Jimmy Barnes releases new album My Criminal Record

On his new album My Criminal Record, Jimmy Barnes distils hisbooks Working Class Boy and Working Class Man into the kind of blues-rock musical stories which have made him a hero to fans.

Jimmy Barnes ripped his skin off in his best-selling memoirs to show his himself and the world why he was an angry man who screamed every night at the altar of rock’n’roll.

On his much-anticipated new album My Criminal Record released today, the revered rocker distils his Working Class Boy and Working Class Man books into the kind of blues-rock musical stories which have made him a hero to fans for more than four decades.

“Making the record was different because I was telling these stories from a different perspective and the way I could tell them best, which is to sing,” he said.

“Singing about those feelings and fears and being aware of why you are doing it is good. I know how to sing.

“Writing the book was traumatic, ripping my skin off for the world to see what’s underneath.

I feel safe in the confines of a song and a performance.”

Jimmy Barnes says it was more “traumatic” writing about this life than it was to sing about it. Picture: Jonathan Ng

The title track captures the trauma of abuse and poverty which scarred his childhood.

The single Shutting Down Our Town furthers the story of growing up in Elizabeth, South Australia and how the families there remain scarred by the loss of Australia’s car manufacturing industry.

Most of the songs came during the periods of writing the books and later collaborations with close friends who know him well including his Cold Chisel brother Don Walker, good mate Troy Cassar-Daley and son-in-law and Barnes band member Ben Rodgers.

His idiosyncratic growl is still front and centre but many fans and critics have remarked that the new songs reveal a different side to the Barnes’ pedal to the metal voice.

“I know I am a better singer now. I’m healthier for a start, emotionally and physically,” he said.

“Letting go of all that baggage and identifying what it is, I realised I used these emotions to sing everything from the day I joined Cold Chisel, I just didn’t know why I could feel fear so easily or tap into anger so quickly. I can go to those emotions much easier now.”

The rocker says he is a better singer now, adding: “I’m healthier for a start, emotionally and physically”. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Barnes chose two covers to include on the album, none of which are a great surprise.

John Lennon’s Working Class Hero exemplifies the immovable chip on his shoulder about class and poverty in Australia, while Bruce Springsteen’s Tougher Than The Rest is a tribute to the enduring love affair with his wife Jane.

Barnes sang it with Springsteen during the Boss’s 2013 concert at Hanging Rock in Victoria.

“That song means a lot to me. I got to sing it with him and the reason I picked it was I sang that song a million times when I was going through the darkest parts of my life, when I was trying to convince myself that I was tougher than the rest with all this bravado,” he said.

“I would sing it to try to keep me from falling over and to Jane when it was on at parties to let her know I was going to be OK. Even though I wasn’t.”

Bruce Springsteen listens to Jimmy Barnes perform at Hanging Rock in 2013.

Another song, My Demon (God Help Me) underlines that Barnes remains a work in progress when it comes with dealing with his mental health issues.

“When I start to get angry about stuff these days, I can see it coming and I don’t go and drink myself to death. I try to work through it,” he said.

“All the same demons are still there and are always going to be snapping at my heels. The only difference is I know they are there and I am looking at them as opposed to trying to outrun them.”

Even as Barnes prepares for an extensive national tour in support of My Criminal Record, he is working on the third book of his life’s adventures.

What started as a collection of short stories of about his rock’n’roll adventures has become the third instalment of his memoirs.

“I’m a third of the way into it. It’s another non-fiction which started out with short stories. It’s not about my woes and troubles, it’s about stuff that happened on the road to me but now I can see a connection between all those stories with the first two books. It can’t not be connected,” he said.

***My Criminal Record is out today. For all tour dates, jimmybarnes.com

Originally published as Jimmy Barnes releases new album My Criminal Record