Philly Irish rockers Barleyjuice a QVC hit

Barleyjuice is a band based in Philadelphia that lives up to its name. They play a boozy, high energy mix of rock riffs and Irish ruckus that has been distilled for your consuming pleasure on “The Irish Collection,” a greatest hits package that they put together on the occasion of their first QVC appearance.

The disc was a runaway hit, selling thousands of copies in a matter of hours.

Their mischievous “What’s Up Yours” is a rollicking pub anthem that tempts the question of what goes on under a kilt, while their jigs and reels whip the listener into a sudsy euphoria.

The readings of classics like “Nancy Whiskey” and “Tim Finnegan’s Wake” make “The Irish Collection” a joyous Irish history lesson with a few original chapters thrown in to keep things fresh!

“We are Celtic enthusiasts with roots in rock and roll, which is probably the simplest way to put it,” says Kyf Brewer, the lead singer and writer for Barleyjuice. “We started with the trad stuff and we used the instrumentation from that to enhance our rock melodies.”

I spoke with Brewer about the explosion in popularity ushered in by QVC and other topics during a great chat punctuated by lots of laughter. Here’s how it went:

Tell me about the QVC experience.

We had this opportunity to go on QVC and we were looking to see what album we could pick. We got a collection together of the best stuff from the last four albums.

They did an amazing job over there. It is the lowest common denominator of marketing. The host, if they caress the album, the sales rise. You pick up the bagpipes, the sales rise.

But hey, it worked! Over the course of a 24-hour period we sold 6,000 copies. We had a lot of people get turned onto us that never heard of us. It was a great experience that got us fans all over America.

I see in your bio that you acted in cult classics like “Serial Mom” and did voiceover work. Do those acting elements make it into your music?

They do to a degree. We have good musical performers in the band, so we can play as well as any band. But whereas some people play music, we actually like to think we perform the music. We do both.

The acting that brings an entertainment value to what we did. I never did a lot of professional acting because it got in the way of drinking and music (laughs). I had an agent that was working for me, and there were people like John Waters that came to see this band I was in at the time called the Ravyns.

He threw me in front of some casting directors. Considering I didn’t go out for much, I did pretty well.

​
Nster.com