John Dyer Baizley
Video Interview found below
Exlusive Video: BARONESS Singer/Guitarist Talks About new AlbumWritten Interview Taken from Late Night WallFlower found
Here
How did the Red Album differ because there’s definitely some overdubs and texturing to it.John: That was just because we had more studio time booked so we were able to explore any ideas that we had. That meant if we felt like something needed an overdub, we were able to do that. But that said, there’s actually very little overdubbing, very little layering of the vocals or drums. We tried to keep it as natural sounding as possible.
I read on Second that you guys just went in and recorded it like a live recording.John: Except for the vocals, the whole thing was done in one take. All three songs lead into each other; we basically recorded [the tracks] as one song. [We] didn’t do any overdubs or layering. It was meant to be what we sound like on stage.
I feel you guys are on a few different genre lines. You’ve got a punk and a metal fan base and you are getting a lot of recognition in the indie world – Pitchfork gave you a great review – how do you feel about that? Are those different fan bases showing up at the shows or is it still a metal crowd?John: It’s actually never really been specifically a metal crowd. It’s always been sort of a cross-genre crowd coming out to see us ever since we first started. I think most of the typically metal kids coming out now is sort of a new thing for us. The early tours we were doing were almost exclusively with punk and hardcore bands. That’s the world we come from.
Especially playing something like the Fest where it’s predominately punk.John: This is the third time we’ve played in four or five years. The staple of our touring guide is a crowd like this.
It seems like you guys have a strong grasp on the presentation of the band, where as a lot of heavier bands have logos that are just unreadable. John: I’ve been both an musician and artist as long as I can remember. We were able from the very beginning to craft a visual representation of our band that fell very much in line and was integral to the sound as well. We’ve worked very hard since day one to keep that intact. Keep all the art and visual stuff surrounding our band within the band. It comes from the band, it is ideas from the band. It’s all very personal with us.
I've heard that you do everything by hand, only bringing in a computer towards the end of the process...John: Yeah, entirely. I was raised and have always had much more facility working in sort of the traditional techniques. Meaning, with a lot of stuff that you'll see, it's mostly pens, inks, watercolors, and ink washes and things like that. I'm also an active oil painter and acrylics and everything like that so, basically, the traditional media is where I'm the most at ease.
But that's not to say that it's 100% that, because I think, you know, considering my medium, considering the ease with which you can work on a computer-- I have had to incorporate a computer into some of the stuff I do, so, essentially I will work on something traditionally until it's at the point where it's ready to get sent to print and at that point I'll incorporate a computer and that's sort of been a trial by fire with me, where it's just been born completely out of necessity.
When I started to use a computer I didn't know any of the programs-- like the, you know, your photoshop, illustrator and stuff like that. I've had to teach myself as I go along with that-- no formal training whatsoever.
I like the traditional approach-- everything seems more 'warm', you know?Yeah, and I think that's where I'm comfortable but I think that's also something that separates me from a lot of, you know, who I consider my contemporaries who have skills on computer with graphic design that I can only work towards at this point."
As an artist, how do you manage it because it seems like you are doing a lot more work these days or at least more high profile stuff, like the Darkest Hour cover. With the touring schedule, are you sitting in the van drawing?John: Yeah, basically. It’s, to say the least, been a very busy year for me. I basically work seven days a week, as many hours of the day as I’m awake. I’m still typically about a month or two behind schedule. It’s been good but it’s been tough.
All your artwork is drawn by hand, correct?John: My entire process is entirely traditional. Pens, pencils, watercolors, inks; everything like that. The computer is absolutely the last step.
Most people aren’t like that these days.John: Yeah because it’s time consuming; leaves much more room for error. It’s sort of a self-imposed thing for me but it’s worked out nicely for me.
Any future plans for the band?
John: We’ve already started writing the second record. I would say it’s close to fifty percent completed. We’re musicians, so when were not out on the road, we still practice. Once we recorded and toured with something so much, it’s not so fun to practice. We get our creative thing happening so we’ve been writing a lot since we finished recording Red Album. Other than pushing that forward, we plan on touring all through the next year, as much as possible.
Baizley's latest art for his band's newest record Blue Record
