Creating one concept album is a daunting task for any band. So, the fact that Southern prog-metal steamroller Baroness just capped off their color-coded, 5-part odyssey (2007’s Red, 2009’s Blue, 2012’s Yellow & Green, and 2015’s Purple) with 2019’s Gold & Grey, is no small feat. But the idea that John Baizley (the lone founding member and visual leader) still has a band is the bigger accomplishment. For one, during a 2012 world tour in England, the band’s tour bus careened down a viaduct near Bath and severely injured numerous bandmembers and crew personnel. Following that turmoil, then bassist Matt Maggioni and drummer Allen Blickle left the band.
Enter bassist Nick Jost and drummer Sebastian Thompson. The fresh synergy from new members and raw emotions still bubbling from the crash fueled the stalwart guitar combo of Peter Adams and John Baizley, ultimately earning the band its most critical praise, including and a Grammy nod for “Best Metal Performance” on Purple’s “Shock Me.” (Check out our 2015 interview with Peter Adams and John Baizley.) And after another grueling run of dates, Peter Adams decided to leave the band to focus on family life back home. This left Baizley, once again, in the need of a musical chair to be filled.
Around this same the time, guitarist Gina Gleason was busy in Las Vegas working as the Muse in Michael Jackson: One by Cirque du Soleil at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. While browsing the interwebs in search of new gear, as guitarists do, she noticed fuzz fanatic Steve Strohm of Philly Fuzz was not only based in her hometown (duh, Philadelphia), but he was building them in her family’s neighborhood. She had to have one for two reasons—she was after a germanium-based snarler and she wanted to support a local artisan. Purchase complete.
But before the pedal was shipped, part-time associate and Philly Fuzz friend, John Baizley sent Gleason a quick note on Instagram and the two hit it off. Instead of shipping the pedal, Baizley invited her over to his house to test out some other Philly Fuzz creations and to jam on his smorgasbord of equipment. The two kept in touch and whenever they crossed paths and had time in Philly, they jammed.
They talked about working on a side project, but let’s be honest, Gina played a muse once in the King of Pop production, so it seems apropos she’d spark a new musical start for this chiseled rock band to help them finish their pentalogy. Her swaggering presence is best felt alongside Baizley, when their symbiotic relationship is most powerful with seething, dueling guitar riffs (“Borderlines”) and evocative harmonized vocals (“Cold-Bolded Angels”) that season Gold & Grey like new spices reinvigorating your mother’s prized dish.
Before Baroness’ Nashville gig at the Cannery Ballroom, PG’s Chris Kies stopped by after soundcheck (and before an acoustic set at Music City’s Grimey’s record shop) to see how the band who once adorned humbuckers and full stacks onstage now slay with offsets and T-styles that chime and grind through a pile-up of small-wattage tube combos designed for high headroom and pedal manipulation. After a lengthy chat with John Baizley and Gina Gleason about their new full-Fender setups, each guitarist slings on a 6-string and shows off their stomp stations that illicit everything from spacious tranquility to mondo crush.
John Baizley has been a bit of a shifting amoeba when it relates to gear. Dating back to our 2010 Rig Rundown, he was seen using humbuckers (Guild S-300D and a First Act Custom Shop T-style) into a Bad Cat Cougar half stack. During our 2015 magazine interview centered around the Purple sessions, he leaned heavily on G&L ASATs, an ES-330, and a newer First Act Custom Shop that all ran through Fender reissue combos, a JC-120, and an AC30. And now he’s running all Fender single-coils and amps, all the time. “That humbucker sound onstage became stale and was a disconnect for what we used in the studio,” comments John Baizley. “I could hear the difference. I could feel the difference in expression onstage. So, when I got connected with Fender, I finally found an instrument that was as expressive as I need it and as precise and a surgical tool I required.”
While he avoids such labels as “favorite,” he admits to using this stock Fender American Professional Jazzmaster a good chunk of time while onstage. All his guitars on this run were using D’Addario custom strings (.010–.049) and he hammers away with Dunlop Orange Tortex .60 mm picks.
The other Fender in heavy rotation during most sets for John Baizley is this Fender American Professional Stratocaster finished in Olympic white.
“When I joined the band, I was mainly playing shredder guitars like a Kramer SM-1 with a Floyd Rose and Seymour Duncan Distortion humbuckers,” says Gina Gleason. “But it just seemed inappropriate for Baroness—if not aesthetically, at least tonally.” So, when first jamming with Baizley, she gravitated to his collection of G&L T-styles that offered a new, full-range vocabulary she had not enjoyed in years. Prior to touring with the band in 2017, she scored this 1992 G&L ASAT Classic that was a longtime No. 1 until recently. Its previous owner upgraded the pickups with a set of Fender N3 Noiseless Tele models. She uses D’Addario .010–.046 or .010–.052 (for lower tunings) strings goes with Dunlop Gator Grip .96 mm picks.
This Fender American Professional Telecaster is another go-to Gina Gleason uses throughout a given set.
And the last of the three most-used guitars for Gina Gleason conclude with this stock Fender American Professional Jazzmaster.
The first part of John Baizley’s tower of terror is a blackface Fender ’65 Princeton Reverb.
The second part of John Baizley’s fully-stereo rig is a Fender ’68 Custom Deluxe Reverb that also powers a Super-Sonic 60 2x12 (not pictured).
Here is Gina Gleason’s all-Fender stereo setup that includes a Fender ’68 Custom Princeton Reverb, Deluxe Reverb, and a Super-Sonic 60 2x12 takes a signal from the Deluxe.
John Baizley’s space station is a flat with boutique boxes and superstore stomps. Starting at the top left you have a pair of Strymon pedals—a TimeLine and Mobius—a Philly Fuzz Infidel, Crowther Audio Double Hotcake, Retro-Sonic Compressor, EarthQuaker Devices Dispatch Master, Electro-Harmonix Micro POG, Fulltone OCD, Boss DD-3 Digital Delay, Retro-Sonic Chorus, and nestled in the lower right-hand corner is a DigiTech Whammy next to an Ernie Ball Volume pedal. Up top is a TC Electronic PolyTune and the GigRig G2 switching unit is the brain controlling everything.
Here is Gina Gleason’s pedal world onstage. It includes a Strymon TimeLine, EarthQuaker Devices Disaster Transport SR, a Philly Fuzz germanium-based prototype, Champion Leccy Fettle Boost, Wampler Tumnus, Xotic SP Boost, Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail Nano, EQD Data Corruptor, EHX Micro POG, MXR EVH Phase 90, MXR Super Badass Distortion, an Ernie Ball Volume pedal, and a DigiTech Whammy. Up top is a TC Electronic PolyTune keeping everything in check and the GigRig G2 switching unit is the puppeteer pulling the strings on all the pedals.
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Chris Kies has degrees in Journalism and History from the University of Iowa and has been with PG dating back to his days as an intern in 2007. He's now the multimedia manager maintaining the website and social media accounts, coordinating Rig Rundown shoots (also hosting and/or filming them) and occasionally writing an artist feature. Other than that, he spends time with his pitbull and enjoys non-guitar-related hobbies. Follow him on Instagram & Twitter.
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