Baroness

Apesar de ter anunciado, há quase um mês, a minha entrevista a Allen Bickle, baterista dos Baroness, só agora obtive a resposta a algumas questões que lhe havia colocado, na altura, pois a banda anda em digressão pelos Estados Unidos. A origem da banda, as suas influências, o novo álbum (The Red Sky) , assim como algo acerca do futuro, são assuntos desvendados nesta entrevista - de forma rápida e directa.

LAF - First of all, Allen, can you reveal the origins of the name Baroness?

AB - To tell you the truth I dont really know myself. Its not from G. I. Joe. Its always been a little blurry on how we all agreed on the name.

LAF - When someone refers to Baroness, Mastodon is the name that immediately comes up to associate with. Do you agree with this kind of relation or do you feel like living in the shadow of this band? What is your opinion about them?

AB - I have always been a fan of Mastodon. We are trying to be one of our own. Taking in our own influences and making our own path. But, yes they are mentioned quite often.

LAF - What are the musical influences of the band?

AB - We all love the classic rock influences. We all grew up listening to punk, grunge, and indie rock. It was only til later that we all got into metal and really took it as some influence. We all have our own influences that we bring in. I myself played jazz in high school and in college. I like to bring in as much different styles into the music, jazz has always kept my mind open to new paths.

LAF - What are the subjects focused on Baroness’s lyrics?

AB - There are alot of literary references and life tribulations.

LAF - Do you think the fact of John Baizley being also a painter helps the band to express better its ideas by the artwork of the covers?

AB - He took it upon himself to do the art work when we started and from there we just left it up to him.

LAF - How did you face the fact of The Red Album has been elected Album Of The Year by the heavy-weight Revolver magazine?

AB - Extremely honored... We were very excited, naturally.

LAF - Are you working already on new material or you’ll leave that for the after tour period? When are you expecting to release the successor of The Red Album?

AB - We have been writing a lot. We probably have about half of the album written now. I really dont know when we will go record next. We want to make sure we follow through touring with the Red Album before moving on. We are feeling confident on the new songs. We have been playing a couple live now just to feel them out. Maybe you can check them out if you see us on the road.