Proving that time flies when you’re having fun, it’s almost 15 years since BABYBIRD played a headline show in the Northeast.  Looking to change that statistic, the Birds recently announced their ‘THE BAD OLD MAN’ tour which includes a gig at Newcastle’s Cluny. Damian Robinson caught up with Babybird’s writer and singer Stephen Jones to find out more. 

Hi Stephen, Babybird always seems to be writing and recording, I’m guessing you’re in the studio or something at the minute? 

Ha, no, I’m lucky in the sense that I’ve always enjoyed making music so I tend to be writing ideas down at a regular rate.  I’m sitting looking at the piano now, and maybe it’s just the process of having instruments all around me that helps me seem perhaps busier than I actually am. 

It’s great to see you coming back to the Northeast after a short while away. 

Thanks, we were up supporting Dodgy in the not-too-distant past but yes, thank you, it’s always nice to be up in the North East.  I can’t remember exactly when or where it was but I think one of the last shows we did in Newcastle was when the power went out so we had to leave the stage for about ten minutes and come back on when the power went back on.  People often remind me of that gig, they can’t remember too much else from the show but the power cut seems to be quite memorable. 

Your winter tour seems to include some new venues and locations to past tours 

That’s right yes, we’re coming back to some places we haven’t played in ages and this is the most excited I’ve been for a  tour in a really long time.  I always like Newcastle so I can’t wait to come back and play and then on top of that I haven’t played The Cluny before so I’m excited about that also. 

Do you have a set list made for the show? 

No we try to treat every show differently so we’ll rehearse about 40 songs or so in total and then decide on the night what we’re playing depending on the night and how we’re feeling.   We always try to make sure every show is different and not turn up with a plan that’s too formulaic.   

Any plans for future shows? 

To be honest we’re going to play these shows and then see how we’re feeling.  We did a tour after Covid which we enjoyed but I think people were still a bit wary of being close together in a venue so we’re excited now that people seem to be a bit keener to get back to the old way of gigging.  In addition, we feel so lucky and appreciative to do what we’re doing, some younger bands are really struggling with the costs of touring, and for us playing places like Newcastle is so nice and we’re so lucky.  So our intention is to play this tour and enjoy every minute of it.  

Babybird bring the ‘THE BAD OLD MAN TOUR’ to the Newcastle Cluny on  

Dec 11 – w/ Tony Wright (Terrorvision)