Exclusive Download: Tim Barry Ponders Posers on ’40 Miler’
Click to listen to Tim Barry’s ’40 Miler’
“40 Miler,” the title track from former Avail frontman Tim Barry’s fifth solo album, is named after a derogatory term used by freight train riders to describe a fake hobo. “For 20 years, I have toured and illegally ridden freight trains, but I’ve never been truly committed to either,” Barry tells Rolling Stone. “I am a poser – a 40 Miler.”
The track came to Barry after a long bout of writer’s block. “The song was oddly easy to write,” he says. “A strange thing happens to one’s creative mind when an eternal ‘nobody’ becomes recognized in music. Suddenly, songs don’t just belong to the writer. They belong to the public as well, making writing difficult. At what point does the intimacy of writing songs become clouded by the knowledge that you are writing with your listeners in mind? This is the point when all great writers become boring. ’40 Miler’ was a way of making fun of myself and acknowledging I am neither a great writer or interesting candidate for stardom. But I’ve accumulated many miles and many experiences while an active participant in the world of underground music, and I wouldn’t take that back for anything.”
40 Miler will be in stores on April 10th, but you can download the song for free here.