Baroness

Friday June 20th (Hellfest 2008 1st day)

As forewords, we would like to apologize for the short length of this interview (not even 5 minutes), and thanks warmly John Baizley for his perseverance and patience. Due to an organisation problem (the only one encountered during the fest), neither John or us have been able to access the backstage. Thanks to him, the interview took place in the tour bus, but sadly with much time lost… Anyway For their first release 'Red album' (2007 on relapse record) after two EP and one split, Baroness made a masterpiece. This one is just astonishingly good … as will be their performance during the fest.

Fab : First, could you introduce yourself and the band to those who didn't know you ?
John: Yeah, my name is John Baizley, I play guitar and sing for the band Baroness from Savannah, Georgia.

Fab : Are you happy to be here at the Hell Fest 2008 and what is your opinion about the bands on the bill?
John: I mean it's great, we've hardly played with any of this bands, if any of them at all, and this is the first big festival like this we've ever done. So it should be fun, we're excited about that.

Fab : What is your songwriting approach?
John: We write songs like a very intuitive sort of fashion, we're about, we write sort of like skeletons of songs, or just little pieces of songs. In our rehearsal space we just sort of, let them become what they are. It's all based upon certain intuition.

Fab : There's a lot of metal styles altogether.
John: Yeah exactly.

Fab : That is very interesting. It is your intent to take the listeners through a journey through the metal world and all its directions? Musically speaking.
John: Musically speaking it's, the journey is something that we take, you know, when we write and it's something that's engaging and interesting to us. So if it is, you know, if we're interested in, we're engaging in our playing and it fits, it keeps us on our toes and keeps us thinking creatively then, hopefully the listener undergoes a similar sort of process.

Fab: I wanted to congratulate you a lot for your production and sound of the new album "The Red Album". It's really powerful. How come?
John: Well we've, since the very beginning, we've worked with the same producer. He's a guy named Phillip Cope, and he also plays in another band, that we've toured with a number of times, called KYLESA. He's a genius producer for us, because he understands the style of music we're playing. And he's been on the road with us, so he understands our personalities. He's seen us play some many times that, he understands our music and our material very elementally. Before even we go to the studio where, you know, a lot of times, you know, I think bands are going and they have to teach the producer their songs. He already knows, he's already been thinking about this for months by the time we're going to the studio. So he's able to kind of get past some of the stuff that would, you know, hit / steal up a lot of studio time, and just work on the production, like ??

Fab: what's your secret to sound so mature, in spite the fact that you're a young band?
John: I think we've just all been playing music for so long, and this is just the first band that we've ever, any of us were playing it and that worked. And we all grew up together in the same town, we all lived, we all grew up as children within a mile or two of each other. So we come from the same place, we come from the same background. We've all learned guitar from the same guy. So, we don't have to, there's very little like verbal communication while we're playing. It's all just a matter of feeling because we understand each other as people and as musicians for such a long time.

Fab : What's your plans for the close future?
John: For the close future, after this, strain of shows, we're taking a couple of months off. At which point we're gonna be going through some changes, getting some new material together, and then when the fall hits, we're gonna tour all through the fall, come back probably in early 2009, and start writing the new record. And early 2009 come back out, for sort of touring again.

Fab: In Europe?
John: Yeah, absolutely.

Fab : Why the "red album", is there a special meaning in the name?
John: It has a special meaning but, we don't like to….it's special to us, and if we explain it, it would make it less special for somebody else.

Fab: Whose idea it was, the great cover artwork? Who decided?
John: I do all the artwork for the band, so the execution of the artwork is more see up to me, but the ideas for the album (cover) come a little bit from each member of the band, and make sure that everybody can contribute in something to the artwork and the idea.

Fab: Thanks again to john for his kindness and availability, in spite of the pressure due to urgent unloading before going onstage, because of a stubborn security guy, we lost a lot of time trying to find a decent place to do the interview (which we finally do into the band's tour bus)