As their new track is released, Cortes Island-raised artist Tiberius b tells the story of their unique career that was wrested from the jaws of fate on multiple occasions and includes featuring on the Barbie soundtrack
How does someone from a tiny island in the middle of British Columbia end up on the Barbie soundtrack? Well, for Tiberius b, it was a combination of sheer talent and a little bit of fate. They credit their childhood on Cortes Island, an almost prehistoric environment home to multiple species of dangerous animal and less than 1,000 people, as creating a “robust inner world, because my outer world was so extreme”. It speaks to a fierce creative vision formed in isolation that, falling short of calling it ‘good’, Tiberius describes as “uncompromising with a level of heart”.
The fate element came in the form of a series of chance encounters. First, a slightly eccentric older man on the primordial Cortes Island who taught Tiberius – then known as Frank Belcourt – how to play piano as a child and even invited them to record on the homemade CDs that he would sell at the island’s farmers market each week. It was an early igniting of a flame that Frank would carry to the neighbouring island they moved to for high school, then to Vancouver, where they lived a destitute artist’s life playing in a synth pop band, and ultimately to London, where they began releasing self-produced music under the name Tiberius b.
In the UK, fate intervened once more. Having moved to rural Wales at the start of the pandemic to take care of their grandma, Tiberius received word from Zelig Records, owned by Mark Ronson, that they were interested in self-produced single “No Smoke” – an intimate and lo-fi alt pop record that speaks on the anxieties that had punctuated meandering journey across land and sea, of missing their family and the inexorable pressure of “alarm bells sounding”.
Naturally, the label’s next question was: do you have any more music? Which Tiberius, then secreted away in the valleys with no instruments and where power would regularly go out for hours on end, did not. Fortunately, their grandma mentioned that the village plumber had an old electric guitar lying about, and he trekked up to the house the next day to deliver it to them. Tiberius’ subsequent Stains EP, a grungey, expansive offering released on Zelig Records, was written entirely on the instrument, with the project’s cover recreating the serendipitous moment in which it was gifted to them.
Sitting down with Tiberius in the Southbank Centre cafe in London, they mentioned how they almost lost all of their upcoming music recently. “It’s another fate moment, isn’t it?” they chuckle. Tired from a long studio session, they accidentally left their bag at the train station on their way home, with their laptop and backup hard drive sitting inside. They frantically rushed back to the station in time to find that it had, serendipitously once more, been handed in. It is through all of these interventions of fate that Tiberius’ single “New Life” arrives today, a track which was almost lost forever, fittingly speaking on rebirth into a “new life” over cathartically crunchy and gradually evolving production.
As the conversation wound to an end, Tiberius excused themselves to look out over the river, seemingly communing with this “robust inner world” that had carried them so far. Below, we speak to Tiberius about the critical moments that led up to yesterday’s release, including appearing on the Grammy award-winning Barbie soundtrack.
How was your experience of growing up on Cortes Island?
Tiberius b: It was really magical. I feel like I had a robust inner world because my outer world was really extreme. I found it really hard to get used to England being so soft. The trees are smaller, there's no threatening animals, or big mountains. Whereas where I’m from feels like a way more rugged and dangerous. I felt so small. I was from a small place, and it was lonely in a way that's kind of… nice. I think that a lot of musicians can be quite lonely people in the beginning of their life.
What were your early experiences of performing?
Tiberius b: I had a piano teacher growing up and he was so sick. He was an avid composer. We lived on an island that had 900 people so there wasn’t a huge audience for anything, but he just made music for himself. Constantly. Then, the first time I ever performed was probably aged nine, and it was just at the local restaurant. The feeling of performing was something that I loved, this feeling of being paid attention to. I got a lot out of that. I wanted to be seen, you know? I think that that has shifted as I’ve gotten older and figured out how to meet my own needs. I do it in the privacy of my studio now and that feels really cathartic.
It’s funny seeing how many supportive people you’ve attracted along your journey. Why do you think this is?
Tiberius b: I honestly don’t know. I was thinking about that yesterday. It still feels like I’m in an egg and the shell is cracking, but the film is still there. Like you can see my weird little dinosaur body poking out through that. Even just with my band, it’s so much fucking work to put a show together and practice and everything. No one’s getting paid much but they all still do it.
Different people use different pronouns for me based on their idea of what I am, and that is the thing that feels right to me. It’s whatever you think I am. Like, ‘Yeah, go off!’ It’s more for them than it is for me – Tiberius b
Do you think the film is breaking slowly?
Tiberius b: Yeah, I think in time it will. I don’t know when, but I do know that the things that we put out are of a really high level of care and imagination. I remember when we finished filming the ‘Big Deal’ video. It’s me and my cousin dancing together, and we stayed an extra day and just hung out after it was all done. I was like, ‘I don’t know what’s gonna happen with this. You know, maybe people will see it, maybe they won’t. But, no matter what, this thing is gonna exist in our family for generations from now, and is proof of our relationship, our expressiveness and our love for each other.’ I feel like I’ve kept that framework of thinking about music – just that it’s there. Whether or not it finds a grand audience, I’m just super proud of all the things that we’ve made.
How did the Tiberius b alias come about?
Tiberius b: It was about a year into me living in London and I wanted to change my artist name. Tiberius was what my parents called me when my mum was pregnant with me. I thought it was interesting from the perspective of someone who was having questions about their gender identity at the time... and forever since. They chose not to know what my gender was going to be until I was born, so I liked the kind of liminal name. It’s a Star Trek reference. James T Kirk.
It’s interesting because a while on your Instagram you posted an image which says ‘I don’t identify’. Does that relate?
Tiberius b: I still feel that way. In the past few years, I’ve moved through the world and everybody I interact with interprets my gender differently. From minute to minute, people think different things. The boss man at the shop thinks I'm a dude. The people in the pool changing room think that I’m a man when I walk in, but then realise I’m a woman when I remove my clothing. Queer people would maybe assume that I was non binary right off the bat, like I kind of am. Different people use different pronouns for me based on their idea of what I am, and that is the thing that feels right to me. It’s whatever you think I am. Like, ‘Yeah, go off!’ It’s more for them than it is for me, and that's why I said I don’t identify.
How did featuring on “Lose These Chuckleheads” from the Barbie soundtrack come about?
Tiberius b: That was a fucking side quest. It took me, like, 20 minutes. When I was mixing my DIN EP, I was just in the studio showing Mark [Ronson] the mixes, and he was like, ‘They sound awesome! We’re making Barbie right now, wanna see?’ They showed me some of the Barbie movie and they were kind of in a bit of a cabin fever with it. They didn’t have a car scene song yet, so he was like ‘Can you make a song that sounds like ‘Twofer’ (one of the songs from my project), but for Barbie?’ And I was like, ‘OK.’ So, I flew home the next day and then went to the studio, and I made him a song from Barbie's perspective, about her being mad at Ken, kind of a girl pop anthem.
I wasn‘t famous enough for them to use the actual song, but Mark really loved it. He was like, ‘Do you want to just sing over the soundtrack instead? We need it by tomorrow.’ I had just been babysitting in the daytime and had football in the evening, so I rushed home from babysitting, listened to the track once and then just sang over Mark’s sound.
Why did you choose to release ‘New Life’ now?
Tiberius b: I’m excited that the song’s coming out in the fall. I personally think that music sounds so good in the fall, it’s my favourite time to listen to music. There’s something about the solemnness of the death of summer, like the death of things around you, that has so much mood. It feels less forced than summer where you‘re like, ‘Wow, I’m having so much fun!’ I’m born in October and I think we’re gonna maybe put the release date to be on my birthday.
“New Life” is out now (happy birthday Tiberius).