Baroness’ Gina Gleason Reflects on the 75th Anniversary of the Fender Telecaster]

As Fender celebrates the 75th anniversary of the Telecaster with five new takes on the design, they’ve hand-picked some key musicians to explain what the model means to them. Gina Gleason is one of them – but although she’s renowned for shredding blistering hybrid-picked lead lines on her Olympic White Tele, she didn’t always play Fenders.

When she joined Baroness in 2017, her gear reflected her apprenticeship in thrash, death and black metal bands, the tribute act Misstallica, and as a musician with Cirque Du Soleil.

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“I wanted something to highlight the nuances – the two guitars constantly complement each other and never usually play the same thing. I’d always been a fan of Tele players and I wanted one, so this was my excuse to jump in there.

“I played a ’92 ASAT Classic with a Fender noiseless pickup for a while, but my next guitar was the American Pro.”

Before we jumped into Tele talk, Gleason was excited to discuss her brand-new project, Ecliptor, who, at the time, were mere days away from their debut show. “We’ve been working on Ecliptor for almost two years,” she said.

“One of the founders is Nick Roskow. We’re best friends; we always hung out together but we never talked about making music together. We’re both big fans of Swedish death metal; a few years ago he said, ‘I want to be in a band like this!’ and I was like ‘Dude, yes!’ He already had the name picked out, and when he told me I was like, ‘Let’s do it.’

“We’ve just finished tracking drums for our full-length debut record. Ecliptor is definitely more of a traditional metal take, and Nick is one of those dudes who picks up the guitar and he just rips. I’m like, ‘I gotta practice a lot more now!’”

I’m a big fan of the American Pro series. We first started using them around 2017 – the Tele for me and the Strat for John Baizley. There’s something magic about that era. The Pro II is great too, with the contoured heel and S-1 switch.

(Image credit: Courtesy Gina Gleason)

Of the anniversary models, the Liquid Gold American Ultra II was a standout. I liked the neck’s compound radius. In Ecliptor, I play a Jackson with a 12-16-inch radius and like the flat, fast feeling. The Ultra II definitely had that going on with its 10-14”, and the Fastlane pickup paired with the noiseless sounded great for high-gain scenarios.

Fender is always going to be great at the classics. The modern upgrades are cool to check out. They’ll always be innovating – but that classic butterscotch ‘51 Tele is always going to be 10-out-of-10 incredible.

Who are your Tele inspirations?

I had a great guitar teacher when I was a teenager, Yanni Papadopoulos [of Stinking Lisaveta], who turned me onto some great Tele players outside the rock world, like Jimmy Bryant. He had this alternate picking style I thought was crazy: chaotic but also effortless.

I’m not a country player, but do like a lot of country guitarists. Danny Gatton and Jimmy Bryant possess this otherworldliness that I saw kinship with in the style of Dimebag Darrell and Randy Rhoads. It’s effortless and magic, and there’s lots of chromaticism.

Gina Gleason Proves the Tele Can Do It All | Tele 75 | Fender – YouTube

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— Gina Gleason Proves the Tele Can Do It All | Tele 75 | Fender

Where do you see future of metal tone?

I think there’s going to be a desire to return to a simpler setup. The bar for metal is so high it’s incredible and inspiring – but sometimes I do miss like, “Give me an E chord! Chug the E!”

I’m not too savvy with amp modelling, as Baroness still have a very old-school approach. I tour with a Fender Princeton, a Bassman and a bunch of fuzz pedals. I just want it to rock!

You’ve kept a pedal journal over the years. Have you discovered any new gear lately?

I’ve been really into the Big Muff Op Amp pedal for solos and boosts. I just got a Big Muff 2; our tech, Jesse Anderson, mods Big Muffs so we use them a lot on tour. I recently got an EVH 5150 EL34, too. I used one for the Tele demos and thought, “Man, I need one of these!”

You recently shared your work-in-progress on downward pick slant drills. Have you had any technical breakthroughs you’re excited to demo on the new records?

There are a million YouTube videos on downward slant picking, but that economy picking finally clicked for me this year. I’m older now – I have the patience to tell myself, “Do one measure of this exercise at a time. Don’t go into a spiral!”

Gina Gleason and Fender Telecaster

(Image credit: Courtesy Gina Gleason)

Nick in Ecliptor is so good. John is another incredible player; he can dream up beautiful chord progressions and melody. I like working in these two spaces with different types of creators. I’m inclined to constantly be sharpening the sword so I can keep up with all these brilliant people I get to play with.

You’ve now been in Baroness for almost a decade. Has it changed your approach to songwriting?

I’ve learned the value of subtraction in songwriting from John – cutting the fluff and getting to the point of what you’re trying to say. With production too, if we take away this part, then the next part is going to hit harder. Building things at a 10, then subtracting to where it’s most impactful.

With the Tele there’s no question. It cuts through and has a brightness and brilliance

BARONESS – Last Word [Official Music Video] – YouTube
BARONESS - Last Word [Official Music Video] - YouTube

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— BARONESS – Last Word [Official Music Video]

In spite of AI music hitting the charts and the high costs of touring, people are still buying guitars and starting bands. Why do you think they’re still so popular?

Guitar is one of those magic things that still wields this power. It looks awesome and it seems somewhat effortless, but I can hear that what’s happening is complex. It appeals to one’s sense of wanting to figure things out. The reward is looking cool, having a cool hobby, and being in spaces with likeminded people passionate about the same things as you.

I teach guitar, too; my student Bill tells me that pedals appeal to his collector sensibility – “This one’s a different colour!” Guitars are like cool classic cars: “Well, this one is red!”

And why do you think Teles are such an enduring model?

They have such a unique sound. If you have a trained ear and listen to a lot of music, you can probably start to equate different sounds with gear. With the Tele, there’s no question. It cuts through and has a brightness and brilliance.

And the players who started using them – the Danny Gattons and Jimmy Bryants – appeal to this sense of virtuosity. The iconic sound is so crisp and clear it gets associated with a high level of playing. There’s nothing to really hide behind. Danny Gatton knows what’s going on!

It’s been three years since Baroness released Stone. What have you been up to since then?

The past year we’ve been touring the Red and Blue records. I’m a huge fan of those records, especially Blue. We’ve also been working on new music for the better part of a year and a half. The challenge now is whittling it down and finding the identity of the album, before going into the studio around July.