Derbyshire musician opens his heart about the inspiration for going it alone as reinvented Educatable

Ricky Barson has reinvented himself as Educatable in honour of his former band, the popular Educatables who won the Derbyshire Times Band of the Year title before tragedy struck.

“It was only when our singer Dom Slone passed away that things came to a complete stop for the first time ever,” said Ricky, 33, who lives in Shuttlewood. “He was the best pal I’ll ever had and we were great together musically. I couldn’t do music with anyone else and I miss him a lot, so that’s why I decided to take the plunge and go it alone. And I think that’s why I’ve pretty much kept the same name – to feel like he’s still with me and that I’ve brought all the good of the past with me and merge it with future successes.

“Since I’ve announced that I would be starting up again but on my own, the degree of the support has been really humbling – much more than I anticipated to be honest! Enough to sell out Real Time Live in Chesterfield next month and pretty quickly at that. But I don’t take that lightly or for granted; more that the band as we were before had a great impact that has crossed over the new set-up and also because I seem to be surrounded by the loveliest and most supportive bunch I could have hoped for.

"I’m very excited about playing my relaunch gig. Probably because it’s actually the first time I’ve stood up as a guitarist/singer and played in front of a hefty crowd; having been the drummer in the band as we were before where I could hide behind everyone if all went wrong.”

Ricky’s former band Educatables had its roots in a trio called 24/7 which launched in 2022. They changed their name to The Remedies, before rebranding as Educatables and Ricky’s dad managed them all the way through. “We had about 15 member changes,” said Ricky. “Most recently it was me with Robin Simpson on guitar and Dom Slone who was singer/bass player. We all loved playing together and we won the Band of the Year the last year it was hosted at the Winding Wheel. We were an ‘almost but not quite there’ band as many become, and managed to get music played on the telly in numerous ways, played a support gig at Doncaster football stadium and recorded with highly acclaimed producers.”

Over the past two years Ricky has been writing and recording new material that he is planning to release as an album in the near future. He said: “I record myself in my home build fully soundproofed studio that used to be a coal shed in the garden!”

Ricky works in the building trade with his dad, is married to Cheryl and they have a two-year-old son, Sonny, who has inherited a love of music.