Barberskum

Barberskum are from Limerick city, Ireland.

Formed by Manky Frank, Halloween 1999, Barberskum from the start

have pushed a strong D.I.Y. punk ethic.

Believing that the strenght in the underground punk scene is the live show.

The band in the begining put on as many of thier own gigs as they could.

Playing anywhere that would have them, usually for nothing or close to it.

Insted of recording demo after demo and sending them to labels looking for a 'deal',

Barberskum recorded thier first E.P. 'Payback' a week after forming.

'Skumbag Rekords' was created soonafter to release their offering and to try and

supplement the cost of touring and recording in the future.

The band were also included in some prominant punk comps such as

Lifeline Records - 'Now thats what I call Punk' series and reviewed

in Maximum Rock N' Roll which helped them get better known in the D.I.Y. scene.

This D.I.Y. setup paid off and after a years hard giging, writing and T-Shirt selling,

a second E.P. 'Here's one we prepaired earlier' was recorded and released on the bands

label in summer 2001.

Through playing shows with like-minded bands in the underground punk circles such as

Turtlehead, Capdown, Crash and Blood or Whisky, to name only a few,

they managed to sell close to 500 copies of the 'mini album' at last count and made lots

of friends in bands, labels and venues along the way.

Many zines and punk webziens noticed the release and gave it encouraging reviews.

The DIY CD got lots of attention and air-play on local and international college radio,

prompting another bout of endless shows, during which time bands third record

'A Crock O' Shite' E.P. was recorded and released on the back of playing with

one of their long time faveourite bands, Rocket From the Crypt, last year.

2003 saw the band go on unintentional hiatus with their drummer leaving to play

with another band on the eve of a two week self-financed tour of California.

Not content to sit about and waste away what they had built up

over the past 3 years, Barberskum got busy radically re-working thier set and

writing as much new material as possable. The fruits of which you can sample by way

of a new demo 'No Fun Without You'.

Right now Barberskum are relying on the talents of Pennywhores frontman

Vile Niall to fill in on drums untill a replacement is found.

2004 will see the release of the bands first D.I.Y full-length album,

due to be recorded over the holliday period and no doubt another tour.

Barberskum are:

Manky Frank - Vocals & Guitar

Nodger - Guitar

Telly - Bass & Vocals

Vile Niall - Drums & Vocals