Episode 8 of The Audioeclectica Podcast is here for your listening pleasure! The past 7 episodes have covered a lot of different topics and a slew of great bands to check out. We hope you are checking them out! On this episodes we thought it would be great to showcase the ladies and the bands they are in. Brian and Justin start back in the 1960’s and go through each decade till now, pointing out the most rockin females. This is definitely an episode to check out who we chat about especially the current bands!
So grab your favorite beverage, flip it on in the car, sit back and have some fun with Audioeclectica!
Our “In Rotation” Album Picks:
Brian: Nine Inch Nails- The Fragile Greg Puciato- Mirrorcell PJ Harvey- Dry Sex Pistols- Never Mind The Bollocks Bush- Razorblade Suitcase
Justin: Exodus- The Atrocity Exhibition…Exhibit A Down- NOLA Sugar Ray- Lemonade And Brownies Incubus- SCIENCE The Crown- Death Race King
I’m a couple weeks removed from seeing the mighty Baroness live. That show was one of the best ones I’ve seen all year. The time leading up and afterwards put me in a rather fun mood of listening to various Baroness albums and songs. Due to that, I thought I’d put together an Ultimate Set List for my dream Baroness show.
Guideline 1: What line up of the band would it be
Guideline 2: Where would you want to see the show
Guideline 3: maximum 25 songs (In order of how the set should go)
Lineup: John Baizley, Gina Gleason, Sebastian Thomson, Nick Jost
Venue: The Bellwether or Fonda
Set List:
01) Morningstar 02) The Sweetest Curse 03) March To The Sea 04) Last Word 05) Try To Disappear 06) Front Toward Enemy 07) Jake Leg 08) Choir 09) Chlorine & Wine 10) Cocainium 11) Tourniquet 12) Magnolia 13) Seasons 14) A Horse Called Golgotha 15) Beneath The Rose 16) Anodyne 17) Under The Wheel 18) Borderlines 19) If I Have To Wake Up (Would You Stop The Rain) 20) Shine 21) The Gnashing 22) I’m Already Gone 23) Take My Bones Away Encore: 24) Shock Me 25) Isak
I love when I go see a band live that I haven’t seen in a while and I’m completely blown away. That happened the other night when I ventured out to The Bellwether in Los Angeles to see the one and only, Baroness! Riding high on their exceptionally great new album, Stone, Baroness delivered a show and set that shows that there is no slowing down for this band. If anything, they’ve only gotten better over the years. Having seen different lineups of the band over the years, I have to say this line up of John Baizley, Gina Gleason, Nick Jost and Sebastian Thomson is the best the band have ever sounded. It’s almost as though these 3 members were the missing ingredient for Baroness.
As the clock struck 9:00pm, the lights dimmed and the giant Baroness backdrop lit up and as they entered to “Embers” the opening of their new album, it was clear that business was about to be handled. Ripping right into “Last Word” it was apparent that Baroness is on a whole other level live these days. After “Last Word” it went straight into “A Horse Called Golgotha.” then onto “March To The Sea.” That trifecta alone was intense. Then came the awesome “Beneath The Rose” and from there we went into another exceptional new song, “Under The Wheel.” After that it was a nonstop onslaught of great song after great song including a personal favorite of mine “Tourniquet” from their Gold & Grey album. For their encore, they unleashed “Take My Bones Away” and “The Sweetest Curse. What a way to end the show.
Baroness are one of those bands that have such a vast catalog and cross section of influences which makes for great art, music and live shows. One of the things I loved most about this night and their set were the little extended jams to certain songs. When you listen to a Baroness album, especially those epic songs, you get swept up by it all and then live when those songs are played and they extend those parts ever so sweetly, it’s like hearing the song again for the first time. It’s quite a beautiful feeling. Another thing I have to mention is the intensity in which each member of the band played with. Watching them on stage put out the level of energy they did and play as hard as they did really upped the ante. As I mentioned in the opening, having Gina Gleason, Nick Jost and Sebastian Thomson in the band really completes the core. Their abilities as players and writers have pushed Baroness to explore different avenues which has made the band truly stand out and not be defined by one genre. This night showed that Baroness is here to stay and they are only getting better. If you haven’t seen Baroness live, I highly suggest you do as well as listening to their new album, STONE.
Baroness Set List: 01) Last Word 02) A Horse Called Golgotha 03) March To The Sea 04) Beneath The Rose 05) Under The Wheel 06) War, Wisdom and Rhyme 07) Anodyne 08) Chlorine & Wine 09) Tourniquet 10) Shock Me 11) The Gnashing 12) Isak
Encore: 13) Take My Bones Away (Tour Debut) 14) The Sweetest Curse
There comes a time in every bands evolution when a change is needed. In the case of Baroness, they have been one of the most consistent bands in the sense of evolving. Be it member changes, color schemes, and life, there is no shortage of inspiration for this band. I still remember hearing the Red Album for the first time and digging it but, it wasn’t until the Blue Album, when I really think the band found its stride. Along the way, Baroness carved out their own little corner in the heavy music world and have pursued a path that is their own. And on their new album, Stone, Baroness have reached a true triumph as a band.
Carrying on the lineup from Gold & Grey, Baroness’s new album STONE, has defined the sound of the band. There is a resounding strength and focus found throughout this album. Musically, this album is on another level than they’ve gone before. Each member of this band Sebastian on drums, Nick on bass, Gina on guitar and vocal and of course John on guitar and vocals, are playing with a sense of confidence that takes new shapes and is quite inspiring. The rhythm section of Sebastian and Nick are quite the tandem in how they play off each other and the vibe that radiates from that part is captivating. Then you have the full emergence of Gina Gleason coming through on each song. I must say too, as a long time fan of this band and having seen all the different lineups, Gina is the perfect fit for this band. Just like Seb and Nick, Gina brought a new light to the band for the better and it’s really showing on this album. John still has a knack for those sludgey riffs and those delicate pieces that get quite tingling as each listen plays on. Thematically this record is quite the trip. One of the things that I truly enjoyed most about this album was getting swept up in journey that it takes you on. As an album enthusiast (albums are not lost on me. That’s a topic to be discussed at a later time), what you get with STONE is a piece of art that is explosive, delicate, psychedelic and introspective. Having songs like “Last Word,” “Beneath The Rose,” “Choir,” all in a row is a trifecta of YES!!!! Then there’s “Anodyne” and “Shine” that open up other worlds right into another trifecta of epicness with “Magnolia,” “Under The Wheel” and the closing track “Bloom.” One quick note that has to be made is, FINALLY, the album isn’t brick-walled into the skies above!
Listening to STONE and letting it take over is a journey you should most definitely take. It’s one of those albums that you’ve always known they had in them it just took the right lineup to make it. When you take Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, Purple, Gold and Grey and put them together it forms a colorful stone and out of that you get Baroness.
Ever since they announced their new album, Stone, I’ve been on a pretty big Baroness kick. Lucky for me and you, today they’ve released another single, “Beneath The Rose” from their upcoming new album. This new song is pretty damn rockin’! One of my favorite things about Baroness, is their eagerness to experiment and try new things and on this song, they have definitely added some extra elements and textures to their repitoire. The roots of this song also go back to the bands previous album, Gold & Grey. Speaking about that vocalist/guitarist John Baizley said “This song is kind of a cool one because, when we were writing our last record, Gold & Grey, I had the outline for this song ready to go, but it didn’t quite work. We couldn’t figure out how to turn it into a full song at the time, so it was nice to dust off the bones of the song and breathe new life into it for STONE. It’s always nice to go back to a song that you’ve always felt had a potential, but you never saw through. It’s loosely based lyrically on a poem by George Eliot.” Stone comes out on September 15! In the meantime dig into this!
This is exciting! New Baroness is on the way! Today, the first single “Last Word” from Baroness’s upcoming new album, Stone was released. On September 15 the long awaited new album arrives via the band’s label Abraxan Hymns. Speaking on the album singer/guitarist John Baizley said “An important through line in Baroness is we don’t like to repeat ourselves. It’s all about the willingness to take risks. When I was younger, the whole point of music was to be different, not to do the same thing, and not to listen to parents or play by the rules. That’s kind of goofy, but in practice, it works. It’s really sort of terrifying to be at the sixth record in your career and think that you’ll have to keep up with your history rather than continually invent. So, we doubled down on continuously inventing to see where it takes us. I think this record is a good reflection of that. ‘Stone’ is a lot more alive, more direct.”
Baroness spent a month shrouded amidst the pines, holed up in a vacation rental that became an impromptu recording space replete with big, vaulted ceilings, hardwood floors, and brick/glass walls. While they wrote “Stone”, Baizley recorded and pre-mixed it in real time, giving each song on “Stone” its own sonic treatment. After the group finished tracking drums, guitars, and bass, they took everything back to Baizley’s basement studio to record vocals. Stone, is the band’s first self-produced album and was mixed by Joe Barresi and mastered by Bob Ludwig.
Back before the world went into total chaos and lockdown and then some, there was a time when things were still “normal.” In 2019, when Baroness released their absolutely wonderful album Gold & Grey, they did a small concert in this really tiny club for Kerrang Magazine. The end result was beyond memorable. I’ve lost count on how many times I’ve watched this show. The set list is amazing, the performances are out of this world and the older material with this lineup sounds better than it’s ever sounded. This performance solidifies Baroness not only as a force to be reckoned with live but also shows that they truly know how to make a show and set list flow in such a way that you not only are captivated but a bit hypnotized as well. I can’t wait for the next Baroness album! I have a feeling it’s going to be something to really be excited about.
Baroness- Live in the K Pit:
Set List: 01) Morningstar 02) Seasons 03) March To The Sea 04) Borderlines 05) Can Oscura 06) A Horse Called Golgotha 07) Shock Me
A friend of mine recently got into Baroness and ever since he told me that, I went back down the rabbit hole of Baroness and found a slew of alternate versions, acoustic renditions and live versions of some of my favorite songs in the bands catalog. Baroness’s last album Gold and Grey features some of my now all time favorite Baroness songs as well as my favorite lineup of the band. One song in particular that always gets me when I have Gold and Grey on is “Tourniquet.” There is something so gripping about this song. It’s delicate, powerful and one hell of a well written song. Plus the addition of Gina Gleason to the band really has taken Baroness to a whole level of writing and performance. Check out this killer version the band did during the quarantine of “Tourniquet.” It’s quite fantastic!
I have hope that 2022 will be a good year. Not that 2021 was all that bad, at least it wasn’t 2020 all over again. We did after all get some amazing new albums in 2021. Now that we are in 2022, there are a ton of new albums that I’m sure will make the end of the year lists vert difficult to put in order. Here’s a list of the bands with the most anticipated albums of 2022 (I’m sure I missed some. So If I did, let me know)!!!
Centershift- A Different Shade Of… NVision- Black Map- Melodoria Cave In The Cure Coheed and Cambria Crosses Dead Cross Ghost Greg Puciatio- Mirrorcell H09909 (Horror) Korn- Requiem Loathe Megadeth- The Sick. The Dying. The Dead Rammstein Author & Punisher Once Human Machine Head Jimmy Eat World The Smashing Pumpkins Chelsea Wolfe In Parallel Nine Inch Nails If It Kills You Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals Be Well Anthrax Baroness Cult Leader The Cult Darkest Hour Deadsy? Filter Jane’s Addiction? Placebo Red Hot Chili Peppers Rollin Coffin Deaf Club Kiss The Scientist Duhkha
Next up on Audioeclectica.com’s 2019 End Of The Year Lists, the Top 10 Guitar Duos. The stipulation is that, an album/EP had to have been released this year.
Vote for your favorite in the comments section. At the end of the month, I will release the results of the readers poll.
This list is also in NO PARTICULAR ORDER!!!
01) James “Munky” Shaffer and Brian “Head” Welch- Korn
02) John Dyer Baizley and Gina Gleason- Baroness
03) Stephen Brodsky and Adam McGrath- Cave In
04) James Root and Mick Thompson- Slipknot
05) Joel Stroetzel and Adam Dutkiewicz- Killswitch Engage
06) Albert Navarro and Nathan Najera- Seizures
07) Joe Trohman and Scott Ian- The Damned Things
08) Richard Kruspe and Paul Landers- Rammstein
09) Chelsea Wolfe and Bryan Tulao- Chelsea Wolfe
10) Andrew Diaz and Matthew Wright- Harborlights
AUDIOECLECTICA 