Birmingham, AL · southern rock · punk rock

Lee Bains

1 upcoming festival

Birmingham's Lee Bains and the Glory Fires — sweat-soaked Southern rock with punk lungs and pointed politics. A cathartic, gospel-loud set.

Lee Bains III leads the Glory Fires, a band he formed in Birmingham, Alabama, after a stint playing guitar with the Dexateens. The group's music draws on Southern rock and soul guitar traditions but is played at punk volume and tempo, with Bains singing in a hoarse, declamatory style.

His lyrics tend toward the specific rather than the sentimental, dealing with class, race, religion and civic life in the American South, often set in and around Birmingham itself. Records including There Is a Bomb in Gilead and Dereconstructed established that combination, and the band's live reputation rests on long, loud, physically demanding shows.

southern rockpunk rock