American Aquarium is an alternative country/rock and roll band from Raleigh, N.C. Guitarist, singer, and songwriter BJ Barham fronts the band, working with guitarist Ryan Johnson, pedal steel player Whit Wright, bassist Bill Corbin, drummer Kevin McClain, and guitarist Colin Dimeo to create honest, original, non-traditional country music.
Describing American Aquarium's sound is a difficult task, even for BJ Barham himself. “We're too country to be a rock and roll band, but we're too rock and roll to be a country band," Barham explains. “We've been doing this for almost ten years, now, and I still can't describe what we sound like."
The band's audience is also hard to label. Their fan base is a “melting pot of what [they] have picked up along the way." Barham attempts to describe the fans: “It is such a mixed bag. There's everything from tattooed up punk kids, to frat boys, to old people." Their music is for anyone. “We're like the Planet Fitness of bands," Barham claims. “The judgment free band. We'll take anybody."
Rolling Stone named American Aquarium one of the “10 New Country Artists You Need to Know" in 2015. This year has been an exciting one for the band. In February, their sixth studio album, Wolves, was released. Barham says, “I sat down to write Wolves, and I wrote the entire record in about two months." The record is comprised of ten soulful songs, each telling a story different from that of their last album.
Burn.Flicker.Die. was released in 2012 with the intention of being the band's farewell to music and life on the road; 250 small shows a year started to take its toll on the band. The album actually put the band on many people's radar. It gained praise from critics and attracted more new fans. BJ Barham speaks on being able to play the larger shows, “I'm able to pay my bills on time, now, because we're playing bigger rooms and I'm able to kind of live comfortably, instead of kind of living out of a storage unit." The rock and roll lifestyle wasn't as glamorous for the band as it was in the movies.
“More people come to the shows just out of curiosity," Barham explains. “Wolves made us not just a North Carolina band, anymore; there's people around the country that come to see us now and that is super cool."
American Aquarium's future looks bright. “The band's not going anywhere," Barham claims. “We have such a great dynamic. As long as there's exponential growth, as long as we keep seeing progress, as long as we keep making music, and as long as we keep challenging each other to make better music, then I can see this going for another 10 years, you know. It's a really, really cool job that I have. I want to keep doing this as long as I can."
Barham encourages us to “just keep supporting live music." Wolves is available as a CD, on vinyl, and on iTunes. You can find tour information on their website, www.americanaquarium.com.
