Courtney Barnett
Courtney Barnett
Courtney Melba Barnett is a singer-songwriter and guitarist from Melbourne, Australia. Known for her witty, rambling lyrics and deadpan singing style, she attracted attention with the release of her debut EP, I've Got A Friend Called Emily Ferris. International interest from the UK and North American music press came with the release of The Double EP: A Sea Split Peas in October 2013. At her well-received performances at the CMJ Music Marathon, Barnett was mentioned by both Rolling Stone and...
NationalityAustralian
ProfessionRock Singer
Date of Birth3 November 1987
CountryAustralia
It was cool at the rock camp - girls could just be themselves and they could be silly, they could roll around on the floor playing guitar.
When I was a teen, or like 18 to early 20s, I used to go to festivals all the time. I'd save all my money.
If I'm not touring I'd just be at home, just driving - I'm kind of at a loss for how that stuff works.
Festivals are always fun. I went to a lot when I was younger and had money to go to them. I like playing at festivals. They're always kind of like a big, crazy circus.
I don't really feel like a rock artist, but I guess in the small category of the world of music genres, that's where I fall in because I've got a guitar.
I don't know anything except being female, so I don't know the opposite of it.
People should be free to take whatever they want from music and I think that over time I realized that different people always find different things in my songs, which is really good.
I reckon that growing up, listening to so much different music, I think over time I just kind of sucked it all in and it probably comes back out through my music.
I've never really had a certain style of music in mind that I make, or am really adamant on how something should sound, but I like the process of not knowing, of just seeing what happens and what comes out.
The music, I think, is just as important as the lyrics; it portrays the emotion of the song. I play the kind of music that I want to listen to.
I try to write a lot and my process is kind of back and forth. I procrastinate a lot so when I do sit down to write, I'm pretty lazy at it. And it's such a frustrating thing sometimes - writing - when you don't do it all the time, you get that thing in your head that you have nothing to talk about and you can't write songs.
I try to take notes of things that happen that I think are important or interesting or just little tidbits here and there that happen in life. And some of it's even just one line or like a saying and I just go off that.
Every time I write a song it feels like it could be the last one I do, or it always feels like a fluke.
The first song I wrote was called "You" and it was a love song about somebody who didn't even exist. I remember them all because I used to always write terrible poetry. I keep all my notebooks.