13th December 2019
If you’ve got any serious interest in the local music scene, you will have heard of this man. If you’ve not heard of his name, you’ll have heard of his bands. But it is with great honour that South Devon College can welcome Barney Dine to be the new Music Lecturer.
Barney has had a successful and thriving career in music for many years; a career that boasts of many experiences and opportunities that few musicians across the country can claim to have exceeded or matched.
In 1992, Barney performed with his first band called Dr Frank. The band played around Devon for a couple years and even beat Muse in a battle of the bands. The band then moved to London where they played the acid jazz scene and collaborated with members of Jamiroquai, Brand New Heavies, James Taylor Quartet. But in the end, the band split up in 1996.
Barney then enjoyed various projects and different bands in London after that and secured many session jobs in London with producers of Boy George and Sonique, as well as creating jingles for Sky TV.
In the year 2000, Barney started another band called Daddy Mango. The band enjoyed much success around the South West for 5 years before parting ways. At this point, Barney went travelling, came home, had kids, got married and started what most people today know Barney for. 3BF.
3BF were successful across Devon playing at various venues, weddings, corporate events for over 11 years. After this band split up, Barney started a new band, Buried Hedz, which is where he is now. Not long after the creation of this new band, Barney started teaching at South Devon College.
With all this history of success, we sat down to find a bit more about what inspired Barney to take all that and put it into teaching and what plans he has moving forward.
What inspired you to start teaching?
“I come from a family of teachers and to be honest it’s the last thing I imagined doing but, as time’s gone by I began to feel it was the natural way forward. I’ve had a lot of experience working with young people through my recording studio and always enjoyed the enthusiasm and energy that they bring to the table. Moving my experience into South Devon College seemed like a natural progression.”
What do you do outside of teaching at the college?
“I run Ocean Recording Studios in Paignton where we record all sorts of local talent from rock bands to Frank Sinatra tributes, school productions, rap artists, and everything in between. I really enjoy engineering and producing. You never know what’s gonna come through the door next.
“Aside from the studio work I play in a number of bands. I have two of my own bands, ‘Buried Hedz’ and ‘Sea Eagles’ in which I sing and play guitar, and I play bass for another band ‘New Daze’ and banjo for another, ‘Hoarse’.
“I also do a lot of solo work for a company called Belvedere Vodka which involves getting flown all over the place to play at international drinks industry events.
“When I get a spare five minutes I also write jingles and incidental music for TV, radio and online companies.”
What are your plans and ambitions for the future of music and performing arts?
“I would really like to see both departments grow and thrive over the next few years. Performing Arts has a fantastic teacher in Karma Tucker who’s doing some great things with her students. We both have a very understanding and enthusiastic boss in Shelly Lee who is really keen to grow both departments. So the future looks bright for us here. I really want to create a fun and informative course for our students with a lot of industry realisms thrown in for good measure. It’s not all about a piece of paper in this industry (although it helps). It’s about hard work, communication, confidence and persistence.”
What is your biggest achievement or milestone?
“Musically? They all seem to blend together after a while. I’ve done a few big gigs here and there and worked with some semi big names but it’s no different from working with local talent. Every band I record I consider it a milestone. You learn so much with every act who comes through the door. To be honest my family is my biggest achievement. None of this would mean much without those guys.”
There must be some pretty exciting things lined up for you. What can you tell us?
“In College, I’m really looking forward to our end of year event, the Seasonal Showcase! We’ve got a load of students from music and performing arts doing what they do best and it is going to be an awesome show. It’s happening in the Theatre at South Devon College on the 17th December with two showings; one at 2pm and one at 7pm.
“Outside of college I have a couple of gigs coming up for Belvedere in places like Poland and New York which are always great fun. You get to travel and sample some of their fine Vodkas. It’s a horrible job but someone’s got to do it!”
The College are proud to attract such experienced and successful practitioners to become part of the teaching team that share their extensive knowledge with students across the vast range of subjects on offer. But Barney Dine is a significant asset to the College and we are all looking forward to what his energy and musical expertise will bring out in students embarking on their own musical journeys here at South Devon College.
If you’re interested in studying Music or Performing Arts at South Devon College, discover what options there are at southdevon.ac.uk or come along to our next Open Evening on Wednesday 22nd January 2020 from 4pm-7pm. For more information, contact the College Helpzone team by emailing [email protected] or call 08000 380 123
