Monster Bobby

Monster Bobby
Monster Bobby (performing with The Pipettes, 2007)
Background information
Origin	Brighton, England, UK
Genres	Indie pop
Years active	2003-present with The Pipettes 2006-present Solo
Labels	Hypnote Recording Concern
Associated acts	The Tenderfoot The Pipettes
Website	Official MySpace

Monster Bobby (born Robert William Barry, 1981) is an English singer-songwriter and actor, best known as the creator of and guitarist for the indie pop girl group The Pipettes.

In 2001, when Monster Bobby was just Bobby Barry, he starred in Weirdsister College, the spin-off series of The Worst Witch, in which he played the mysterious Nick Hobbes. Prior to that he featured in the film "New Years Day" as Stephen, directed by Suri Krushnamma and released in 2000.

Monster Bobby is most well known as being guitarist for The Cassette(s), The Pipettes' all-male backing band. He is frequently credited by The Pipettes both with developing the idea of a modern girl group, and with introducing the members of The Pipettes to one another. He has been described as the group's "Svengali", but rejects any notion of "individual genius" in his role with The Pipettes, stating that "most of the most interesting music is made in such a collective fashion that it is very hard to assign individual responsibility".

Monster Bobby's solo work is a conceptual mix of electronic samples, offbeat songwriting and avant-garde intellectual influences, significantly different from the upbeat girl group pop of The Pipettes. To date, many of Monster Bobby's recordings have appeared as limited edition singles and on compilations, though his debut album, "Gaps" released in 2007, was made up of original material and was widely available.

Since the late 1990s, Monster Bobby has run an irregular series of club nights, concerts, events and a fanzine called Totally Bored or "TB". The bands that were initially involved in TB included The Electric Soft Parade, British Sea Power, The Tenderfoot and The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster, who were based around Mockin' Bird Studio, run by Marc Beatty, keyboardist in Tenderfoot and later, member of Brakes. It was in this milieu back in Brighton that the idea for the Pipettes was eventually conceived. Totally Bored eventually spread along with Monster Bobby's more "academic" interests to London's New Cross, where it grew into a zine and a radio show.