Ali Barter

Ali Barter is many things, she’s a traveller, a questioner, an ethereal presence but most importantly she’s a musician who defies genres. We had a chat to the singer about how travelling has shaped her music and her ‘rat-bag’ years.
People often struggle to describe your music, why do you think that is? 
I guess that’s because I don’t fit into a box. I know this and I struggle to describe my music too! I guess I’m finding my sound as well. I’m very much torn between rock and pop and trying to find a happy place in the middle. I usually just say to people, when they ask me about my music, that there are lots of guitars, drums and epic choruses. I love a catchy hook and I also love a wailing guitar solo. I identify with artists who don’t necessarily fit into a genre, like David Bowie and Ariel Pink. They move around, change their sound, write what they’re feeling at the time. I’m lucky too that I’m independent so I can really explore styles without upsetting anyone.
Do you personally put yourself into any sort of category or are you just purely creating what you enjoy?
At the moment I’m experimenting. I said at the beginning of this EP that I wanted to get rid of all the synths and just make it about guitars. However, on the odd occasion I wasn’t in the mixing room, the two boys I work with (Oscar Dawson and Stephen Mowat) would put a keyboard line in sneakily and it would just totally make the song. There is one song called ‘If You Go’ that has become like our magnum opus. It’s a randy epic rock journey and without the synth it wouldn’t be complete – so there are no rules. Never say never. Whatever makes the song sound the best. I write the songs on guitar and then when it gets produced it takes on a completely different life and I’m happy to go with that over the sake of continuity.
You have done quite a bit of travelling over the years, do you think those experiences have shaped your music into what it is today? 
Definitely. I wrote what would be my first ever single, ‘Run You Down’, in Lake Tahoe, in the US and I wrote most of ‘Hypercolour’ and ‘Blood’ during various trips to India. I love travel, it’s something that I have done from a young age when I grew up in Papua New Guinea, moving to far north Queensland then finally settling in Melbourne. Travelling heightens your senses. If you are lonely, it can make the loneliness so much more intense or if you are in love and away from that person, the love seems so much more heart wrenching. It’s a great time to get perspective and also completely lose perspective.
What was the biggest thing you learned about yourself from travelling? 
I guess I learned to trust my own instincts. It taught me to be self sufficient.
From those times you also confessed to be a ‘rat-bag’ what were the characteristics that made you say that/made you one? 
Oh, I was just naughty. Drinking/partying too much and too often, behaving badly. I gave up music and just bummed around being a pest. Not contributing! Ha, basically just being someone in their early 20s! It took me a while to get out of that phase and figure out what I wanted to do. My dad died suddenly when I was 24 which was a big wake up call and it was then that I started writing music. I finally had the feeling that if I didn’t start doing something now, then life would past me by and I’d be a little shit bag forever.
Your new track ‘Hypercolour’ was partly inspired by someone wanting to live life to the fullest, do you feel that you are currently? Or are you still wanting bigger/better? 
Yeah it’s more about finding strength in yourself instead of looking for external stimulation or validation. I feel great at the moment. I think it can take a long time for some people to be comfortable with themselves and only just recently I have felt a sense of calm and purpose. I’m happy with what I’ve got. I know it will lead to bigger and better in it’s own time. I’m exactly where I need to be.
Of late you’ve been working with Holy Holy’s Oscar Dawson, what’s it like working with him? 
Oscar is amazing. From the time we started working together at the beginning of 2013 it just clicked. He is a complete freak at the guitar (and every other instrument) but so humble and encouraging at the same time. He often lets/makes me play the guitar solo (my guitar solos are shit btw) and I never feel embarrassed in from of him – even though he is a guitar guru. We both love classic rock and pop so it works well. We write together. Sometimes he will write chords and I’ll write the melody and words over the top, other times I will bring a written song to him and we will arrange guitar lines, bass lines and drums together, to make it a complete song. It’s a good setup.
Release: ‘Hypercolour’ is available digitally via Ronnie Records/MGM Distribution now, AB EP will be available in September.