[1][2] Barnes started a course at Ealing Art College at the same time as Townshend and the two of them shared a flat together,[3] bonding over their mutual love for old R&B and soul records.
In 1993 Barnes was listed as director and collaborator on Townshend's "Psychoderelict solo album and theatrical American solo-tour that followed.
[12] Barnes was featured in the official and definitive documentary of the group: Amazing Journey - The Story Of The Who, directed by Murray Lerner and given a 2007 worldwide theatrical release.
[13] Barnes as a journalist worked as an art director on The Daily Mirror in the early 1970s and has contributes to a wide number of UK music magazines to this day.
He has appeared in many television and film documentaries speaking about subjects pertaining to Mods, The Who and its members or the London of the 1960s in general.