The Smashing Pumpkins were a radio staple when Barker was a teenager in Western Australia.

“…they occupied a lot of my listening time just after I’d finished school, got my driver’s licence and bought a bright yellow VW Beetle that I refurbished with my dad. The car was bought for only A$250 but I saved up to fit it with a $1k stereo so I could blast out albums like ‘Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness’.”

Some years later she had a vivid dream about stepping up onto stage to play drums for The Smashing Pumpkins and wrote a poem about it.

#drummerdream
In a city of metal, glitter & stretched skin
behind a leathered band & thick black curtains
my heart beats double kick because
I’m the drummer of The Smashing Pumpkins
and we’re seconds away from walloping
into a sold-out stadium set.
The crowd are amped, keen to be teens again:
Tonight, Tonight smells of unrequited crushes,
Lynx Africa & the burn of firsts remembered.
Every song cradles place, past, peers, DNA.
Curtains rise & the roar is biblical. Billy turns
to me through the smoke, his scream starts the roll
of the Cherub Rock intro on snare. I raise sticks
above my head, count ONE! TWO! THR –

When she was recording her latest album “Fragile as Humans” at The Wool Hall, producer Luke Potashnick suggested they do a couple of covers – ‘Tonight, Tonight’ felt like an obvious choice for Barker and the band set about creating a version that took the song in a rolling, acoustic Beck “Sea Change”-esque direction.

Emily Barker is an award-winning singer-songwriter from Western Australia. Her song “Nostalgia” was the theme for the acclaimed BBC crime drama “Wallander” starring Kenneth Branagh. Her songwriting has been acclaimed by The Guardian (“Emily Barker has a gift for great melodies”), NPR (“one the most literate and probing folk albums of the year”) and The Australian (“irresistibly catchy”). She has toured extensively, including with Frank Turner and Mary Chapin Carpenter, and was the 2018 UK Americana Artist of the Year. Barker’s first collection of poetry “Where The Black Swans Swim” was published this year through UK publisher Broken Sleep Books.

Barker is on tour in the UK, first in November supporting King Creosote, and then again in 2025 for some headline dates with her full band.

EMILY BARKER – UK DATES

Supporting King Creosote:

15 Nov 2024 – STIRLING Tolbooth

16 Nov 2024 – EDINBURGH Usher Hall

18 Nov 2024 – SUNDERLAND Fire Station

19 Nov 2024 – WARWICK Warwick Arts Centre

20 Nov 2024 – LEICESTER International Arts Centre

22 Nov 2024 – NOTTINGHAM Metronome

23 Nov 2024 – MANCHESTER RNCM

24 Nov 2024 – LEEDS Brudenell Social Club

26 Nov 2024 – BRIGHTON Komedia

27 Nov 2024 – EXETER Phoenix

28 Nov 2024 – LONDON Union Chapel

29 Nov 2024 – LONDON Union Chapel

Headline UK Dates with full band:

23 Jan 2025 – BELFAST The Deer’s Head (Out to Lunch Festival)

25 Jan 2025 – BRISTOL The Lantern

26 Jan 2025 – LEEDS Brudenell Social Club

28 Jan 2025 – NEWCASTLE Cluny 2

30 Jan 2025 – LIVERPOOL St Michael-in-the-Hamlet

31 Jan 2025 – MANCHESTER Deaf Institute

01 Feb 2025 – LONDON Omeara

02 Feb 2025 – STROUD Sub Rooms

04 Feb 2025 – CAMBRIDGE Portland Arms

05 Feb 2025 – BRIGHTON The Prince Albert

06 Feb 2025 – TWYFORD St Marys Church