Interview with Tickle Me Pink guitarist and singer Joey Barba

I know what you’re thinking… where did they come up with that name? Well my friends, Tickle Me Pink guitarist Joey Barba gives me the inside scoop on the background of the name and the state of life at which these guys have been pushed through. From dirt to sky, these dudes are flying high and their recent show at The Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto, Canada set them in my good books. Kudos to Crown & Dragon Pub beside the MTV studios for giving us some interviewing space.. I’ll be back! Anyways, here’s what Joey had to say!

Okay, so I am just going to jump into this right away… “Tickle Me Pink”… I am really curious about the origins of this genius, well thought out name. Where did it come from?
Joey: Uhm… Honestly, I don’t think there is any real meaning to it. I think it was just kind of a catch phrase. We don’t take ourselves all too seriously… I mean we take our music seriously but we’re just jokers.

No, but I mean the day it came up and was created, did anyone question it?
Joey: People keep asking us this and we keep trying to come up with good stories. Like we said that God came to us in a dream years before we were in the band… God came to me in a dream and to Sean in a dream and told us about Tickle Me Pink and then we met up the next day and we’re like, “NO WAY I HAD THAT DREAM TOO! We have to name our band Tickle Me Pink!” Other then that there is this sex lube that’s called ‘Tickle Me Pink’ and we all used it on the same girl once. [laughs] Noooo… just another amusing story.

And the girl was like, tickle my pink! Right? [laughs] Let’s talk music; it’s what brought us all here and Madeline is what is driving you guy these past couple months, hows the journey so far?
Joey: Yea, it came out July 1st and we’ve just been touring on it and the response has been really cool. I know that a lot of the stuff was written before I was in the band and I was there for some of the recording at the Blaster Room and everyone who worked on it worked really hard and it sounds great… the record sounds amazing.

So you’ve been friends with band, growing up with them and everything…
Joey: Yea, we grew up playing in bands together and we’ve toured and I use to play in a different band, we toured with Tickle Me Pink and then with everything that happened with Johnny, it was just the natural fit.

I’m really sorry to hear about that man, when I read about it I my heart felt it too, it was the day of the release correct?
Joey: Yea. It was the day the record came out.

Well hey dude, you guys seem to be going in the right direction these days…
Joey: Yea man it’s cool, I think because of how I was so close to the band already it was as natural of a change as it could have been and the thing to is that a lot of these songs were apart of Johnny, so we play them in his honour every night… we’re passing on his legacy to everybody every night, so I’m honoured to be a part of it.

He probably would have wanted you to push on.
Joey: There was talk of even adding me before, I’m on the DVD that comes with the CD because I use to play some songs with them live so yea, I’ve been playing with them for a while.

You must be able to relate to some of the lyrics that you guys write, is there any song that sticks out in your mind as something you could relate to?
Joey: Uhm… honestly “Madeline” the title track, it was huge for me when everything with Johnny happened just because that’s what it’s about. If you listen to that song and you think about Johnny and the whole situation, that’s the biggest thing that hit home for me, is that song.

Was Madeline a friend?
Joey: No, Madeline is kind of just a name that is just a metaphor for everybody, you know everybody’s Madeline because at the beginning it says,”there was a girl I used to know who cried herself to sleep every night, we all knew we all knew”, because we all knew that girl or that person, or that Madeline.

Wow, it’s extremely ironic. Growing up in the suburbs of isn’t always easy for a band, how did you step it up and get yourself in this position?
Joey: I actually grew up in Virginia, but it doesn’t really matter. The majority of my musical career has been in Colorado so I mean dude I just always played in bands and I was going to college at CSU, Colorado State and I mean school wasn’t for me and I always just wanted to play music, that’s all I did. I played in a couple bands before this one, I toured around and did it band style; sleeping on the floor.

Life is too short to do what other people want you to do, you’ve got to do what you want to. What were you taking in school?
Joey: [laughs] Early childhood education.

[laughs] So you like kids?
Joey: Yea, I like Kids. I worked at a elementary school which is kind of weird because I just don’t look like the kind of guy that would work at an elementary school but I mean the kids like me and the parents like me so it’s fine.

You’re a kid at heart.
Joey: Yea it’s true, I just go out and play with them and have a good time so I’m pretty much on the same level. [laughs] It’s not much different.

Music is what takes you away from home so where would you like to see this album take you?
Joey: Everything is just so different right now with the economy and just the whole music industry, people aren’t selling records anymore like they use to. I would love to see this record hit 500,000 you know? I would love to see it hit platinum and I think it’s possible man. I know we’ve all been talking about having “Madeline” be the second single and I think that’s a song that a lot of people will be able to relate to so I think it will be good. But I have high hopes for this record and I have high hopes for a second record, I’m really excited to start writing music.

Are you guys going to tour anywhere else in the world?
Joey: I would love to come back here man, I like it so much already. Toronto’s nice, the women are pretty, it’s been great but dude I’d love to travel Europe, even japan.

Are there any Canadian stereotypes that you guys have down there, what do you think of us up here?
Joey: Honestly, I don’t know much about Canada but one thing I do know is that one of the craziest dudes I know is a Canadian. He is the owner of one of the biggest clubs in our hometown and he is not from this world man, he is a crazy Canadian. And I like Labatts, we always drink Labatts with him; he’s a good guy. Actually there is one thing I do know about Canada, I lost my virginity in Canada in Mount Tremblant!  [ END ]