Michael Barker (drummer)

Michael Barker
Barker at the Cambridge Folk Festival.
Background information
Born	1966 (age 44–45)
Origin	Rotorua, New Zealand
Occupations	Musician
Instruments	drums
Years active	1996–present
Associated acts	The John Butler Trio, Split Enz, Swamp Thing

Michael Barker (born 1966) is a New Zealand percussion musician best known for performing with many Australasian acts, including The John Butler Trio and Split Enz.

Early musical education

Inspired by his older brother Douglas, Michael began playing the drums around age 10. As a teen, he played with various bands in Rotorua New Zealand until 1985 when he moved to Melbourne, Australia to learn orchestral percussion. His studies began at Box Hill College of Tafe, where he completed 2 years of drum and percussion tuition under Bruce Barber. From here Barker went on to study Orchestral and solo percussion at The Victorian College of the Arts under Barry Quinn. In Barker's final year at the VCA he performed ' Pssapha ' by Xenakis, ' The I Ching ' by Per Norgard and ' The Black Page ' by Zappa.

Musical career

Barker's unique drum and percussion style has seen him record and tour with prominent contemporary recording artists such as - The John Butler Trio, Neil and Tim Finn respectively, Split Enz, The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Kasey Chambers, Missy Higgins, Alex Lloyd, Nathan Haines, Vika and Linda Bull, The Black Sorrows, Deborah Conway, Christine Anu, David Bridie, My Friend The Chocolate Cake, to name but a few.

Michael has also performed music in theatre productions of Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', 'Cats', 'Rent', ' Tap Dogs', 'Poor Boy' and 'Jerry's Girls '.

In addition to performing and recording, Michael has written songs and music with Tim Finn, David Bridie, John Butler, Shane Nicholson, Eddie Rayner, Brian Ritchie, Vika and Linda Bull and Christine Anu.

Michael wrote, recorded, mixed and released his first solo album, 'Wonderland' in November 2006. This album saw Barker collaborate with Bob Moore, Jeff Raglus, Bill Mac Donald, Steve Hadley, Ray Pareira, Peter Neville and the VCA percussion ensemble.

In 2008, Michael played with Split Enz on their NZ Reunion tour. He was introduced by Tim Finn at the Wellington concert as "the newest Split Enz member".

In June 2008, Michael performed at the Australia's Ultimate Drummers Weekend Festival held in Melbourne.

Personal life

Michael Barker was born in Rotorua, New Zealand to Celeste and Clive Barker. He is married to Catherine, and they have two sons, Marvin and Tristan.

In 2007 he made headlines as he unsuccessfully tried to save the life of a drowning man in Townsville, QLD.^[1]

Preferred Percussion Instruments

• Pearl Reference Series Drums & Zildjian Cymbals:
• Drums – Purple Craze w/Nickel Hardware^{[citation needed]}
  • 12x10" Tom
  • 16x16" Floor Tom
  • 18x16" Floor Tom
  • 14x6.5" Brass Reference Snare
  • 22x20" Bass Drum
  • 10" Soprano Snare
  • 13" Timbale
  • 11.5" Pearl Conga
  • ' monkeys
• Cymbals – Zildjian
  • 15" K Custom Hi-Hats
  • 22" K Custom Ride
  • 19" Armand Beautiful Baby Ride (w/Rivets)
  • 19" K Custom Crash
  • 17" K Custom Crash
  • 15" K Custom Crash
  • 10" K Custom Splash
  • 8" K Custom Splash
  • 6" K Custom Splash
  • 8" Zil-Bell
  • 20 K China

References

1. ^ Daily Telegraph

External links

• Barker bio on Split Enz fan site

Persondata
Name	Barker, Michael
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1966
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death