2008 Woodie Awards
Barefoot has strong roots in organic music, camaraderie within band
Andrew Beam
Issue date: 10/5/07 Section: FUSE
Originally published: 10/4/07 at 10:03 PM EST
Last update: 10/4/07 at 10:02 PM EST
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Cardinal Points writer Andew Beam sat down with Will Benoit, Jay Driscoll, Andy Wrba and Garret Duffy of Barefoot Truth.
Cardinal Points: Essentially how long has the band been together?
Will Benoit: It started as a duo back in 2004, just Jay Driscoll and I. We would just play cover songs in bars and started writing our own stuff. People started asking for a disc and we put together a crappy one. Then we were looking to grow so uh… yeah go ahead Jay, my mind is just, blah.
Jay Driscoll: Oh sorry I was just listening to him [Andrew Gill, who is sound checking in the background].
WB: Yeah, so was I. (He laughs.)
CP: So obviously it's not just you two now - it has expanded…
JD: Right, it was the two of us for about two years and we did two recordings, two real CD's, and we met Andy at a show in North Hampton at the Iron Horse. Will and Garret had been jamming a little at St. Mikes.
WB: Garret just plays harp [harmonica], and he just loved to come on trips and stuff. Like I would drive down to University of Massachusetts on weekends and play shows at whatever private schools, colleges or whatever. Garret would give us gas money and sit in on a few songs.
JD: And then, pretty much last summer…
WB: We decided to be a full band.
JD: [He] took the words right out of my mouth.
CP: Wow, you can see the whole collaboration and the camaraderie in this band.
(Laughter)
CP: How did you guys get to the point where you are at now?
JD: There's been a better response to our recordings, I think, than we expected, and playing to the colleges and prep schools, I think word spreads a lot faster than strictly playing in cities and bars. I think just word of mouth was a lot.
CP: So you say Andrew is influenced by you guys - what music inspires you guys to start writing or recording?
JD: From the beginning, Dispatch was a huge influence for us. We actually recorded with the producer of Dispatch and Pete from Dispatch wrote and co-produced our second CD. So from the beginning they were a huge influence for us.
Cardinal Points: Essentially how long has the band been together?
Will Benoit: It started as a duo back in 2004, just Jay Driscoll and I. We would just play cover songs in bars and started writing our own stuff. People started asking for a disc and we put together a crappy one. Then we were looking to grow so uh… yeah go ahead Jay, my mind is just, blah.
Jay Driscoll: Oh sorry I was just listening to him [Andrew Gill, who is sound checking in the background].
WB: Yeah, so was I. (He laughs.)
CP: So obviously it's not just you two now - it has expanded…
JD: Right, it was the two of us for about two years and we did two recordings, two real CD's, and we met Andy at a show in North Hampton at the Iron Horse. Will and Garret had been jamming a little at St. Mikes.
WB: Garret just plays harp [harmonica], and he just loved to come on trips and stuff. Like I would drive down to University of Massachusetts on weekends and play shows at whatever private schools, colleges or whatever. Garret would give us gas money and sit in on a few songs.
JD: And then, pretty much last summer…
WB: We decided to be a full band.
JD: [He] took the words right out of my mouth.
CP: Wow, you can see the whole collaboration and the camaraderie in this band.
(Laughter)
CP: How did you guys get to the point where you are at now?
JD: There's been a better response to our recordings, I think, than we expected, and playing to the colleges and prep schools, I think word spreads a lot faster than strictly playing in cities and bars. I think just word of mouth was a lot.
CP: So you say Andrew is influenced by you guys - what music inspires you guys to start writing or recording?
JD: From the beginning, Dispatch was a huge influence for us. We actually recorded with the producer of Dispatch and Pete from Dispatch wrote and co-produced our second CD. So from the beginning they were a huge influence for us.
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