Ten Tonnes talks his debut album, stage fright and stepping out of brother George Ezra’s shadow
AS George Ezra’s little brother, singer songwriter Ethan Barnett has some pretty big shoes to fill.
But under the name Ten Tonnes, he is effortlessly carrying the burden of having a famous sibling — and taking everything in his stride.
The 22-year-old says: “I’ve always been pretty independent and done my own thing. That’s been the same since I started making music.
“When I first started, George said to me that he could help as much as I wanted and offer advice but I said, ‘No I am sweet. I don’t need to know anything.’ It’s been that way ever since.
“I’m proud of his success but he’s my big brother. I needed to do it on my own.”
Last week, Barnett released his self-titled debut album, a record that undeniably proves that talent runs in the family.
But he says he has come a long way since one of his first live shows — covering the Arctic Monkeys’ I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor.
He says with a laugh: “I was in a band when I was 15 and we played assembly at school, but we didn’t do very well.
“I just wanted to be a musician and I never really thought further than that.”
With a guitar-playing dad (a PE teacher by day), music was always in the house as Barnett was growing up.
‘THERE WAS ALWAYS MUSIC AT HOME’
He says: “There was always music at home and the walls weren’t thick either. My dad would be playing in one room, George playing in another and I’d be playing in my room. But we never really discussed it.”
Their mum is an English and art teacher. After his parents split when Barnett was young, he divided his time between their homes.
He started off as a drummer, but it was falling in love with The Beatles at 13 that made him switch to the guitar.
He says: “I got my dad to teach me some chords. He had this big Beatles songbook and I just used to flick through and after that I started writing songs.
“Dad is really sporty but he didn’t pass that side on to any of us as me, George and my sister Jess (who tours with George) are into music.
“I don’t have it in me to be active. I can’t be bothered. I’d rather sit down and play guitar and chill out.”
I meet Barnett a few days before his album hits the shops and he is excited. His diary includes a YouTube listening party, more interviews and a record store tour.
But there is one event the singer is more than looking forward to — appearing on long-running children’s TV show Blue Peter.
‘GEORGE INFLUENCED ME TO GO TO UNI’
He says: “I’m picturing big buckets of Blue Peter badges that I can fill up my bag with.”
It was spending a year at York University studying music production that made him focus on making music as a career.
Barnett says: “If George influenced any of my decisions it was going to university.
“I remember going to visit him when he was studying in Bristol when I was in Year Ten and we cooked pigs in blankets and had loads of booze so I thought university was cool.
“We used to have parties back home but when he was a student it was at another level.” But at York, Barnett found his social life took over his studies.
He says: “I started my course and just knew I’d made the wrong choice. I got a zero for the year as I never went in.
“I’d done music tech at A Level but there were people on the degree who hadn’t done anything.
“I didn’t want to spend hours learning how to produce a track on Logic or whatever because I could do it already.
“I had a really good year and met really great people but I knew I wanted to get out and make real music, so I decided to go home and carry on with the open-mic nights I’d been trying.
“I went home and spent a load of time writing songs. I realised what I wanted to do was to get out and gig as much as possible. So that’s what I did.”
Barnett’s first “proper” gig was in a pub in Hertford, where he performed some of his early songs. He says: “I wasn’t into performing covers.
“I would much rather write something for myself because if something goes wrong, nobody knows that it’s wrong.
“I’ve always tested out new songs that were half-written and then just make up lyrics as I was playing. It’s nice to have that freedom always about writing a catchy chorus.”
The album Ten Tonnes is a distinctive blend of indie guitar and Fifties rock ’n’ roll with songs about heartache, such as the brilliant Better Than Me and Born To Lose. Big hit Lucy shows off his power vocals.
Barnett says: “That song is still my favourite. I wrote Lucy when I was 18 and wanted the whole album to have the same feeling of what it was like when I was 18.”
It was early on when Barnett decided he wanted to use a different name to the one he was born with.
‘I CAME UP WITH MY NAME IN A PUB WITH GEORGE’
He says: “When you’re on an open-mic bill of ten, you want to stand out and be remembered, but you can’t with Ethan Barnett.
“I came up with the name when I was in a pub with George. We were drinking Guinness and trying to come up with ideas and Ten Tonnes came up.
“I saw an old poster for a circus-type thing that mentioned a tonne weightlifter thing and that was it.”
Barnett says he also likes the anonymity of the name, so not everyone knows who he is and can just hear his music.
He says: “I like that it’s ambiguous too. It means I can do other stuff musically. If I was Ethan Barnett there’d be a preconceived thing like I was a singer songwriter.
“Though Ten Tonnes might have some limitations. By the time I am 30, if I want to go dancey I’ve picked the wrong name.”
On the album, Barnett has worked with Crispin Hunt from The Longpigs and former Kaiser Chief Nick Hodgson on the song Lay It On Me. The album has been produced by Hugo White, from The Maccabees, and Dan Grech, who worked on Liam Gallagher’s solo album.
Barnett says: “I grew up listening to The Maccabees, my sister was a huge fan. I met Hugo’s brother (Maccabees guitarist) Felix first when I did a YALA! Records session for him.
“I hung out at their old studio and had a chat with Hugo about what I wanted the record to sound like, and we are on the same page.”
Barnett also went to Nashville to work with Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach, which he says was “mind-blowing”.
“It was like, ‘What the f***?’. Me and my friends are the biggest Black Keys fans. Dan is so cool. It was the first time I’d ever written with anyone. He was working on three projects at once. He’s a proper work addict.
“We did four songs in two days, which never happens, though they’re not on the album as they just sounded a bit too Black Keys to work on my record.”
‘WHEN YOU WALK ON STAGE IT’S QUITE A SHOCK’
Laidback Barnett says he never tries to let anything faze him, such as playing Wembley Arena, where he was lucky enough to open twice for Stereophonics and his brother George at the end of 2018.
He says: “When I supported the Stereophonics, that was nuts.
“I’d met their drummer Jamie Morrison through working with Hugo and the next thing, I was invited to support them.
“I try to focus on enjoying it and making a connection with the crowd, though when you walk on stage it’s quite a shock how massive and pitch black it is. You can only see the first three rows.
“It was great a band that big had the confidence in me to think I can do an arena tour with them when I hadn’t done anything of that scale before.
“Then, when I toured with George, it was really good because we don’t see each other that often. Jess was there too.
“That is three of us, and dad too, so it’s a nice memory we will always have. It’s lovely.”
Are there any plans to work with his big brother in the future? He says: “Me and George always had a plan of forming a dad rock band when we are in our forties.
“It would be big, 12- string guitars and chilled-out vibes. I don’t know if that will ever happen as it’s nice to keep the two things separate.
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“We are close and both love what we are doing and hearing each other’s tunes. But if I’m honest, I think we’d just get on each other’s nerves. It’s a personal thing.”
If he did form a family band with his dad and brother, would they be like Oasis, The Osmonds or The Bee Gees?
“Definitely The Bee Gees, just because I like their music best.”
Ten Tonnes
Ten Tonnes ★★★★
1. Lucy
2. G.I.V.E.
3. Cracks Between
4. Counting Down
5. Too Late
6. Nights In, Nights Out
7. Better Than Me
8. Look What You Started
9. Silver Heat
10. Wake Up
11. Lay It On Me
12. Missing You
- The album Ten Tonnes is out now.
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