Genre-bending trio Little Barrie & Malcolm Catto return with their explosive new album Electric War, a unique musical melting pot of 21st century rock ‘n roll, deep funk, jazz, and fuzzy atmospherics that propels their sound into exciting new directions. The album further cements the chemistry of the collaboration between the duo of singer/guitarist Barrie Cadogan and bassist Lewis Wharton, and drummer Malcolm Catto that produced their 2020 debut, Quatermass Seven. Electric War sees the trio trusting their instincts as they push themselves into unchartered musical territories. “We just pretty much do what we want to without tailoring our music to any specific genre,” Catto says of their approach to the new LP. Explains Cadogan, “From Malcolm I learned a lot about the power of taking things down musically rather than just smashing the audience over the head with loud guitar for an hour. That can be cool, but in slowing the tempo or bringing the volume down, it gave us scope to say much more. We wanted to capture more of that in the studio, as well as the freakouts.”
Over a 20-plus year career, Little Barrie have proven themselves to be one of the UK’s most respected and resilient bands, cooking up a sound that blends elements of the ’60s British blues explosion, deep funk, hip hop, and the best rock n’ roll of the last six decades. Originally from Nottingham, Cadogan is one of the world’s most respected songwriters and guitarists, having worked on music for film and television that includes composing and performing the main title theme for the award-winning Breaking Bad prequel Better Call Saul, and composing the soundtrack to the documentary Year Of The Dog. He’s also contributed to music for Hollywood releases including Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis (featuring on “Cotton Candy Land” with Stevie Nicks & Chris Isaak), as well as critically acclaimed BBC drama Peaky Blinders.
Along the way Cadogan has been the go-to guitar man for various legendary artists. He served as an integral member of Primal Scream from 2006-2015 and more recently as a member of The The, co-writing two songs with leader Matt Johnson on the band’s critically acclaimed 2024 comeback album, Ensoulment. Cadogan recently played guitar for Liam Gallagher at his historic 2022 sold out Knebworth shows and bass for Gallagher and John Squire’s 2024 world tour. All this along with an impressive CV of session work for the likes of Johnny Marr, Paul Weller, Morrissey, Spiritualized, Dan Auerbach (The Black Keys), and Edwyn Collins, among others.
Cadogan had already started gigging as Little Barrie in the early 2000s when he met Wharton at a Carnaby Street store. With the bassist on board and featuring drummer Wayne Fullwood, they debuted with 2005’s blue-eyed soul/funk blueprint, We Are Little Barrie. The band toured across Europe, Japan, Australia, and the US before releasing 2007’s rockabilly-tinged Stand Your Ground. Featuring Russell Simins (John Spencer’s Blues Explosion) and subsequently Billy Skinner on percussion, and produced by Dan The Automator and UK reggae hero Mike ‘Prince Fatty’ Pelanconi, the album saw The Guardian championing Cadogan as “a compelling frontman, pitting street-corner punk vocals against volleys of reverb and twang.”
Little Barrie crystallized with the 2007 arrival of new drummer Virgil Howe, son of Yes guitar hero Steve Howe. Together, they’d release three albums that would go on to further diversify the Little Barrie framework, spanning ’60s surf-pop (2011’s King Of The Waves), darker soundtrack-style Krautrock (2014’s Shadow, “an effortlessly exciting album, taking rock back to its thrilling basics” – NME), and a more raw and heavy sound (2017’s Death Express), praised by Louder Than War for its “classic sixties r’nb garage rock with 21st century thrust.”
Following the untimely passing of Howe in 2017, Little Barrie healed and reconnected through music, recording bits and pieces Cadogan had written for fun with no end goal. Aligning with Catto, the band slowly but surely re-emerged. A legendary leading figure of the UK’s underground funk, jazz and psych scenes for over three decades, Catto worked with Jazzman Gerald on his Stark Reality label (who also released Little Barrie’s first single), and served as the master drummer for well-respected UK funk outfit The Soul Destroyers before forming The Heliocentrics along with fellow Soul Destroyer Jake Ferguson. The band would go on to gain global recognition for Catto’s production chops and as leading exponents of mind-expanding psych-jazz and funk.
The first album from Little Barrie & Malcolm Catto, the critically acclaimed Quatermass Seven, was described as “a mesmerising collaboration” by Shindig! Magazine. Pulling together the wealth of influences and phenomenal talent of each player to create a deep, funky, and expansive psych-rock experience, it was released by maverick hip-hop producer Madlib and his Madlib Invazion label.
Electric War, their first for Dan Auerbach’s Easy Eye Sound, proves that the alchemy of their debut was no fluke. “I’ve been a fan of Malcolm’s drumming since I first heard him, likewise with Lewis’ bass playing,” says Cadogan. “We go back a long way together and you can’t fast-track that stuff. I wanted to see what we could do when we stretched out musically.” Progression from their first album was also key for Catto in his approach to production. He explains, “I didn’t want to repeat ourselves in regards to a sound so tried to strip things back more and get the most we could from just the original studio performances.”
Highlights abound on Electric War, from the laid back funk of “Creaky”–led by Cadogan’s fluid and tasteful wah-guitar lines and featuring cello courtesy of The Heliocentrics’ Danny Keane–to “Spektator,” which sets Cadogan’s beautifully understated vocal delivery against a shifting, telepathic arrangement. “We now feel confident that we don’t have to be bound by traditional song structures for this project to work live,” says Wharton. “I think the shows that followed the first record have influenced us to feel free to go with whatever sounds exciting to us without overthinking it.” Dynamic, stylish, and cinematic, Electric War finds Little Barrie & Malcolm Catto locked in their groove and ascending a new level in their decades-long collaboration.
