Tonight, Birmingham’s Lee Bains II & The Glory Fires will perform at Green Bar at 10:30 p.m. and bring their authentic southern fuzzy rock to the ears of Tuscaloosa. The band starts the first leg of their tour in here in town and will see shows in Mississippi, Oklahoma and even a few shows at the South By Southwest (SXSW) music festival in Austin, Texas. This week I got a chance to talk with Lee Bains, the frontman and namesake of the band about their tour, what their music is about, SXSW and what some fan said on Facebook.

So, what’s your story?

Well, we formed in 2010 in Birmingham and released our first record in 2012 with “There is a Bomb in Gilead.” We spent a lot of time touring around the U.S. and Europe and then came out with our second record “Dereconstructed” in 2014. We’ve been working on a new record this year. Getting mixed and mastered now. Should be coming out in the summer. Pretty excited about it.

What exactly are you trying to go for in your sound?

Each song is kind of it’s own creature, but overall when I started this band there were a couple of very broad things I wanted to explore–one being authenticity as it pertains to identity and community especially coming from a southerner. I want to do it in a celebratory way. [The South] formed me, it’s who I am.

What’s it like playing in Tuscaloosa? Where else have you played here in T-Town? We love playing in Tuscaloosa. We’ve played here many many times. I may have played in Tuscaloosa more times than I’ve played in Birmingham. We’ve played at Egans, Druid City Brewery, but it’s been awhile since we’ve been at Green Bar.

What are you guys expecting out of SXSW this year? Are you pretty stoked to play?

I’ll say the first couple times I went out there it was extremely stressful–logistically. How do you load and unload this? How do you make this happen? But over the years we’ve figured it out. Playing SXSW is to the new up and coming bands like a dream. People see it as your shot in the “big time” but it’s not been that way for us, just like a lot of other people. It’s still a bunch of fun, but now I just like going to meet all the new bands we can make connections with. Maybe you might meet this one band that has some contacts in Cali or a promoter who can get you shows in Oklahoma…SXSW is a blast.

So, one comment about one of your songs I found on the band’s Facebook page read like this: “Company Man–A glorious pile of steaming southern fuzz. Lyrics will suit southern Liberals.” What do you think of that? Is it true?

That’s a good one. Haven’t seen that. I guess it’s pretty true. The song’s about having an authentic view of oneself apart from the normal mold that southerners fall into.

Anything else you care to add, Lee?

I’m super excited to have the Bohannons play with us, too. Can’t wait for the people at Green Bar and the new album coming.