Barry Divola
Barry Divola is a journalist and author who specialises in music, popular culture, the arts, podcasts and travel.
Once-forgotten ghost town is now one of the coolest neighbourhoods in Japan
Just 20 years ago, this part of Osaka was barely known, even to the locals. One man sparked a complete transformation.
- Barry Divola
Latest
While tourists crowd Marais and Montmartre, I took my family to ‘the real Paris’
Ménilmontant has no grand monuments, no big museums and not many tourists. Maybe that’s why it has become one of the coolest neighbourhoods in Paris.
- Barry Divola
How a Hollywood star’s photos inspired The Waterboys’ latest album
Mike Scott became so immersed in the life and art of Dennis Hopper that he wrote an entire concept album about him.
- Barry Divola
The underrated Tokyo neighbourhoods you need to visit
From vintage clothing and lantern-lit alleyways to Japanese pubs and “cat town”, discovering new places to explore is never an issue.
- Barry Divola
Developers drove these artists out of their homes. This is how they fought back
A new documentary charts the extraordinary tale of a secret apartment that went unnoticed for four years.
- Barry Divola
Why John Darnielle won’t pitch a musical to pal Lin-Manuel Miranda
He might be pen pals with the world’s most famous composer, but The Mountain Goats frontman won’t be heading to Broadway.
- Barry Divola
Bill Nighy didn’t want to make a podcast. But now it’s a surprise hit
He’s supposed to be dealing with listeners’ quandaries but on Ill-Advised by Bill Nighy we learn a lot about the English actor himself.
- Barry Divola
Their mythical story was wild enough to be a movie, and now it is
Over four decades since forming as kids in Los Angeles, Redd Kross reflect on their strange journey to cult status.
- Barry Divola
The 25 best new Aussie artists of 2025
These local musicians – some with long-awaited breakthroughs, others with stunning introductions – made us take notice this year.
- Robert Moran, Jules LeFevre, Tom W. Clarke, Nick Buckley and Barry Divola
The rise of bars where no one wants you to talk
Listening bars started in Japan. Now they’ve inspired Australian venues.
- Barry Divola