Glitter & Gold Barns Courtney

Glitter & Gold, a Solo Release
by Barns Courtney

Barnaby George "Barns" Courtney (born 17 November 1990) is an English musician.

This was released by former SleeperCell and Dive Bella Dive frontman Barns Courtney as his first solo release. He penned the lyrics about his experience of being dropped by a record label, after working on an album for years. Courtney told Radio.com:

"After I lost my first deal I was woefully unprepared for the real world. I had no qualifications whatsoever. And I got a job in this computer store directly across from the five star hotel that I used to stay in with my old management.

So I'd come out on my lunch break and look at this huge monolith to all of my past failings, and I'd hear my manager's new band on the radio, literally, while eating my sandwich, and thinking, 'This sandwich actually equates to about an hour of my time.'

And I wasn't sure if I'd ever make music again. Not because I didn't want to, but because I had no contacts or anything, and I had no way to make new music. So, I think it's just about trying to hold on to that passion that you have in your youth and realizing that you're trying to follow in the footsteps of people who have done all these great things. Yeah, and just like defiance of the situation that you're in."

Barns Courtney recorded the song in a decommissioned old folks home in Tottenham North London. He recalled: "I wanted it to sound gritty and we didn't have drums, so we made all the percussion hitting disused filing cabinets, old film cans and stacking scissor snips."