6 minute read
Barry Bangerz
Text by JAMES PHILLIPS | Photographs by SCOTT ERIC DAY PHOTOGRAPHY
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ALOVE OF MUSIC is something that Bryan Baker says he has had for as far back as he can remember. As a child growing up in Jasper, Baker said hip hop music was his genre of choice. That admiration of hip hop led him to start playing music as a disc jockey as a teenager, but has now morphed into a full-time career that has found him becoming one of the most popular DJs in the Southeast.
“I was always into hip hop,” Baker said. “I rode the ‘blue dot’ school bus in high school, and I was one of three white people on there, with my mother being one of the other ones, and she was driving the bus. I always had an interest in the hip hop culture, and that style of music is what spoke to me.”
Baker, who goes by “Barry Bangerz” when he’s on stage, said he started out with two Pioneer vinyl turntables and a Gemini mixer, playing music for birthday parties, weddings and proms.
“My parents would have to drive me to gigs, because I didn’t even have a license when I first started it,” he said. “I had a hook-up at (radio station) 95.7 who would bring me all their extra records. I had crates and crates of records, and I would blend the songs that I thought sounded similar.”
After graduating from Walker High School in 2008, Baker said he worked odd jobs (gas station attendant, scrubbing bays and bathrooms at a car wash) for a short time before deciding a college education would be beneficial to his future. While he got a degree in communications from the University of North Alabama, it was his work as a DJ during his college years that elevated him to what he does now.
While in Florence at UNA, he spent many of his nights as a DJ at fraternity parties or other gigs in the area. He continued to do that even after graduating and working for the Franklin County Times newspaper for about year.
“I like media and providing content, but reporting on Paw Paw Pete’s prizewinning pumpkin just wasn’t the thing for me. That wasn’t the content that I was hoping to create. It was around that time that I started playing bar gigs. I didn’t think there would be much money in that, but I was wrong.”
It was during his Florence days that he came up with the name Barry Bangerz. He said that he had to shave when he was a pledge at a fraternity, leaving him with a “frat boy haircut and a mustache.”
“All my fraternity brothers joked around about my look, and one guy said, ‘you look like a shade tree mechanic, some guy named Barry who is about to fix my car,’” Baker said. “They all started calling me ‘Barry,’ so it stuck. A little bit later,
I was doing EDM (electronic dance music) real heavy and a friend of mine said, ‘Barry plays bangerz,’ and I knew that was the name. Ever since then, I’ve been Barry Bangerz. Even back here in Jasper, most people call me Barry now. When someone calls me Bryan, I have to almost break my neck to turn around to see who it is.”
Baker said his big break came in 2017 when he started playing bars in Birmingham. He quickly became the resident DJ at Tin Roof.
“I play a lot of Top 40s hip hop at Tin Roof, and I mix that in with some of the electronic stuff, and that really made me take off,” he said. “I think my sound and vibe is different from anyone else. I pride myself on the groove that I give. I feed off everybody’s energy when I’m on
stage. That’s where it all comes from. It is really cool to see 400 to 500 people bobbing their heads in unison. Hearing them scream at the end of the night is surreal. It is the most addictive feeling that I have ever felt.”
As his demand has continued to grow, Baker has found himself playing four nights per week in Birmingham, Tuscaloosa and in other cities across the Southeast. He also gets to perform in Jasper on some occasions, including finishing off the 2019 Foothills Festival with an after party at Tallulah Brewing Company.
“Tallulah was almost like an answered prayer type deal,” he said. “Jasper needed something like [Tallulah’s] and Twisted Barley really bad. I was overwhelmed when they asked me to play. It was always a big dream of mine to do the festival thing, and then we have a festival where I’m from and I get to do the after party on Saturday night. I even had John Popper (of Blues Traveler) standing up here while I am DJing. I never imagined that I would be able to bring what I’ve kind of crafted back home.”
Baker said he plans on DJing for the rest of his life. He said it has turned into a successful career, but it continues to grow, and he continues to want to improve what he does.
“I’ve never been more well fed than I am right now, but I have never been hungrier either,” he said. “I love every second that I get to do this. I try not to take a single moment for granted, and I am so thankful for everyone who has helped me along the way and who continues to help me today.” •
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