With the physique of a Clydeside welder and laughter-filled lungs like industrial bellows, Jimmy Barnes is a combustible ball of electric enthusiasm.
It’s late March and he’s in Auckland, ostensibly to talk up his new album, The Barnestormers, recorded remotely during a Covid lockdown with London-based pianist Jools Holland (whom he has yet to meet in person), Stray Cats drummer Slim Jim Phantom in Los Angeles, and Kevin Shirley (bassist-producer) and Living End singer-guitarist Chris Cheney isolating in Australia. It’s an enjoyable rockabilly record that Shirley seamlessly welded together after each player laid down his separate part.
That’s supposedly the topic, but the former Cold Chisel
