Rick Barton and his son tour in a punk rock band.
Barton, who was once the guitarist for the Dropkick Murphys (1996-2000), an Irish-inspired punk outfit out of Boston, now finds himself touring with his 22-year-old son, Stephen, in Continental, who will be stopping by Muncie's Be Here Now today.
After hearing some of the songs his dad was writing, Stephen approached Rick about forming a band.
"He was like, 'Let's put a band together,'" said Rick, calling mid-drive from his tour van. "At first it was kind of just for fun, but I don't like to do things just for fun."
The two formed their band, releasing "Death of a Garage Band" in 2010. Despite Rick's prior fame, he admitted it has been very difficult to develop a large fan base, saying "nowadays you don't just become a big band."
Rick also said the relationship with his son has undoubtedly changed since the band's beginning.
"I'm not his father anymore and he's not my son; we are two guys in a band," Barton said. "That could be the sad fact of the matter, but I think 20 years from now when I'm really old, we'll look back at this being a positive experience in our lives."
Touring is a psychologically 'grueling' endeavor, Rick said.
"You can imagine being married to three or four people. It would suck," he said. "In the beginning, we couldn't wait to get out there, and it begins becoming a lot more intimate of a situation, and what ends up happening is he sees all of me and I see all of him and the picture is not as pretty as it was."
Growing up on the south shore of Boston, during punk rock's rise to power, Rick was engulfed by the genre, falling in love with bands such as The Clash, Buzzcocks and Stiff Little Fingers.
Looking back on that time in his life, he said he remembers planning his week around live music, saying he'd map out his show-going using the Boston Phoenix, choosing from eight to 10 venues in the city.
"We had an unbelievable punk rock scene," he said. "You could get it all right in your town, seven nights a week."
Rick said he remembers his punk transformation, as he went from listening to classic rock (the first album he ever purchased was Alice Cooper's "Killer" in 1973) to its raw, rebellious cousin - punk rock.
In his eyes, he said the movement was as simple as cutting your hair.
"They [punk rock bands] were all like bar bands, so they just had to get haircuts," he said. "I don't think that much had changed besides the look. They were basically playing the same music, stripped down, and it was great."
Playing at festivals such as Vans Warped Tour, Rick said is aware of the changing nature of punk.
After attending Riot Fest in Chicago this month, he said he believes that despite the change in sound, the spirit of punk still lives on through bands of all shapes and sizes.
"At Riot Fest, there weren't a lot of Mohawks, but the spirit of so many of those bands, from Iggy Pop all the way down to the lowest bands like the Reverend Horton Heat, was a punk rock spirit," he said.
Local musician Zorn Crower will open for Continental. After being asked by Be Here Now owner Whitney Lewis to perform, Crowder gladly accepted, as he has a great deal of admiration for the Dropkick Murphys.
"They are a giant influence on punk music," Crowder said. "They did a lot for the Irish bases in a lot of punk music that not a lot of people are familiar with."
Crowder described his music as "folkish," comparing it to a "sadder version of the Mischief Brew."
Be Here Now is very thankful for another opportunity to host a touring act, Lewis said.
"We're always happy to be able to host touring musicians at Be Here Now, and we feel blessed to have The Continental here in Muncie," Lewis said.
As is the case with every new city he travels to, Rick will come to Muncie with the hopes of meeting new people.
"I just like going into new towns and meeting people," he said. "I don't even care where I am."
Rick said he has not had a mailing address for three years, and he doesn't see that changing anytime soon as he continues to pursue a life on the road.
"For me, right now, at this point in my life, it's just all about the experience of basically not worrying about too much, just moving forward and strumming those same three chords that I've been doing for 30 years," he said.
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