Baroness looked set to make their mark as world-beaters once and for all last year, with a highly-acclaimed double album, and a huge tour underway. But their prospects took a pretty bleak turn after a near-catastrophic bus crash in the UK. Luckily, the band made a full recovery and they’re now about to resume their tour duties in support of Yellow & Green, a fixture in many last December’s best-of lists. Guitarist Peter Adams was happy to share his thoughts on the ordeal, the way it affected the band and crew, and their individual members.
Baroness are about to hit the road again, for the first time since the horrendous crash of last year. What are your feelings?
I’m incredibly happy. It’s a huge sigh of relief that we’re going to tour again. We’re going to approach it like nothing happened, and we’re just picking up where we left off. That’s what you got to do. The feeling is really good and we’re excited about this. It’s good to be back on track again.
So how do you look back on the whole ordeal?
It was a terrible and tragic day in Bath, but I’ve been through a lot of stuff like this. I’m like a cat with nine lives. I’m using them up one at a time. Mainly I’m just thankful that no one got killed. It could have gone in a number of different ways, but it didn’t. We all survived. We got all banged up, but you have to move on with life. That’s the only thing you can do. That’s the way I handle it and that’s the way I feel towards it. We’ve been extremely lucky.
Did the experience change your outlook on being in a band?
It solidified it for me. It reminded me again why I’m in a band, and that I’m doing this for a real reason. I’m sure other touring musicians feel like this as well. Touring can really wipe you out and it can take you to a lot of different areas, even when there’s not a bus crash involved. You’re constantly going and going and you’re practically never at home. Because of this your relationships with other people will suffer. It’s a balance in a way and at some point you start to question everything. Honestly, all the support we received after the crash was unbelievable. This hit me in a weird way. So many people showed their support that I couldn’t keep up with answering all the phone calls, emails and whatnot. The whole experience solidified what we’re doing as a band and what I’m doing as musician. I guess it wasn’t our time yet.
Did the injuries you sustained affect your playing in any way?
Strangely enough, no. The whole rehabilitation process made me a more energetic player in fact. John (Baizley) on the other hand went through a lengthy rehabilitation process, but the guy is playing again, and probably better than ever before. I don’t know whether he’s going throw himself around as he used to, but I won’t let him. He needs to take care of his arm. Basically we’re going to pick up again where we left off.
Often such intense experiences are a great source of songwriting inspiration. Are there any ideas for new material floating around?
Haha, no. We got to get on the road and support the Yellow & Green album first. First things first really. The excitement of writing a new album is certainly there, so we could sit down as a band and start working on new material. Individually we’re always working on new stuff. There’s always something floating around, but for now we’re going to concentrate on supporting Yellow & Green. On a personal note I’m really anxious what kind of music will pour out of all the past experiences.
Matt Maggioni and Allen Blickle are no longer a part of Baroness. Is this a temporary thing or something more permanent?
Sadly it’s a permanent thing. They decided to leave the band. It’s a tough thing, because you want the line-up to keep on going. It was a very traumatic experience for everyone in the group and everyone deals with in a different way and at a different pace. That’s something you have to accept, no matter how difficult that may be. I really enjoy playing with these guys and being in a band with them. It’s sad to see them go. If they feel they’re better off leaving the band you have to respect that and move on. It sad to see them go, absolutely.
There are already two new guys in the line-up. Can you introduce them, please?
I’m a little hesitant about it, because it’s all so fresh and new for us. We only had one full rehearsal with the new guys. And when I say one I actually mean spending a week together so far. So far so good though. When the time is right more will be revealed. Their names are Sebastian Thomson on drums. He played for the band Trans Am. The other guy is Nick Jost on bass and he’s a friend of a friend. Both guys are incredible musicians and I keep my fingers crossed and I’m looking forward playing some shows with these guys. We’ll see what happens, but I feel really good about this.
Let’s talk a bit about Yellow & Green. The album still sounds fresh and it received lots of praise from the press. However, many long time Baroness fans resent it because it’s not ‘heavy’ enough. How do you deal with such criticism?
You can’t please everybody, you know. It’s very hard to please everyone all the time. It’s a balancing act in a way and it takes time to figure that process out. We aim to please, but at the same time we never adhere to outside expectations. We play the music we want to play and keep a certain artistic integrity about it. As a musician I like to move forward and develop myself. Some bands have found their niche and they keep repeating themselves and never go wrong doing that. Baroness are not such a band. We have a lot of different influences and a lot of creativity going on. Collectively we listen to so much different music. It ranges from classic heavy metal to straightforward rock and roll to country and blues. It’s hard to write songs in one certain style all the time. By the time you’re recording an album we’ve played the songs a million times. When we’re rehearsing and touring we play them a million other times. We simply like to keep things fresh and exciting for us, so unfortunately for some longtime fans Baroness will always try something new. Some people may not like what we’re going to do on the next album. It will certainly be different from Yellow & Green. I’m personally not too heavily affected by that sort of criticism.
Finally, Yellow & Green will be released on vinyl. Do you think the resurgence of appreciation for this format will have any longevity?
One can only hope so. I hope it will stick around for long enough to impress a new generation of kids. I was personally raised on vinyl. My parents had tons and tons of records. That really shaped me as a musician. I learned to play my guitar alongside those records. The smell, the sleeve, the artwork; just everything is magical about it. I used to collect them and ran to the record store when a new LP from my favourite bands came out. I love to see records selling well and seeing people getting into them. It doesn’t hurt to have a talented visual artist like John Baizley in the band. We always wanted to have our music put out on vinyl, no question about that. The whole format ties the artwork and our music together and that’s exactly the way I like it.
Marcus J. West & Raymond Westland