Baroness are a band that have been steadily rising since their inception in the mid-2000’s and have gained a reputation as one of the hardest working bands in the business. After hitting Australia twice in 2010 with their first appearance at Soundwave and then opening for Metallica later that year, we got a huge introduction to the band with multiple shows which subseuqently gained the band many more fans. A bus crash in England in 2012 while on tour almost put a stop to the band’s career with the band and crew suffering injuries but they persevered and luckily came out of it. But now with two new members and another appearance at the 2014 Soundwave Festival, things are looking pretty good for this progressive sludge rock band from Georgia. We spoke to guitarist Peter Adams about their upcoming tour in Australia and how the band has been doing since the accident.
Andrew: So how have you been?
Peter: I’m doing alright man, same ol’, same ol’.
Andrew: Are you guys on tour at the moment?
Peter: Na man, we’re off tour at the moment, we finished up a couple of weeks ago for the year.
Andrew: Ah ok great. So you will be coming to Soundwave next year for your second appearance at the festival, what are your expectations this time around?
Peter: I’m pretty stoked to be coming back to be honest with you. I’m ready for it!
Andrew: Last time I saw you guys was when you opened for Metallica in 2010, how was that tour for you guys?
Peter: That was quite an honour to get to do a tour with that band to be honest with you. What an amazing tour to be invited to play and actually do. That was a blast and what better place to do it than in Australia.
Andrew: Have you guys been to Australia 2 or 3 times?
Peter: A couple of times now. There was Soundwave, the first one that we did and then in the same year as the Metallica tour.
Andrew: So you spent quite a bit of time in Australia then!
Peter: Yeah a little bit man, I’m just really looking forward to getting back! I never thought that I would get to hit Australia as much as I have.
Andrew: Are you guys doing any side shows at all while you are here?
Peter: I’m sure we will, I’m not sure which ones again, I’m really unsure about that.
Andrew: I understand that you have a couple of new guys in the band now (Nick Jost, bass & Sebastian Thomson, drums), how have they been fitting into the band?
Peter: Oh they have been fitting in really well! We got really lucky with the fact that the first two people that we found were the guys for the job it turns out. We didn’t really have to do a big heart down new rhythm section thing and go through try-outs and everything. They were the first guys that we found and they’re working out great, they’re holding it down for sure.
Andrew: How did you find these guys?
Peter: Just through friends. We didn’t know either one of them and they didn’t know each other either. As we put our feelers out there, we got a couple of hits back about these guys and we called them up and started to play some music with them and bounced a few things with them and it worked great.
Andrew: That’s great! The other thing I wanted to ask you about was the accident that happened last year. How is everything with the band now since then?
Peter: Everything actually is going extremely well! We have bounced absolutely back, there’s no doubt about it. It was a bad crash no doubt but not bad enough to keep us down, to keep us from doing this so that counts for something right there.
Andrew: Yeah definitely. Has it inspired you in some way to make the band even bigger than before?
Peter: Well I don’t know about making it bigger or not or inspired in that way but it definitely reminds you to appreciate what you’ve got, and that we can all do now. We definitely appreciate what we’ve got, we’ve been working pretty hard over the past so many years now so it’s a good feeling to know that people want to see (you) continuing to do what you do. And for that we’ll keep on doing it!
Andrew: That’s good to hear. When you stepped on stage for the first time since that happened, how was the feeling within the band and the crowd reception as well?
Peter: The crowd reception was awesome! It was a really intense show man. It was a bit nerve-racking, I’d be lying if it wasn’t. It was kind of an emotional night for everybody on one level or another I believe.
Andrew: I believe You and John (Baizley, guitar/vocals) did an accoustic show, was that before or after Baroness came together on stage for the first time?
Peter: Yes we just wanted to do something that…we just didn’t have a rhythm section. So it was like we wanted to do something to let people know that we weren’t sitting down on the job and that we were working at getting better and recuperating and that we were continuing to do what we do. It was really just kind of that.
Andrew: I know John has played with Scott Kelly from Neurosis doing solo accoustic shows. Is that something that would maybe interest you somewhere down the line?
Peter: Not with Baroness material and it would definitely be a different genre type feel if I did. But I’ve been playing accoustic music for years as it is already, I just don’t take it out under the pretence of ‘Featuring Peter from Baroness’ or anything like that, not my kind of thing. But I’ve been doing accoustic music for a long time now. I don’t know if I would ever want to take it out on a large scale or anything.
Andrew: Who are your main influences on the guitar?
Peter: Wow man that’s a good one! My number one influence and always has since I was little is Brian Setzer from the Stray Cats. He’s pretty much my number one main influence. I just about adore everything that dude does on the guitar and does with a guitar. I think he’s a phenomenal guitarist and you just don’t hear people talking about him too much, he’s kind of under the radar! But people who are into him know what’s up but he’s a phenomenal guitarist who I’ve kinda always idolized so he’s my number one thing but of course in recent years I’ve really taken an extreme liking to Brett Hinds from Mastadon’s guitar playing. That guy is a phenomenal guitarist, he has a very unique style and way of playing (which) I really kind of relate to in a way. I’ve played a little bit of music with him so having sat down and played guitar with him has been what has really opened me up into that world so that’s pretty cool. But with that question, there’s always Jimmy Page, kinda hard not to be influenced obviously.
Andrew: And you guys have toured with Mastadon as well is that right?
Peter: Yeah that’s right.
Andrew: The other thing I wanted to ask you about, it’s always intrigued me about your album titles “Red Album”, “Blue Record”, “Yellow & Green”. What’s the story behind those album titles?
Peter: Well it was really just a way to layout a theme for what we knew would be one record coming after another and coming after another. At the end of it all it was just a cool way to get all the records to tie together in one way or another and aesthetically when you put all the records side by side, they still kind of have that theme. So it’s kinda nice, you have reoccurring characters and reoccurring tiny artistic features and artistic things. But yeah the color thing is more of a vivid eye catching thing so it’s not too deep haha! It’s really just a good theme.
Andrew: Is this something that will be continuing on the next album as well?
Peter: No sir we are done with colors! We’re moving on from colors and I don’t have any idea what we’re going to do next haha! Honestly we haven’t even talked about it yet haha!
Andrew: haha ok cool. So after Soundwave what is the plan after that?
Peter: After Soundwave we will pretty much be fully devoted to the writing of our next record. So we’re going to be taking some time off between then and our next touring bit in order to write and start thinking about when we’re going to record this thing.
Andrew: OK cool. So a couple more questions for you that we would love to hear what you’re answers are. If you could be a fly on the wall for the recording of any classic album in history what would that album be?
Peter: I’m going to go with Lynyrd Skynyrd “Second Helping”.
Andrew: Cool and why that album?
Peter: Yeah I love that record and I think there’s songs on that record that are awesome. I think the way they were playing music in that era and writing the songs at that timeframe was even better. It would have been an awesome experience to be a part of watching that.
Andrew: Obviously you guys are influenced by bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd so it’s probably an obvious choice in some way.
Peter: Yeah man I kinda grew up listening to a lot of southern rock and I still really love it.
Andrew: And for you, what is the meaning of life?
Peter: To enjoy it while it lasts.
Andrew: I suppose that would mean a lot to you after the accident last year as well.
Peter: Yeah absolutely!
Andrew: Cool well we are looking forward to seeing you guys at Soundwave again. I’ve seen you guys a number of times now and you always put on a great show so really looking forward to seeing you guys over here.
Peter: Awesome! Yeah I can’t wait, it will be great!
Andrew: And hopefully you can do some sideshows as well and do your own shows. It seems between festivals and club shows you guys seem more suited to club shows or do you feel the other way around?
Peter: I kinda like the club show because it’s more personal, it’s more gritty. It’s more raw as opposed to like sometimes a festival crowd, it’s exciting that the energy that a big crowd puts off but it’s also in a wierd way kind of like it’s a showcasing of your band. It’s like heres 45 minutes or whatever, an hour to show a bunch of people who may not have seen the band before what you got. But you can guarantee at a club show, the fans are coming out to see you and it just has a different feel to it. But the festivals are always cool because they are big and they are exciting.
Andrew: Yeah I totally agree about the club show thing. Seeing a band at a club is just a whole different experience and that much better.
Peter: Yeah absolutely man.
Andrew: Thanks for taking the time to talk to us, it’s much appreciated and as I said we are looking forward to seeing you guys in Australia next year!
Peter: That sounds great man, I’m looking forward to it.
