There is an irony here: Barnicle’s highest-charting song is based on someone they’ve never met. Karen B.’s solo acoustic cover of Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl” rose to #20 on the iTunes UK pop chart. But they’re likely better known stateside for the less demure 2008 BMA Local Song of the Year nominee “Texas Mike,” which they wrote for one of their pals, a noted event promoter and a dude I went to hardcore shows with way back when we were both undergrads at Northeastern.
Having tracked down Texas Mike before he was scheduled to DJ one night at Harpers Ferry, I asked him a few questions twice (I had been drinking a little), and for some reason I serenaded him with both his themesong and “Hey Jealousy.” Fortunately, Texas Mike is not easily fazed by peculiar behavior. “It’s really poppy, with a little bit of a breakdown toward the end,” he says of the tribute tune. “Just rocking out. It’s a fun time. That’s Texas Mike. . . . Y’know how there are bands where if they’re playing, all those friends you may or may not see every weekend, you know they’ll be there. To me, Barnicle’s that kind of band.”
In other words, Barnicle are not to be shortchanged as a ’90s throwback. They’re a rock-and-roll band . . . with a posse.
BARNICLE + DJ KEN + DJ MICHAEL V | “The Pill” at Great Scott, 1222 Comm Ave, Allston | December 19 at 9 pm | $5 | 617.566.9014 orwww.greatscottboston.com
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