Roadside Glorious releases single from new album in time for May 26 gig at Big Beach Brewing

By Fran Thompson
Roadside Glorious, the New Orleans based band that includes Gulf Shores natives Basch Jernigan and Aydan Closson, will release the first single off of their upcoming debut LP just in time for the band’s show from 6-9 p.m. on Saturday, May 26 at Big Beach Brewing Company in Gulf Shores.
The single, “Lay Your Weapons Down,” is one of ten songs the band recorded at the legendary FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals during a five day stay last November.
The single, available on streaming services, is a glimpse at what is to come from the band’s upcoming record, “Lay Your Weapons Down.”
Recorded, mixed, and mastered by 2018 Grammy nominated engineers John Gifford III and Don Syrgley, the three minute single, features Basch doing a call and response with Bowman and Anderson during verses, singing a line while Bowman or Anderson answer with a lick of their own. The song is backed by a fast, walking bass line from the band’s Tyler Self and tight drums from Closson. At the two minute mark, Jernigan trades guitar licks with lead guitarist Evan Hall, as the band transitions into one last powerful riff full of screaming sax, piano licks and soulful belting from Jernigan.
The album, set for release in September, also features New Orleans musicians Ian Bowman (saxophone), Cyrus Nabipoor (trumpet), and Jordan Anderson (piano/organ).
The band wrote the 10 songs on the album collectively.
“Normally, one of us will introduce an idea to the band and we all build the song from that idea together,’’ Basch said. “It was a little challenging weening our list of songs down to 10, because naturally a group of people will have different opinions and preferences and feel a stronger connection with different songs. Each song, especially if you introduce it, can mean a lot to you and essentially be your “baby.” But when all was said and done, we just wanted to choose the songs we thought represented us best and were most fitting for this record, and that’s what we feel like we did.’’
The band put a year’s worth of gig money into funding their debut album, and they were all well aware of their environment while upstate.
“We definitely felt ghosts from FAME sessions past in the room. It seemed almost impossible to not feel something,’’ Basch said. “As soon as you walk into the building, you feel like you’re back in time, specifically in the 60s and 70s. Photos of every iconic artist that spent time there are all over the walls. When you’re in Studio A, framed album covers of Etta James and Clarence Carter are looking down on you while you record. It still looks, feels, and even smells like what it was 40 and 50 years ago.
“Apparently barely anything has been changed,’’ Basch added. “It’s incredibly inspiring. It made us all want to dig deep inside ourselves and pull out something musically and creatively we never thought we were capable of. The energy in that studio is real. Our sound engineer (John Gifford III) went out of his way to share a lot of what he knows about the history of FAME while we were there, which only added to the feeling we already had.’’
Roadside Glorious will also play at Fairhope Brewing Company on May 25 (7-10 p.m.) while Basch and Aydan are home for the weekend.
Born into a musical family, Basch’s first gigs were playing electric guitar at his brother Kemp’s gigs. A 2008 Gulf Shores grad, Kemp now teaches music and plays oboe professionally on the East Coast.
While at GSHS, Basch started Katawompus with Rob Gordon on bass and Blaine Kaiser on drums. When his bandmates graduated in 2010, Harrison Butler and Aydan came on board until Basch left for college at Tulane.
Rightfully popular, Katawompus won a Battle of the Bands contest to earn a slot at the 2011 Hangout Fest with Aydan, Basch and Harrison.
“We all thought we had no chance to win that contest and we weren’t even considering entering it until our friend and mentor, Roger Strick, convinced us to do it with his help,’’ Basch said. “It’s probably my fondest memory from my high school years. To be a part of something like that was really special.’’
Basch said the band will continue to play gigs across the Gulf Coast while gearing up for the album release in September.
“We’ve put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into this project, and we’re really excited to finally start sharing these songs with everyone,” he said. “This whole experience has been amazing for our band, and we can’t thank everyone who has been apart of it enough.”