Baroness bassist Nick Jost talks touring, danceable metal and more ahead of Pittsburgh show

As metal band Baroness gets closer to the end of its U.S. tour, bassist Nick Jost said one of the worst aspects of being on the road might be the actual roads.

“You have no privacy and no sleep. We’re in a pretty bumpy vehicle on some pretty bumpy American roads,” Jost said in a call last week from Tennessee. “Every politician should have to go on tour to see where our infrastructure is actually at. … Just spend one night in our vehicle trying to sleep. You can tell me how good our roads are.”

But Jost was quick to point out the band’s current lineup — singer/guitarist John Baizley, lead guitarist Gina Gleason and drummer Sebastian Thomson — gets along quite well, so making a sandwich next to someone brushing their teeth isn’t a problem. The cramped quarters are worth it, for what Jost considers the best part of touring.

“For me, it’s always, I just love playing live music, as boring of an answer as that might be. That’s my favorite part,” he said. “We thrive as a live band, and I love (that) we challenge each other on stage, we try to make things different for the crowd every night. I just love that experience, that communal experience with the audience, with your bandmates, like the power of what a PA can do. It’s just like such a visceral moment for everybody that shows up.”

Baroness, which played the Roxian Theatre in November, is returning to the area Monday, playing at Mr. Smalls Theatre in Millvale, with Portrayal of Guilt and Filth Is Eternal opening.

They’re still touring in support of “Stone,” which came out Sept. 15, 2023. In the nine months since its release, Jost said he appreciates that the record came together organically.

“We played that stuff so much before and during the writing of it,” he said. “It was essentially a lot of jams molded into these songs that we worked on. So it’s definitely interesting to see which ones the crowd responds to. And to me, ‘Beneath the Rose’ is the standout. It’s just a perfect Baroness song in my mind. It’s totally proggy. It has great riffs, and it goes to a million different places. I really think that one is a standout live. And ‘Under the Wheel’ too is kind of a heavy sleeper that’s turned into a song we play pretty much every night.”

Founded by Baizley, this version of the band has been together since 2017, when Gleason joined. Jost and Thomson both came aboard in 2013. The past seven years spent together has helped Jost to learn the strengths and idiosyncrasies of his bandmates.

“Every album I try to challenge myself to write some guitar something, a seed for these guys to make into a proper something that’s actually Baroness,” Jost said. “And now I feel like I know their guitar playing more. I know what Seb’s capable of. We all know how to write for one another in a more intense way, which I have no idea what that will produce. I had no idea that (‘Stone’) was going to be like that when we started.”

As an example, Jost cited the verse to “Last Word,” which he brought to the band and wound up sounding nothing like the final version.

“We played it for three days straight, 12 hours a day, and we ended up at this other place that has this more energy and has this more upbeat feel to it,” he said. “But if you heard what I brought in, you’d be like, what the (expletive)? It’s not that exact same thing, so everything changes when it goes through the filter of the whole band.”

While Baroness’ music has been described as intricate and psychedelic metal, Jost looks like he’s always enjoying himself as he performs.

“Music is a joyful thing even if it’s heavy, as far as I’m concerned,” he said. “It’s like there’s a release, and I can’t help being happy if things are going well musically, even if it’s supposed to be a heavy moment.

“I think that’s like the performative factor that maybe I’m not so great at. Like ‘Oh (crap), we’re serious heavy musicians up here with tattoos and black T-shirts. (Crap).’ I’m not trying to put on a front too much. I’m just trying to play as hard as I can and put as much into the music.”

The rhythm section of Jost and Thomson had a great rapport from the start.

“When I joined Baroness, Sebastian joined at that same time, and for me, it was pretty much contingent on whether or not even having enjoyed Baroness’ music, I was like if this drummer isn’t good, I’m not gonna join this band,” he said. “Because I’ve been in a lot of musical situations where that hookup isn’t there and it feels like you’re carrying a gorilla on your back for the entire set. The first time we got together and played, I was like, this dude’s badass.”

Related

• John Dyer Baizley of Baroness on creating 'Stone' album, artwork and glockenspiel
• The Get Up Kids' Jim Suptic on Four Chord Music Fest, the 'emo' genre and Thundergong!
• 2024 Pittsburgh area concert calendar

Jost said he and Thomson come at music from different places, but with similar intentions.

“We want it to feel good, and we want it to be, at its core, danceable,” he said. “We’re trying to make that beat happen. So I think that’s why he’s one of the best rock drummers alive because he still has that essence in it, where it’s like there’s still a through line of a party inside of what he’s doing, even though it’s complicated or at times trying to be this heavier thing, but it still has this this beat that will make you bob your head and make you feel good inside of this heavy context.”

While danceable and heavy metal might not normally be associated together, Jost thinks there is a spot for it in music.

“I think that’s what a lot of people have lost, like a lot of the techie stuff,” he said. “I don’t think it appeals to an uplifting party feel, in general, because that’s not what they’re coming for. They’re coming at it with a more intellectual viewpoint of trying to execute, just be technical. And I think all classic rock has that (danceability), you know? I think Black Sabbath has that. They have a through line of danceability even if people might call it something else. I think that’s an important part of most of the music I like.”

While Baroness is getting ready to wrap up its U.S. tour before heading to Europe in late summer, new music isn’t officially being worked on, but Jost said the members are pushing themselves individually.

“I spent the whole winter, I took all my synths out of my studio and just played piano and acoustic guitar and upright bass and tried to see what I could get out of that, with the idea of writing for Baroness,” he said. “You spend so much time and you’re lucky if you get one good song out of a thousand hours, so I think it’s definitely harder to write when you’re on tour, but I know we’re all thinking about it. We’ve all spent the winter working on new music, but we kind of did that individually. We haven’t gone through the process of working on things together.”