Lee Bains

Lee Bains was partly responsible for one of those Greenbelt moments wherein those a-bed thought themselves accursed they were not there: namely a late-night impromptu session featuring Lee and his band The Glory Fires, plus Russian countercultural provocateurs Pussy Riot, doing covers of rock and soul classics. Lee is back among us, sans band this time, but no less a righteous noise comes from his throat. Hailing from Birmingham, Alabama, he’s a poet and songwriter whose Southern gospel punk often centres on ignored or whitewashed histories of Southern solidarity, such as the fact that the Black Panther Party had its roots in rural Alabama.