Lindsey Baker’s project, Guts Club has undergone many changes over the years. Even so, no change has been as drastic a metamorphosis as Guts Club’s metal pivot on their new album, Cliffs/Walls.
Releasing Friday, January 13 with a show at Siberia at 9 p.m., this album pivots away from the folksy country of their last release, “Trench Foot” and towards languishing doom metal instead. According to Baker, the move pulled her through the pandemic.
Lindsey Baker at Siberia’s reopening. Photo by Dalton Spangler.
The evolution started after Baker fired her bassist after he “drunkenly yelled at [her] wife,” when the bassist argued that Prince did not, in fact do a Batman soundtrack (he did). With that vacancy, Baker found a way to manage. She saw a rockabilly band run a guitar amp through a bass amp to create heavy low-end sounds, so she decided to take that idea and forget having a bassist altogether.
“The more people I have, the more chances I have to lose them,” said Baker about losing band members, “You start to close yourself off. It’s like fear of abandonment. I’m just not going to ‘date’ anyone.”
Baker had already started beefing up the band’s sound in a rock direction but still had a focus on rhythm and lyrics. While starting out, she made country music because it felt like a natural direction as a solo acoustic artist.
“In my mind, I was carrying this torch for Vic Chesnutt,” Baker said, “I always liked the classic country and outlaw country and the weird sadness of it.”
The band slowly grew to include more members, who played instruments like lap steel guitar, piano, trumpet and upright bass. However, she struggled to find an audience because of unusually dark lyrics. In addition, she felt at odds with the culture of country.
“I started to have a really gross feeling about the country scene here because it’s very white and straight and male,” Baker said, “I had no nourishment. I was just touring— dragging it around and hearing people talk over our sets. That’s how over time it got louder… Now, I don’t hear anyone—and it’s amazing.”
During the pandemic, Baker’s band and the world slowly started to fall apart. The drummer and guitarist at the time both moved away, making Guts Club a one-person band again. Her songwriting reflected her feelings becoming sonically darker and heavier, matching the lyrics of her previous projects. Also to help cope, she began running as a hobby and listening to heavy music while doing it. 
“It all felt good. The more I played in my rehearsal space, the heavier I got, the better I felt,” Baker said, “Those two things brought me out of wanting to die.”
Baker started putting together a new band, reaching out to Ronna Sandoval, whom she saw in a band called Jerk Unicorn, to play drums and also to Alex Dimeff of the band Student Driver to add another guitar. Together they started writing most of the songs on the new album.
The album release show, with local doom metal bands Fauns and Mars, will roll out the band’s new live set with a new video projection. In addition, the show will feature the HBO TV show, The Sopranos-themed surprises hailing back to the Guts Club “cover” of the show’s theme they released in 2020.
To purchase the album or learn more about Guts Club’s metal pivot, visit their website.
