A Brit school alumna, singer and producer, Georgia Rose Harriet Barnes was born in 1990 in London. Her debut album, Georgia, came out in 2015 and her latest, Seeking Thrills, released in January, went to No 1 in the UK indie charts. She is the daughter of Neil Barnes, co-founder of electronic music group Leftfield, and was previously a drummer for artists Kwes and Kate Tempest. She was longlisted for BBC Sound of 2020 and is currently on tour.
1. TV
I absolutely love Armando Iannucci – he’s one of my favourite comedy writers. I’ve been a fan since The Thick of It. He is so on point when it comes to the politics of today. I love his new comedy Avenue 5. It’s set in the future, when travelling into space becomes the new form of travel. Something terrible goes wrong and it’s going to take years to get back to Earth. It’s about the collapse of society on a spacecraft. I’m fascinated by Iannucci’s mind. He’s able to portray the madness of society so brilliantly.
2. Music
Gary Numan: The Pleasure Principle – The First Recordings
I’m a big Gary Numan fan. I was flicking through the new wave section in Rough Trade in Nottingham and came across this new reissue of the Pleasure Principle demos. I’m fascinated by the process of making records. I’m often more interested in that than in the outcome. These are an interesting ride. You get to hear how his song Cars started out. Perhaps I should release some demos, too. I think it’s interesting for the audience to hear the whole process.
3. Podcast
Crimetown Presents: The Ballad of Billy Balls
The second instalment of the true-crime series that investigates different mysteries tells the tale of a man who bursts into an East Village apartment in 1982 and shoots punk musician Billy Balls. It’s a totally mesmerising story that kept me and my touring party entertained through Europe. It has a great narrator who is on a personal journey, so you feel like you are on the journey with him. It’s about murder, lies and coming of age – it’s really one of the best podcasts I’ve ever listened to. Also, I love New York and particularly the whole CBGB scene.
4. Book
Beyond Heaven: Chicago House Party Flyers 1983-1989
I’m an obsessive about the Chicago house scene, and this was a birthday present from a good friend who was in the city. It’s a book of flyers from those parties. They’re so colourful. It’s something we don’t really do any more, but through these flyers, you can tell a lot about the era. I’m on tour a lot and it’s hard to find time to read, but something that is this visual, I can really enjoy. It makes me feel centred and grounded when I read it as I pay respect to the sounds that I’ve used on my own records.
5. Cafe
While travelling in Germany, I tracked down this vegan Szechuan Chinese cafe after discovering it on Holy Cow, a vegan and vegetarian food app. I ordered the fried sweet potatoes in a black bean sauce, a rice bowl with fermented mushroom, ginger, greens, tofu and sesame. You mix it all together and it’s pure heaven. It’s probably my favourite restaurant in the world. It’s so cheap. I was a bit worried about putting it on my Instagram because I didn’t want it to blow up, but I felt like this place really deserved to be known.
6. Film
Everybody in the Place: An Incomplete History of Britain 1984-1992, by Jeremy Deller
Rave culture is very personal to me because my father was in Leftfield. I don’t think I’ve ever watched anything that has got it so right: how it changed people’s lives and the way music was affected by politics. The film felt so cohesive and truthful to the movement, and the way that it was presented as a lecture to a class of kids from different backgrounds was genius. It almost brought me to tears. I really like Jeremy Deller and his art and the way he celebrates working‑class culture.
