Fred Barnes

I've had a passion for music since a very early age, but never actually took up an instrument until rock guitar lessons at age 16, soon to start toying with songwriting. I mainly played in church until I became more confident and got involved in the Summer Rock Program two years later. I started jamming with a few guys after that, and played for parties more than anything, but never really got anywhere professionally at this point. I also took up bass guitar around this time, which led me to joining a classic rock/country/maritime band soon after, called 2 + 2. We played seriously in clubs and for charity events for about a year and a half or so, but then the band eventually dissolved. I jammed with different people for awhile after that, taking a bit of a professional hiatus from music for a couple of years until forming a Christian band with friends from church, playing special events and services. Around this time my friend from the bar band called and we reformed with myself on bass and my recently acquired mandolin, along with backing & additional lead vocals. I composed songs in both these groups and got to perform them as well. The Christian band, Promised Land, split up in 2000, and the bar band, Blind Faith ( I told the guys not to use this title because of the 70's supergroup of the same name, but would they listen.....), had a personnel change as guitarist/singer Mark Hebert and myself had left. After this, I decided to take a breather from performing and concentrate on my blossoming relationship with Vanessa. We married in October 2003, and didn't perform publicly (aside from a few performances at church) again until January 2005, when I joined a songwriter's group at the now defunct Chill N Grindz cafe, where we would write a song per week and then perform it along with other compositions of our own every Sunday night. It got a great response, and we continued at the Coburg Coffee House, after Chill N Grindz closed in summer 2005, to this present day. In March 2006, I met Mark Laffin of Cole Harbour through an online music ad, and I contributed mandolin parts to his CD as he produced and played bass on my demo, available now. I also play bass and sing harmony for his band Blackstar Junction, and we made our performing debut at the Esso talent show on August 5, 2006. We are currently practicing and will soon be playing gigs. I also play solo at open mikes around town with Vanessa, most notably at the Keshen Goodman Library, hosted by Tracy Williams of Halifax band Universal Soul. In July 2007, Blackstar Junction won third place in the Battle of the Bands at Big Leagues in Cole Harbour, and my original song Calling was recorded in October 2007 as a solo project but with all members of Blackstar Junction and Vanessa contributing. A Better Life was recorded in March 2008 with Vanessa again on harmony vocals and Lori Styles on drums and djembe drum. More recently in November 2008, I joined a brand new harder rock band akin to Van Halen and Guns N Roses called Still in Stereo, filling in the bass slot, but due to musical differences I left this group in the middle of January. On April 19, 2009, Vanessa and I recorded two new tunes called Smokescreen and To Love Again, with Lori Styles on percussion and Danny Sutherland on bass. My mandate is to product honest, quality songwriting, with a positive message.