Anything else wasn’t an option. From the age of 4, Bob Baker was always going to be a musician. Born 20 years ago in Preston, Lancashire, Bob caught the bug from his father who could turn his hand to playing the guitar, piano, and trombone.
In 2005 the Baker family upped sticks to Jersey, where Bob had nothing better to do in his spare time than to learn to play the guitar and listen to the records of Johnny Cash, The Beatles, Don McLean and Elton John. Later discovering for himself the sounds of The Smiths, Oasis, Jake Bugg, and The Courteeners, to name but a few.
It was in the Channel Islands where Bob first started performing live. Throughout his time in primary school, he was always recording songs and honing his guitar playing of course.
When he was just ten, he played at the Jersey Live festival, sharing the bill with Madness, The Streets, and a little-known chap by the name of Ed Sheeran. He continued to perform at local events, as well as clubs and pubs most weekends. It wasn’t until he reached the grand age of 12, when he won his school talent show, that he started playing his own songs to the local Jerseymen.
Within a couple of years, he’d regularly be travelling to the UK to record his own material and play gigs in London and Manchester, including support slots with Dodgy, and The Bluetones.
At seventeen, Bob had his fill with island life and made that long-awaited move to the streets of London. He enrolled at BIMM music institute, hung out with other young music types, and left a year later with a diploma and a 4-piece band. Having nailed the performance of the night at the end of term showcase, he was snapped up by management.
An introduction to one Matt Jones (Ultrasound, Jamie XX, Beady Eye, Minuteman) led to Bob starting work on recording his own material – proper. Bob was determined that his first professionally produced recordings were to be about the Sound as well as the Songs. Maybe it was those early years of listening to Johnny Cash that made the Baker boy want his work to sound like they could have been recorded at Sun in Memphis, or RCA in Nashville. Matt got it straight away and, over the course of the 92-minute train journey to Echo Zoo Studios in Eastbourne, The Bob Baker Sound was well and truly under way.
The first song, chosen from a list of 26, to be released is “The Way It Is”. “The Way It Is” got its first radio play on October 10 as a featured track on BBC Introducing in the East Midlands. 48-hours later it became Track of the Week on BBC Radio Derby. XS Noize is pleased to premiere the video today!
Watch “The Way It Is” video BELOW:
The 4-track debut EP, featuring “The Way It Is” as well as “I Know You Did It”, “I’m Not The Same As You”, and “Chase The Wind” is available to stream now.
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