Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires

Don't worry about the pun in the title, this is anything but a comedy album. This is a country rocking, blues wailing, soul screaming message from the depths of the dirty South. Lee Bains III (ex-Dexateens) charismatically gnashes, moans, and croons his way through a rich, earthy mix of songs. While the tracks on There's a Bomb in Gilead shift genres, Bains' voice and his vise-grip tight band maintain a consistent all-or-nothing attitude to drive every song.

In Centreville, Bains proclaims:

If you hear any bleakness from me and the boys
We're over educated and we're under-employed

But they're anything but bleak. This double time Lynyrd Skynyrd Southern rocker drives forward with unstoppable energy. A couple of songs later, on Choctaw Summer, the Glory Fires offer more of a laid back, Allman Brothers groove. The interlocking leads don't get quite as intricate as the Allmans, but the mesh is perfectly soulful.

The heavy hitting songs like the anthemic Magic City Stomp! propel the album, but it's the softer moments that truly show off the band's range. The sad and sweet country folk of Roebuck Parkway, the swaying gospel of the title track, and the soulful blues of Everything You Took are every bit emotionally moving as the foot stomping rockers on the album. Bains' desperation and loss bleed through over the touches of Soul Man pedal tones on Everything You Took:

You can keep my Walker Percy
You can keep that t-shirt my brother got the time he saw the Ramones
But just a little small piece of your sweet mercy
That's the dearest thing I've ever known

The juxtaposition of literary and pop culture references shows off the band's complexity.

Lee Bains III and the Glory Fires are almost certainly more intense band in the club, but There is a Bomb in Gilead is an amazing album that stands on its own. - JESTER JAY

Don't worry about the pun in the title, this is anything but a comedy album. This is a country rocking, blues wailing, soul screaming message from the depths of the dirty South. Lee Bains III (ex-Dexateens) charismatically gnashes, moans, and croons his way through a rich, earthy mix of songs. While the tracks on There's a Bomb in Gilead shift genres, Bains' voice and his vise-grip tight band maintain a consistent all-or-nothing attitude to drive every song.

In Centreville, Bains proclaims:

If you hear any bleakness from me and the boys
We're over educated and we're under-employed

But they're anything but bleak. This double time Lynyrd Skynyrd Southern rocker drives forward with unstoppable energy. A couple of songs later, on Choctaw Summer, the Glory Fires offer more of a laid back, Allman Brothers groove. The interlocking leads don't get quite as intricate as the Allmans, but the mesh is perfectly soulful.

The heavy hitting songs like the anthemic Magic City Stomp! propel the album, but it's the softer moments that truly show off the band's range. The sad and sweet country folk of Roebuck Parkway, the swaying gospel of the title track, and the soulful blues of Everything You Took are every bit emotionally moving as the foot stomping rockers on the album. Bains' desperation and loss bleed through over the touches of Soul Man pedal tones on Everything You Took:

You can keep my Walker Percy
You can keep that t-shirt my brother got the time he saw the Ramones
But just a little small piece of your sweet mercy
That's the dearest thing I've ever known

The juxtaposition of literary and pop culture references shows off the band's complexity.

Lee Bains III and the Glory Fires are almost certainly more intense band in the club, but There is a Bomb in Gilead is an amazing album that stands on its own. - JESTER JAY

Lee Bains III is the prodigal son, raised on the Good Book Jesus, corrupted by punk-rock and working out his own adult reconciliations between the two. It’s the blessing and curse of being Southern. From Jerry Lee Lewis to Tyler Keith (Preacher’s Kids), and all the way back to Robert Johnson, artists, black and white alike, have been torn between Saturday night and Sunday morning; ever since moonshine and lusty women first presented a challenge to the Christian life. Crap - that was probably in the fifth Century; in southern … France, or somewhere. Hell, I’d have to get out my History books. Like I say, it’s nothing’ new. Bains and his Alabama boys, the Glory Fires, aren’t reinventing the wheel, just grinding the sucker. And it yields a great ride.

Even if there’s nothing new under the sun, each generation and every new artist has the opportunity to put its and his or her own spin on the eternal conflicts. On There is a Bomb in Gilead, the Glory Fires debut, Bains brings the sensibilities of a literary education to his talks with Jesus and his hallelujahs to Joey Ramone. I don’t say this just because he makes literary references, like the one to Walker Percy (“go ahead take my Walker Percy, go ahead and take the t-shirt by brother got when he saw the Ramones”), but because his melancholy and moral musings are offspring of Faulkner and O’Connor’s world. “Everything You Took,” the ditty with the Percy/Ramones lyric, establishes the artist’s lifestyle essentials: rock ‘n’ roll t-shirts and books. And essential they may as well be since he’s losing his gal. He’s clearly hanging on to a thread, clinging to “every little hope that you give me.” But the lady sounds to me like she’s moved on.


The singer’s wrestling with virtue resounds in “Ain’t No Stranger,” rhyming contrition and perdition, by God – and reminding the almighty that he may be prodigal, but he’ s “no stranger.” Bains and lead guitarist Matt Wurtele slash through the Willie Mitchell groove with guitars that are more Keith Richards and Ron Asheton than anything Memphis or Muscle Shoals. “Centreville” sustains the rocking pace. It’s Skynyrd after the Pistols (and Some Girls), Bains spitting out lyrics about guys who are “over educated and under-employed.” Perfect, it captures the new Birmingham, or hell – Boston, as the United States becomes the new Spain. Imagine Tony Joe White amped up and all pissed off. That’s what Bains sounds like on “Centreville.”
Bains works his connection to the lords of the garage in “Righteous, Ragged Songs” (‘say a prayer for punk rock, and say a prayer for me’) like a man who believes that there just might be some soul saving potential in the devil’s music, music, like gospel, that can surely be righteous and ragged. The Dixie-punk of “Red, Red Dirt of Home” neatly paraphrases country classic (you know, “Green, Green Grass of Home, the Curly Putnam Jr. warhorse recorded by Porter Wagoner, Bobby Bare, Tom Jones and your cousin Daryl); akin to a digital age version of “The Letter,” Bains reflects on having his “momma and daddy on speed dial.” Wurtele’s “Honky Tonk Women” guitar carries him home. Here, Bains effortlessly strikes the Southern grit and groove that John Hiatt labors to achieve.

Simmering laments like “Reba” and “Choctaw Summer” rock country like country rocked before it became the fucking Eagles with fiddles. I hear the ghost of real, honest to God country singers like John Anderson in these tunes. But I also hear a band that sounds like they just might have listened to a Richard Thompson record or two. “Roebuck Parkway,” waxes nostalgic for a childhood idyll, and features some flat lovely acoustic picking. Wurtele breaks out some Wayne Perkins style licks for “Opelika,” Bains slyly referencing Johnny and June’s “Jackson” as he locates the boys position (‘3,000 miles east of L.A., 1,000 miles south of N.Y.C.’).

“Magic City Stomp” is probably more fun live. It’s a chant wrapped in an instrumental workout that’s as much MC5 as it is M.G.’s. In the context of the album it sounds like filler, or a fun b-side.

The title cut references a youthful malapropism of Bains’ (he heard the gospel soother “Balm in Gilead” as “Bomb in Gilead” as a churchgoing kid). The Glory Fires strip things down to simplicity and soul. Bains stretches out phrases, wringing out nuance like the great soul stirring singers. There are some fine singers operating in the Southern (garage) rock idiom (the twin sons of the Oblivians, Jack Yarber and Greg Cartwright come to mind – Patterson Hood, too), but few make you think - damn, I could listen to this son of a gun sing James Carr and O.V. Wright songs.

Produced by Bains and Lynn Bridges in Water Valley, Mississippi, Gilead was mixed by the Jim Dickinson of Detroit garage-rock, Jim Diamond, at his Ghetto Recorders. In this instance, the locales speak volumes. This is rock ‘n’ roll from the South, dirty and distinguished, polished (but not too much) to a Motor City shine. F - REVERBERATIONS

Brittany Howard of Alabama Shakes on her favourite new band. "I love watching Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires. Terrific performers. Lee reminds me of a young Bruce Springsteen and The Glory Fires are relentless. The musicianship is incredible and I've learned a thing or two watching the way the guitars interact with one another. Nothing like good old-fashioned rock'n'roll. Touring with them was an absolute blast! - Brittany Howard/NME "Band Crush" - NME

Brittany Howard of Alabama Shakes on her favourite new band. "I love watching Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires. Terrific performers. Lee reminds me of a young Bruce Springsteen and The Glory Fires are relentless. The musicianship is incredible and I've learned a thing or two watching the way the guitars interact with one another. Nothing like good old-fashioned rock'n'roll. Touring with them was an absolute blast! - Brittany Howard/NME "Band Crush" - NME

From Birmingham, Lee Bains III & the Glory Fires exemplify the new strain of Southern rock that’s come to life in the post-Drive-By Truckers era. A former member of Dexateens, Bains specializes in straightforward, catchy songs that sit somewhere amidst The Ozark Mountain Daredevils, The Allman Brothers and David Bowie circa “Panic in Detroit.” The guitars provide plenty of hooks that say something about the emotional life of these punk-loving, down-home Southerners — their pain is undisguised, but they cut the angst with music that can be austere and mysterious. On their new full-length, There Is a Bomb in Gilead, Bains and his quartet explore a brand-new South: “Everything You Took” mentions a Walker Percy novel and a Ramones T-shirt, while “Magic City Stomp” is garage-rock that quotes the Stones’ “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.” Bains has brains and humor, and the band can really stomp. - Edd Hurt/NASHVILLE SCENE - NASHVILLE SCENE

Lee Bains III & the Glory Fires are an Alabama-based rock band whose music is informed by the swagger of classic Southern rock, the energy and attitude of punk, the intelligence and personal lyrical stance of indie rock, and the deep grooves of R&B. The group was formed in 2010 by guitarist, lead vocalist, and principal songwriter Lee Bains III. Born and bred in Alabama, Bains attended a Christian school as a child and his first musical experiences came from singing in church. In his teens, Bains developed an interested in writing, and he studied literature at a college in New York, but when he returned to Alabama, he re-focused his attention on music. Bains was a big fan of Tuscaloosa's Southern rock revivalists the Dexateens, and in 2008 he joined the group as a guitarist. Bains spent two years with the Dexateens, but in 2010 the group went on hiatus, and Bains began launching a new project.

While in the Dexateens, Bains and some friends from Birmingham's Glen Iris neighborhood had formed an acoustic group to play old-school gospel tunes at a local homeless shelter, taking up the name the Glen Iris Glorifiers. The name soon evolved into the Glory Fires, and Bains revived the handle for his post-Dexateens group. Recruiting guitarist Matt Wurtele, bassist Justin Colburn (formerly of Arkadelphia and Model Citizen), and drummer Blake Williamson (who had worked with Taylor Hollingsworth, Dan Sartain, and Black Willis), the new combo began hitting the Alabama club circuit. While Bains was offered a songwriting contract as a solo act, he opted to stick with the band, and they began drawing an impressive following in the Southern states. After cutting an album-length demo with producer Tim Kerr, Bains and the Glory Fires signed a deal with Alive Naturalsound Records, and went into the studio with producer and engineer Lynn Bridges to begin work on their first LP. Recorded by Bridges in Water Valley, Mississippi and mixed by Jim Diamond in Detroit, the Glory Fires' debut album, There Is a Bomb in Gilead (the title came from Bains' childhood misunderstanding of an old gospel lyric), was released in the spring of 2012. - Mark Deming, AllMusic - ALLMUSIC

Lee Bains III & the Glory Fires are an Alabama-based rock band whose music is informed by the swagger of classic Southern rock, the energy and attitude of punk, the intelligence and personal lyrical stance of indie rock, and the deep grooves of R&B. The group was formed in 2010 by guitarist, lead vocalist, and principal songwriter Lee Bains III. Born and bred in Alabama, Bains attended a Christian school as a child and his first musical experiences came from singing in church. In his teens, Bains developed an interested in writing, and he studied literature at a college in New York, but when he returned to Alabama, he re-focused his attention on music. Bains was a big fan of Tuscaloosa's Southern rock revivalists the Dexateens, and in 2008 he joined the group as a guitarist. Bains spent two years with the Dexateens, but in 2010 the group went on hiatus, and Bains began launching a new project.

While in the Dexateens, Bains and some friends from Birmingham's Glen Iris neighborhood had formed an acoustic group to play old-school gospel tunes at a local homeless shelter, taking up the name the Glen Iris Glorifiers. The name soon evolved into the Glory Fires, and Bains revived the handle for his post-Dexateens group. Recruiting guitarist Matt Wurtele, bassist Justin Colburn (formerly of Arkadelphia and Model Citizen), and drummer Blake Williamson (who had worked with Taylor Hollingsworth, Dan Sartain, and Black Willis), the new combo began hitting the Alabama club circuit. While Bains was offered a songwriting contract as a solo act, he opted to stick with the band, and they began drawing an impressive following in the Southern states. After cutting an album-length demo with producer Tim Kerr, Bains and the Glory Fires signed a deal with Alive Naturalsound Records, and went into the studio with producer and engineer Lynn Bridges to begin work on their first LP. Recorded by Bridges in Water Valley, Mississippi and mixed by Jim Diamond in Detroit, the Glory Fires' debut album, There Is a Bomb in Gilead (the title came from Bains' childhood misunderstanding of an old gospel lyric), was released in the spring of 2012. - Mark Deming, AllMusic - ALLMUSIC

‘Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires’, from Birmingham, Alabama, are technical masters of their art. Their art: out and out barnstorming Southern rock ‘n’ roll. Sharing qualities and characteristics of every critic’s favourite new band, Alabama Shakes, whom they have also toured with, The Glory Fires are more powerful, more faithful to the southern sound of the USA and carry an unrivalled authenticity. - REDBRICK - REDBRICK

It won’t be easy finding a recent set transmitting more passion or generating more soul-burnin’ BTU’s than the debut disc of this Birmingham-based four-piece. Bains’ so aptly-named band serves up a combustible blend of Southern rock and soul, the bandleader’s writing tapping deep roots as he throws down vocally with an authority well beyond his years. There’s not one slouch among the tracks on Gilead but the ballads “Reba” and “Righteous, Ragged Songs” and the raver “The Red, Red Dirt Of Home” jump out. This one ought to make more than a few “Best Of” lists this year. - ROOTS MUSIC REPORT

It won’t be easy finding a recent set transmitting more passion or generating more soul-burnin’ BTU’s than the debut disc of this Birmingham-based four-piece. Bains’ so aptly-named band serves up a combustible blend of Southern rock and soul, the bandleader’s writing tapping deep roots as he throws down vocally with an authority well beyond his years. There’s not one slouch among the tracks on Gilead but the ballads “Reba” and “Righteous, Ragged Songs” and the raver “The Red, Red Dirt Of Home” jump out. This one ought to make more than a few “Best Of” lists this year. - ROOTS MUSIC REPORT

Lee Bains III and The Glory Fires have skipped right over the formative section of their career and stepped with both feet right into their potential. There is a Bomb in Gilead is an ass-kicking, heart-pumping, soul-reflecting chunk of rock n’ roll goodness that another ten years on the road couldn’t make any more honest or cohesive. This album is a statement of purpose. - FARCE THE MUSIC - FARCE THE MUSIC

If Kings of Leon are the sound of Southern rock for a mainstream audience, LEE BAINS III & THE GLORY FIRES are the real deal. Their debut album, THERE IS A BOMB IN GILEAD, takes its name from the title of an African-American spiritual song Bains misheard as a child. It sees the essence of Gram Parson, The Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Big Star and the Muscle Shoals house band distilled into something that thrums with Deep South vernacular. A record full of atmosphere, with nothing ersatz in sight. - BIG ISSUE - BIG ISSUE

If Kings of Leon are the sound of Southern rock for a mainstream audience, LEE BAINS III & THE GLORY FIRES are the real deal. Their debut album, THERE IS A BOMB IN GILEAD, takes its name from the title of an African-American spiritual song Bains misheard as a child. It sees the essence of Gram Parson, The Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Big Star and the Muscle Shoals house band distilled into something that thrums with Deep South vernacular. A record full of atmosphere, with nothing ersatz in sight. - BIG ISSUE - BIG ISSUE

8/10 - Strong debut from cosmic Southern outfit. After a spell in the Dexateens, guitarist and singer-songwriter Bains returned home to Birmingham, Alabama where he assembled The Glory Fires. There's no disguising the influence of Mick Taylor and Paul Kossoff in the band's boisterous facelift to the music of the Deep South. . . Best are the swaggering, lashing, Stonesy rockers "Centreville" and "Magic City Stomp." A glorious ruckus. - Mick Houghton/UNCUT - UNCUT

The Glory Fires may be more roots-leaning than Bains' earlier unit [The Dexateens], but they retain more than the recommended daily value of piss and vinegar, all of which is distilled into the band’s 180 proof debut, There Is A Bomb In Gilead. - Richard Morgan/MY OLD KENTUCKY BLOG - MY OLD KENTUCKY BLOG

Recorded in the heart of Dixie and mixed in the motor city, the debut release from Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires burns a path through the American musical landscape on which lesser bands have become hopelessly lost. These boys are forging a sound based on garage rock guts, southern riffs and gospel flavors that was first explored by the Rolling Stones 40 years ago on Exile on Main St. The difference here is the Stones were doing an homage to the sounds they learned to love. On There is a Bomb in Gilead, with Bains on vocals, drummer Blake Williamson, bass player Justin Colburn, and guitar player Matt Wurtele…the band plays like the stuff Gram Parsons called “Cosmic American Music” is in their DNA. - AUDITORY ARSON

Recorded in the heart of Dixie and mixed in the motor city, the debut release from Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires burns a path through the American musical landscape on which lesser bands have become hopelessly lost. These boys are forging a sound based on garage rock guts, southern riffs and gospel flavors that was first explored by the Rolling Stones 40 years ago on Exile on Main St. The difference here is the Stones were doing an homage to the sounds they learned to love. On There is a Bomb in Gilead, with Bains on vocals, drummer Blake Williamson, bass player Justin Colburn, and guitar player Matt Wurtele…the band plays like the stuff Gram Parsons called “Cosmic American Music” is in their DNA. - AUDITORY ARSON

"THERE IS A BOMB IN GILEAD is as deeply felt as it is deeply fried, as indebted to Al Green as to Iggy and the Stooges. Bains’s band is young-ish, raw and full of energy... A few weeks ago, I saw Bains and his band play like they were on fire to a crowd of three other bands and maybe seven paying customers. They conceded exactly nothing to the fact that no one was there and played the best set of garage punk I’ve seen all year. A Bomb in Gilead, assisted by several garage vets (Tim Kerr, Lynn Bridges, Jim Diamond), captures that live sound and goes it one better, uncovering unexpected depth, soul and intelligence in a set of boot-stomping songs." - Jennifer Kelly, DUSTED - DUSTED

"These Alabama Shakes tourmates offer their own loose-limbed take on rootsy Southern rock, with a jam that choogles like the second coming of Creedence." - ROLLING STONE - ROLLING STONE

"These Alabama Shakes tourmates offer their own loose-limbed take on rootsy Southern rock, with a jam that choogles like the second coming of Creedence." - ROLLING STONE - ROLLING STONE