Metal Legends Baroness Playing First Two Albums at GAMH On September 17
Photo Credit: Ebru Yildiz
They always say it will be just like riding a bike—everything will come flooding back in no time.
But what if said “bike” is a devilishly intricate set of prog-metal treatises? How are you supposed to casually wade back into 90 minutes of complex guitar arrangements, strange time signatures and countless tempo and time changes?
That was the dilemma facing John Dyer Baizley and his band, the post-metal legends Baroness, as they attempted to unpack their first two albums, “Red” and “Blue,” for a tour in which they’d play those classics in their entirety.
“It was definitely interesting revisiting these albums that were, like, psychotically overloaded with parts and technical movements,” said Baizley. “But there is something wonderful to me in the challenge of playing this music. It’s like we’re on the edge of our seats every time we play these songs—you kind of just hold on for dear life and see where it takes you.”
On September 17, Baroness will bring that white-knuckle experience to the Great American Music Hall, where they’ll play a setlist that includes all of the tracks from those early compendiums.
Tireless road warriors—you can find Baroness playing in the most unlikeliest of locales throughout the country and beyond—the band is currently in-between album cycles, with their latest release, “Stone,” now nearly two years old. That itch to constantly get out and perform before their fans, led to the idea of Baroness revisiting their early work.
“Over the course of our career, we’ve really tried to avoid doing any gimmicks or delving into nostalgia, but we’ve also discussed the idea of exploring our back catalog more,” said Baizley. “We are working musicians—we tour as much as humanly possible, so from a practical standpoint, it made sense to dedicate ourselves to this idea at this time, since we’re currently in a bit of a lull in our album support cycle.”
The fact that neither album is celebrating a noteworthy anniversary—“Red” came out in 2007 and “Blue” arrived in 2009— actually made the touring idea more palatable, Baizley said, as it would remove any notion that the band was trying to cash in on some arbitrary milestone.
Regardless of the motivation, fans will be in for an immersive and unique auditory gift hearing the older records played live. While Baroness always played selections from the two albums in their regular live sets, this tour marks the first time in more than a decade that many of the songs from “Red” and “Blue” will be performed. Those albums—immediately hailed as paragons of the genre—showcased an insanely ambitious band and hinted at an evolution that would take Baroness beyond the strictures of the metal scene.
“I think when we wrote “Red,” we were absolutely trying to do as much as we could, with what we had at the time,” said Baizley. “And we looked at that as our opening salvo, so we needed to follow up with something even more bold for “Blue.” But after touring those albums nonstop for five years, we realized that we couldn’t maintain that course. We needed to write songs that were more performable.”
The results of that more restrained technical approach were “Yellow & Green” and “Purple,” the towering dual masterpieces of the Baroness genre—ones that saw them further push the boundaries and definitions of what could be termed “metal.” For “Purple,” the band teamed up with indie rock production maestro Dave Fridmann, a partnership that resulted in Baroness earning their first Grammy Nomination, for the song “Shock Me”—a rare industry acknowledgement from a group always outside the edge of conformity.
As great as those later albums are (and there isn’t anything less than an absolute gem in the entire Baroness discography) it’s thrilling to go back to the visceral early days of the band. Tracks like the “Red” album opener “Rays on Pinion” and "Steel That Sleeps the Eye" from “Blue” showcase an absolutely fearless band—one willing to go outrageous lengths to perfect and hone their sound. There is joy in falling utterly lost within the byzantine movements of a song like “Isak,”—a “Red” album standout that illustrates the band’s willingness to explore every conceivable guitar sound.
Those older albums are also a testament to the staying power of Baroness—a band that has experienced its fair share of obstacles. Baizley is the group’s only holdover from the “Red” and “Blue” days, and after a devastating bus accident in 2012—in which several members endured serious injuries—there was a serious question if the group would soldier on. Unsurprisingly, given his convictions, Baizley kept the band together and its current lineup—drummer Sebastian Thomson, guitarist Gina Gleason and bassist Nick Jost—is the most stable in the band’s history.
“When we started this band, I wasn’t capable of looking 20 years into the future,” said Baizley. “But because of what music means to me, I don’t think I ever considered stopping this thing—maybe that was a little stupid of me. My thought process was always this—‘I’m in a band, these songs are very much from my heart and soul, and that makes me proud to go out and perform them.’”
Backed by his stellar bandmates, Baizley will do just that next week in San Francisco—a performance that will surely teeter perilously on the edge of safety—just like riding a bike.
“When I go to a show, I want to see a little chaos and a little magic,” said Baizley. “And that’s what these “Red” and “Blue” gigs have been all about. Just because you know the albums, doesn’t mean the show will be predictable.”
Show Details:
Baroness with Weedeater
Where: Great American Music Hall
When: 8 p.m., Wednesday, September 17
Tickets: $40.62, available here