The story of Georgia’s Baroness is one of rock’s more turbulent tales in recent memory. Their two colour-titled releases (“Red Album” and “Blue Record”) garnered critical acclaim, and they went on to tour with Mastodon, Deftones, and even Metallica. Much like Mastodon, Baroness’ unique mix of progressive rock and heavy metal riffs found an audience with the indie crowd, and the band played both the Coachella and Bonnaroo festivals.
Their latest double-album, the bluesy “Yellow & Green”, came out in May of last year to an extremely positive response. Nearly three months later the band suffered a disastrous tour-bus accident in Bath, England. Frontman John Baizley, who broke his left arm and leg, vividly chronicled the accident on the band’s website: baronessmusic.com/update-from-baroness/
A year later Baizley along with fellow guitarist/vocalist Peter Adams, took Baroness back on the road with a new bassist and drummer to finish the job of presenting their newest material to their fans. I met up with John and Peter before their gig at The Mod Club in Toronto to talk about how the fans react to a band’s personal struggles, the perceived direction of their sound, and tunes they’ve been working on during their hiatus.
Baroness are currently on tour in North America, and have just released the BBC EP “Live At Maida Vale”.