Barry Can’t Swim On His Breakout Year, Working With Heineken, And His Second Album

Barry Can’t Swim has become one of electronic music’s defining breakout stories this year. Real name Joshua Mainnie, the producer’s intoxicating introductory EPs infused house, disco, and beyond with analogue aspects, at times touching on a jazz-like dexterity.

Working with Ninja Tune, his debut album ‘When Will We Land?’ was exceptional, rightly greeted with across-the-board praise. Since then, he’s only accelerated – a BRIT nominated, Mercury nominated, BBC Sound Of poll name-checked success story.

Summer saw Barry Can’t Swim take his live show to ever larger crowds, including a road-block performance at Glastonbury’s iconic Park Stage.

A few weeks back, the Scottish producer helped open Amsterdam Dance Event at the Loft, and he decided to team up with Heineken for something a bit different. Working closely with the brand, they enacted a special policy where a message would flash up on fans’ phones, asking them to wave their hands in the air – and not their mobile. A playful twist on the no-phones-on-the-dancefloor policy, it sought to allow the audience a chance to live in the moment, becoming the talk of the festival in the process.

It’s part of an ongoing digital detox from Heineken, who recently the Boring Mode app, aiming to trim out the digital world’s excess to reveal the truly meaningful aspects of our daily lives.

Barry Can’t Swim touched down in the UK following Amsterdam Dance Event, and offered CLASH an exclusive glimpse into the process behind his second album, coping with the velocity of his unstoppable rise, and this unique new Heineken project.

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Congrats on an incredible year! What’s it been like to be in the middle of that whirlwind?

It’s felt pretty crazy I can’t lie, so much going on it’s sort of flashed by and then you get a minute to reflect and it’s just mad

Glastonbury was a huge highlight over summer – the crowd was enormous! That must have been a real milestone for you?

Ah yeah definitely. I’ve been going as a punter for years and have seen so many incredible bands. Playing The Park stage in the sun, with that crowd, and my mates in the middle of it – so special man, a real highlight not just of my career but my life.

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We’ve seen you a few times this year, and you can sense the material shifting from space to space. Have you noticed that? Have you felt the music grow and evolve with these performances?

Yeah for sure. It’s fun to experiment – reworking my early tunes and figuring out how they can be reinterpreted for a live show. And testing out new ideas too.

It’s been a hectic run for you – how do you stay grounded during all this? How do you take care of yourself – physically and mentally – on the road?

Im very lucky I have good people around me because that can be tough tbh, but it’s amazing to get to see the world and so many new places and experience it with people I love. I try and exercise everywhere I go, eat OK, boring stuff tbh but it’s quite nice to hone in on the boring things when everything else is so exciting haha!

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What’s been your biggest challenge in 2024? And how do you feel you have overcome it?

The change in my life has been amazing but also so quick that at times it’s been hard to feel connected to myself. It can be so immersive that I’ve felt like I’m existing more than living. But it’s something I’ve been working on, staying present, making the time to do the things I love with people I care about outside of music. Just the little things really, that’s the good stuff.

Your live shows have a real organic feel, there’s a clear relationship to the audience. Is that connection something you thrive on as a performer?

Definitely, that connection on stage is what makes it so special. We’re living in a time where the world is so skint, stressed and people are struggling. So if someone’s spent their wage on a ticket to see me, then I will give everything to make it worthwhile. I do believe that my fans are really warm, welcoming people. I see stories all the time of people helping each other out in the crowd and just being sound.

We were intrigued by your ADE x Heineken partnership, which saw fans sent a message asking them to put their hands, not their phones, in the air. How did this come about?

This was just a really interesting concept to me (The Boring Phone). I heard about anti-smart phones a while ago and actually bought one a few months back – I’m not a massive guy for social media. So the overall message of being in the moment and listening to the music, rather than being on your phone the whole night, sounded like something I wanted to be part of. 

How did fans take to it on the night? Did it add anything to the atmosphere, do you think? And could you envisage doing it again?

The room was bouncing, really good vibe and a nice way to kick off ADE. And yeah, from where I was standing it was just a nice change to see fewer phones in the air.

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CLASH caught you during your three-night sold-out run at O2 Academy Brixton. You mentioned onstage that it was a long-held ambition – how did it feel to finally make that dream come true?

It was class and – to be honest – I felt a bit emotional. We added a lot of new parts to the show, new production, visuals and strings, a couple of new tunes – it’s growing and becoming more immersive every tour, in my opinion. 

You used snippets of new music during the set – are you able to write on the road? Where have these new points of inspiration come from?

Yeah writing music is always my retreat. I don’t find it tiring, and usually work from laptop with headphones anyway. I struggle to write on the road just because I need to be in my space but I’m always itching to get back and start producing when I’m finished touring and as soon as I do ideas come pretty quickly. 

I find that when I’m playing with the band I miss playing clubs, and vice versa. This year I’ve played so much live, I’ve ended up writing a lot of heavier and deeper tunes and I think that’s because of the longing for it, as well as my overall headspace

Have you found yourself reflecting the energy of these live performances in your new productions? Or do you feel studio and performance are distinct zones within your creativity?

Hmm good question. I think the best creativity is from the subconscious really, so it happens naturally. But on a technical level I’m striving to push the boundaries of my sound to be bigger and more intricate. And then I suppose there are examples of demos which I may have discarded before, but now see a life for them within the live show – so it adds a new space for my music to live, which is important context when evaluating my own music.

You’re going to headline All Points East next summer which is huge! How does that feel? I believe you’re based in East London, too – so you can walk home!

Incredible man. I’ve been to this festival a few times over the years – still doesn’t feel quite real that I’ll be headlining it next year. Really looking forward to it, and should have even more new music to play live by then.

Finally, what’s been your personal soundtrack to 2024? Any artists you’d care to shout out?

I launched a record label called Earth’s Only Paradise. The first release is by my good friend O’Flynn, an artist I think is really talented and highly underrated as a producer. I’ve been rinsing the Fontaines album, and loving everything ATRIP has been putting out too.

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Stay in touch with Barry Can’t Swim online.

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