First Avenue: Who are you, how old are you, and why are you here?
Graham Barton. 23. To play music.
FA: You moved to Minnesota to play music?
GB: Yeah, and just to work and live. I’ve played here three times in the last two weeks. But I don’t even work [in Minneapolis]. I freelance, so it’s out of a bunch of different cities. I do commissioned music and stuff for people in agencies in other states. I’m at the disposal of everybody. There’s tradeoffs, you know? Being freelance you don’t, like, have benefits and the liberty of some sort of…
FA: Security?
GB: Yeah, that’s what I meant.
FA: What is your favorite thing in the entire world that has nothing to do with music?
GB: Literally? Online shopping. I know that sounds fucked up, but I don’t even buy shit. I just window shop online. I have multiple wish lists, mostly on eBay. I have a gold teeth folder. I have a colored contacts folder… Also collecting transparent .GIFs and images! There’s very cool, weird IRC channels on the Internet where people just pass weird GIFs back and forth. I’m like a GIF connoisseur. I love that stupid shit.
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Graham responds amazingly well when mistaken for a lady on the street. Look for him playing guitar in Some Pulp, @schoenburgmusic and “a bunch of weird side projects.”
