“Excellent in every way: an outfit and a voice that belong in smoke-filled gin-joints where the booze drips off the ceiling and love is left outside.”
– Chris Hawkins, BBC Radio 6 Music
“Literate and appealing, intelligently constructed soundscapes… a web of chaos and disorder with a deft touch of humour.”
– R2 (Rock & Reel) Magazine
“Currently making waves in the North [Louis Barabbas & The Bedlam Six] reflect the fresh and vibrant sound coming from the centre of the creative hub that is Manchester.”
– Music Week
“Unbefuckinglievably brilliant!”
– Tom Robinson, BBC Radio 6 Music
Photo © Stefan Gnad 2013
“An artist who just blows you away with sheer originality… music from the heart that is made for dancing but also leaves you thinking. Superlatives are not enough”
– Echoes & Dust Magazine
“Louis Barabbas is such a unique talent. His music is intelligent, witty and has a kick to rival any fine liquer. Simply awesome.”
– Chris Holliday, BBC Radio Manchester
“Everyone wants to know what the next big thing is. Well, this it is: Louis Barabbas & The Bedlam Six.”
– Richard Cartridge, Play Radio
“Outstanding.”
– – Drowned In Sound
“Rousing, heart-breaking and foot-stomping in equal measures… a swirling, gritty mass of influences and ideas… Make no mistake, their music is as likely to steal your soul as soothe it.”
– Chris Long, BBC Manchester
“Louis Barabbas is one of the hardest working musicians around… a Mancunian musical legend, so amazing!”
– Sam Walker, BBC Radio 5 Live / Key 103
“Absolutely bloody amazing!”
– Danny Goffey, Supergrass
“Exceptional, unique and truly outstanding.”
– Andy Crane, BBC Manchester
“Louis Barabbas & The Bedlam Six are one of the best and unique bands for their music, theatre and entertainment that the UK has produced this century… these guys are heading for stardom without doubt.”
– USA Weekly News
“A dynamite vest couldn’t have blown my tits off with such gusto… amazing live, truly catchy – if these folks don’t go to the moon I’ll finally accept there is no god.”
– Front magazine
“Louis Barabbas & The Bedlam Six are a unique proposition for Manchester bands, so gloriously out of step with everything else around them. Intensely articulate and knowingly droll, theirs is a sound placed in the whiskey-stained jazz bar, the Tom Waits-goes-Gypsy vibe supplemented by the kind of theatrical performance from Barabbas that elevates the show above merely a rendition of songs.”
– Shaun Curran, City Life magazine
“Like some once-prevalent disease, they are exotic, gruesome and contagious, curious to witness but dangerous up close. Catch them as soon as you get the chance.”
– Atticus News
“The mesh-tight group swung from spiced Cab Calloway jazz to gypsy folk and gritty blues… If the mad and exciting musical tales didn’t wake the neighbours, the surging howls of approval by the end certainly should have got the knuckles rapping the walls.”
– John Hill, Whisperin’ & Hollerin’ magazine, March 2008
“Rat Pack fuelled by the energy and spirit of punk independence, with a bunch of twisted tales to tell straight from Hell’s own cabaret lounge.”
– Cath Aubergine, Manchester Music
“Do not hesitate to fall right into the hypnotic oddity of this wonderful work.”
– Soundwise
“Never before have we stumbled across such creativity, character and complexity.”
– Chris Martin, The Underclassed (blog)
“Fantastic songs.”
– Jason Cooke, Breakfast Express, All FM
“The best band to come out of Manchester for ages.”
– Ian Montgomery, Friday Drivetime, WFM
“The best performance we’ve ever had on this show.”
– Helen Walford, Canalside Radio
“Brilliant… terrifying but brilliant.”
– Byron Evans, Channel M Breakfast Show
