Barkley and I knew each other at school, but as a punk I was always distrustful of his boogie-woogie licks. He joined J.C’s band The Chuff Train Stompers shortly after I left (it’s an incestuous scene), and then moved to Leeds to study music, all the while maintaining close links with the Island music scene.

It was during this time that he met fellow Islander Dick Taylor a founder member of the Rolling Stones who later gained cult status as one of the Pretty Things. Dick offered Barkley a position in the current Pretty Things line up as rhythm guitarist. It was in this role that he met founder member of the Leeds band the Mekons -Jon Langford, and has continued to provide keyboards for his various Chicago based projects ever since, including seminal alt.country outfits such as the Waco Brothers.

A terrifically sensitive keyboard player and an astounding guitarist, Barkley has an almost psychic ability to turn my vaguest ideas into musical reality.

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