

In 2001, when Monster Bobby was just Bobby Barry, he starred in ''

Weirdsister College ''Weirdsister College'' is the sequel to successful British children's television series ''The Worst Witch'' (1998–2001), based on ''The Worst Witch'' books by Jill Murphy. ''Weirdsister College'' aired on ITV from 28 November to 14 December ...

'', the spin-off series of ''

The Worst Witch ''The Worst Witch'' is a series of children's books written and illustrated by Jill Murphy. The series are primarily about a girl who attends a witch school and fantasy stories, with eight books published. The first, ''The Worst Witch'', was ...

'', in which he played the mysterious Nick Hobbes. Prior to that he starred in the film ''

New Year's Day New Year's Day is a festival observed in most of the world on 1 January, the first day of the year in the modern Gregorian calendar. 1 January is also New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, but this is not the same day as the Gregorian one. Wh ...

'' as Stephen, written by

Ralph Brown Ralph William John Brown (born 18 June 1957) is an English actor and writer, known for playing Danny the drug dealer in ''Withnail and I'', the security guard Aaron (a.k.a. "85") in ''Alien 3'', DJ Bob Silver in ''The Boat That Rocked'' aka ' ...

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. He has been described as the group's "Svengali", 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". 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. Since the late 1990s, Monster Bobby has run an irregular series of club nights, concerts, events and a

fanzine A fanzine (blend word, blend of ''fan (person), fan'' and ''magazine'' or ''-zine'') is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by fan (person), enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) ...

called Totally Bored or "TB". The bands that were initially involved in TB included

The Electric Soft Parade The Electric Soft Parade are an English psychedelic pop band from Brighton, comprising brothers Alex and Thomas White, the creative core of the band, as well as a number of other musicians with whom they record and perform live, most recently ...

British Sea Power Command of the sea (also called control of the sea or sea control) is a naval military concept regarding the strength of a particular navy to a specific naval area it controls. A navy has command of the sea when it is so strong that its rivals ...

, The Tenderfoot and

The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster (often referred to as Eighties Matchbox, 80s Matchbox, TEMBD, TEMBLD or shortened to just Eighties or 80s) were an English rock band from Brighton, formed in 1999. They released three albums, ''Hörse of th ...

, who were based around Mockin' Bird Studio, run by Marc Beatty, keyboardist in Tenderfoot and later, member of

Brakes A brake is a mechanical device that inhibits motion by absorbing energy from a moving system. It is used for slowing or stopping a moving vehicle, wheel, axle, or to prevent its motion, most often accomplished by means of friction. Background ...

. 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 New Cross is an area in south east London, England, south-east of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Lewisham and the SE14 postcode district. New Cross is near St Johns, Telegraph Hill, Nunhead, Peckham, Brockley, Deptford and Greenwich, ...

, where it grew into a zine and a radio show. Monster Bobby claims his music to be as affected by

Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts in ...

Stockhausen Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groun ...

and

Derrida Derrida is a surname shared by notable people listed below. * Bernard Derrida (born 1952), French theoretical physicist * Jacques Derrida (1930–2004), French philosopher ** ''Derrida'' (film), a 2002 American documentary film * Marguerite De ...

as it is by

The Human League The Human League are an English synth-pop band formed in Sheffield in 1977. Initially an experimental electronic outfit, the group signed to Virgin Records in 1979 and later attained widespread commercial success with their third album ''Dare' ...

The Archies ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...

and

S'Express S'Express (pronounced ''ess-express''; sometimes spelled S'Xpress or S-Express) were a British dance music act from the late 1980s, who had one of the earliest commercial successes in the acid house genre. "Theme from S'Express", which containe ...

. 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 Repeater Books is a publishing imprint based in London, founded in 2014 by Tariq Goddard and Mark Fisher, formerly the founders of radical publishers Zero Books, along with Etan Ilfeld, Tamar Shlaim, Alex Niven and Matteo Mandarini. Formation I ...

in 2017. He started the "Little Orchestra" to play original contemporary classical music and contemporary classics such as "Terry Riley's" "In C"

Overview

Filmography

Television

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links