Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires
The Milestone
Feb. 1, 2013
Perched on top of the bass drum and looming over the audience like a whiskey-drunk vulture, singer Lee Bains dripped with sweat as he hammered and howled his way through one of his twangy, energetic songs about life in the South. The singer never made an effort to control himself as he and his band, The Glory Fires, performed a swaggering mix of dirty Southern rock and punk on Feb. 1, 2013. The Milestone felt like CBGB's was hosting a barn dance.
Bains found himself teetering on that bass drum often as the singer leapt around the stage and often made his way into the crowd. A Southern drawl has never sounded as good as it does coming from Bains's throat as the singer throws himself into every word offering a rebel yell for a New South.
The Glory Fires make the sort of shit-hot rock n' roll music that slithers into one's soul, making it all but impossible to keep from dancing. Live music done right makes the blood sing, and Bains and Co. were the match to the audience's gasoline as the band attacked its instruments, setting the room on fire with passion which only comes from a love of performing.
Lead guitarist Matt Wurtele may not match the energetic enthuiasm of Bains, but he makes up for it with fiery guitar licks as his fingers move up and down the fret board like a huge, white spider on meth. Drummer/vocalist Blake Williamson never lost steam, howling into his microphone and beating his drums like they owed him money. The set ended with Wurtele climbing onto Bains' shoulders as the two cut a swath through the crowd, playing their instruments and becoming the world's tallest, gnarliest guitarist.
Somewhere between a punk show and an old-fashioned Southern revival, Lee Bains III and the Glory Fires put on the kind of show your mother always warned you about.