INTERVIEW WITH TIM BARRY
INTERVIEW AND INTRODUCTION BY RYAN TATE
PHOTOS BY DAVE WEAVER
Avail has established themselves as hardcore icons. frontman, Tim Barry, writes the lyrics and has a true blue collar outlook on life that makes their sound authentic. If you haven’t seen them live or if you don’t already own many of their cds, you should get on the train… Avail is East Coast hardcore at it’s finest.
How are you doing?
Good. I’m just smoking too many cigarettes and doing interviews on the computer. I just came home from band practice and got on my computer and I’m getting slammed with these email interviews.
Do you answer all of the message boards?
Usually, once a week I try to holler back at people especially if they are taking their time to write. I should at least take the time to write them back.
“Gwomper skates; he plays bass. Gwomper and Ed both surf. Music and skating go hand in hand. My roommate skates, all of his friends skate, and the guys who are making our new video are skaters.”
Yeah, but most of it’s bullshit anyway.
Half of it is. There are some freaks out there. There’s this one guy who has been writing on the message board as long as it has been there. He’s is an absolute freak of nature.
Have you met him?
I’ve seen him. He’s oddly obsessed with me for some reason. He thinks he’s in love with me. I don’t know why he thinks I’m gay. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with being gay. I’m always outspoken about gay rights so I guess that gives him the idea that I am. I don’t know. He writes the most insane things on this message board. Like one time he wrote, “Tim, don’t ever write lyrics like you do in the mainstream, or you will be shot like John Lennon. I love you.”
You need to have a talk with that guy at one of your shows.
I’m never going to talk to him but I finally gave the roadies permission to beat him on sight.
He has a copy of “Catcher in the Rye” in one hand.
You know what’s funny? I read that book this year, for the first time in my life.
What did you think about it?
I was wondering why everybody boasts about it. I don’t know what it has to do with politics. It’s weird because the girl that gave it to me said, “This is the best book I have ever read.” I hollered at some people and they were saying the same thing. So, I read the book real quick. It was a great book to read, really descriptive, but when I put it down, I was like, “What did I get out of that?”
They say if you check it out of a library they keep tabs on you.
Why?
I don’t know. It’s just like a rumor that ain’t true.
People think that it’s going to make you flip out.
It’s about a student that doesn’t do well in school, right?
It’s like teen angst. I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I’m not a teenager I don’t have enough angst, I guess.
Same here. Who skates in the band?
I was into BMX when I was a kid. Gwomper skates; he plays bass. Gwomper and Ed both surf. Music and skating go hand in hand. My roommate skates, all of his friends skate, and the guys who are making our new video are skaters.
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