At the start of a new year, the MistaJam.com team are looking at some of the biggest nights in underground music. Deputy Editor Sam Moir kicks it off by speaking to the team behind Birmingham based Bigger Than Barry.

Diplo, Fake Blood, Jack Beats, MJ Cole, Redlight, Toddla T; the list could go on. These are some of the names that have played at Bigger Than Barry. Originating in Birmingham, the clubnight has now expanded to Nottingham, Manchester, Sheffield Leeds, the latter two regular fixtures on the Barry calendar. Then there’s the summer parties in Ibiza.

In recent years, Birmingham born clubnight Bigger Than Barry has enjoyed a meteoric rise to establishing itself as one of the nation’s most loved underground music nights. Bigger Than Barry actually started up as a bit of a joke. Bored of Birmingham’s nightlife, three lads; Bobby Barnes, Sam Baylis and Kieran McInerney decided to give promoting themselves a shot. Bobby tells me, “We found a pub that a friend of a friend had just taken over in town and arranged a little Christmas soiree mainly for pals, and acquaintances through the MySpace generation.”

He adds, “It must have been a like minded affair as we had 250 people turn up and got completely off their nut.”

2010 was a memorable but hard year for Bigger Than Barry. “It was a real tough year on a business level with the age of austerity all around us but it’s always been more about the vibes and the showcasing of DJs that represent our sound,” reveals Bobby.

He says, “We’ve had some of the best acts around ask to come back, produced some really memorable raves in three cities which is very satisfying and then taking 200 ravers to Ibiza was pretty special.”

Having put nights on three big cities in the country, plans to expand are currently on hold, “We’re looking to chill out a little bit now, plans for world domination can be a little too stressful and take away the love of the party. Especially when you’re a small team, we’ve just been lucky to have friends placed in both Leeds & Sheffield,” says Bobby.

Bigger Than Barry do occasionally join up with other nights such as Urban Nerds in London and Dub Boro in Loughborough for special parties. While on the subject of other clubnights, I ask Bobby what other nights he feels are currently doing big things. “As a promoter I have huge respect for nights like Kabal in Sheffield, SubDub in Leeds and Leftfoot in Birmingham,” he replies.

Those clubnights are in the cities that the Bigger Than Barry boys regularly put on their own nights. Bobby adds, “Those are the ones who really bring a huge identity and don’t conform to the uniform DJs that should be booked. They are all about the soul and vibe of the event, they are the events that have really inspired us as a clubnight.”

Having had the success the clubnight has enjoyed in recent years, the temptation to continue putting on headline DJs may be too much to resist. But Bobby is adamant that won’t happen and is already working on the night’s next direction.

“We’re going back to the roots; concentrating less on the ‘big names’ and getting back to pure party vibes. We’re also doing a summer series in Birmingham which we’ll be taking over fresh and inventive spaces to bring a real rave feel back,” reveals Bobby.

At the of a new year, there’s only one thing the team wanted to do, “Keep the dream alive. We love what we do, so as long as we can keep putting on fresh parties and people keep feeling what we’re doing we can look at doing some next level memorable parties,” says Bobby.

Related Links | Bigger Than Barry on Facebook | Bigger Than Barry website | Sam Moir on Twitter