This is an archive of the band profile for Barfly.

Barfly were an up and coming 5 piece band that broke onto the Indie/Brit Rock scene back in the mid Nineties when the UK and indeed the world were being entertained by bands such as Oasis, blur, Suede, Shed 7, Echobelly and Sleeper to name but a few. Initially performing cover versions from some of the bands mentioned above Barfly made a big splash in the local music scene, and due to an inexplicable chemistry it wasn't long before the band were writing original tracks and seamlessly blending them into the set lists at gigs. The band worked hard, writing and recording their first Album, Fly on the Wall, and performing over 200 gigs in the first year! An achievement assisted greatly by the booking efforts of the Band Manager Alan Turner. The effort paid off and resulted in a significant fan base in the Yorkshire area not to mention a lot of press coverage, including appearances in various news papers and on local radio stations with songs from the album getting regular air time.

The band were most active between 1996 and 1999, though the latter of those years saw a few changes in line up as we separated from our Manager (Alan Turner) and rhythm Guitarist (Richard Turner) due to musical and personal differences.

The other Four members of the band (Dave Fairbrother, Danny Whittingham, Gary Jevon and Mark Bland), got back together to collaborate on a 10th anniversary EP, Step Outside, in 2006, the recording consisted of tracks that were written in the final year of the band and a couple of classics from the Original Barfly album.. The chemistry was still there and the session was extremely nostalgic and productive.. But it was at the time a one off and short lived reunion.

After the return to Leeds of Gary, four members of the original band been embarked upon something of a revival, a session in the studio proved that the band still have a significant connection and were soon blasting out songs like it was the good old days.

With Amir joining on drums the band is slightly changed from the original line up but as a long standing friend (and family member) of the rest of the band, the feeling of a bunch of mates having a good laugh still shows through.

After a couple of years cracks had started to form in some of the relationships within the band, and differences of opinion regarding the direction of the band resulted in a split between the Manager (Alan Turner) and the Rhythm Guitarist (Richard Turner) and the rest of the band. The remaining Band members (Dave Fairbrother, Danny Whittingham, Gary Jevon and Mark Bland) renamed the band and pursued success as "Outcry", focusing more on the bands original music and playing venues better suited to promoting Bands in the music industry. Unfortunately, after 6 months as Outcry the band had lost another member (Danny Whittingham) which again shook up the line up moving Gary onto lead guitar, Mark onto Acoustic Rhythm Guitar and introduced Andy on Bass.. The band continued to write songs and perform gigs at big events in this format with a new sound and focus on getting that deal..

Despite a significant and popular back catalogue of original music and a substantial amount of interest from various record labels Barfly/Outcry never quite achieved that elusive record deal. In the end this was chalked up to poor timing and the lack of any real music industry in the Yorkshire area at the time, despite the significant amount of talented bands in the area.

In late 1999 the remaining members of the original band amicably split as a result of a number of members leaving for pastures new and the growing realisation that the spark just wasn't there any more. They did however all remain good friends and stay in touch to this day.

More recently Dave left the band to concentrate on other commitments and this saw Amir come in on drums in mid 2013..