Gina Gleason is an outstanding individual for a plethora of reasons. Asides her sterling guitar playing abilities, she has managed to rise, thrive and become successful in a male-dominated profession. She is presently the lead guitarist for the “Baroness,” a heavy music band that she joined in 2017. She is known for her vocal prowess, unique playing style, and intense on-stage presence.
She founded ‘Misstallica’ and played guitar for the world’s only all-female tribute to Metallica. Her sterling performances continue to set her apart as a force to reckon with in the heavy metal music industry.
Everything to know about Gina Gleason
1. Childhood and Education
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Gina grew up with an astute love for music. She fell in love with the guitar and wanted to play all the time but didn’t begin playing seriously until age 14.
In terms of education, she attended the Girard Academic Music Program where she studied upright bass before proceeding to Temple University where she studied music theory and studio engineering.
2. She was a huge fan of ‘Baroness’ before she joined the band as a guitarist
Gina has been quite open about being a fan of the band before she joined them. She admitted going for their live show at Psycho Las Vegas which was really great. She was definitely surprised and thrilled when John invited her to join the band.
3. Gina was friends with John Baizley before she joined the ‘Baroness’
The pair met and became friends after Gina purchased a fuzz pedal online in 2016. John who was then involved with the company that made the pedal reached out to her and they bonded over it. She reveals that she was in his house for close to eight hours during their first meeting where they played several songs and geeked out on pedals.
They stayed in touch after their first meeting and would constantly email each other stuff they were working on. It was in one of their conversations that John mentioned that Peter Adams was leaving then asked her if she would like to join the band.
4. Gina worked at Guitar Center as a teenager
When she was in her late teens (17/18), she worked at a ‘Guitar Center’ as a salesperson. Even though the job had its perks, as she had the opportunity of learning more about guitars and also met her best friend to date who was the only other female in the shop. She revealed that most of the customers didn’t take her seriously as they just didn’t believe she knew enough to help them make a perfect choice. She was so worried that it will end up being a “thing throughout her life” but she is glad that there has been a change and shift in recent times.
5. Gina Gleason is one of the few successful female guitarists in a successful band
Gina has spoken frankly about the difficulties women face in her industry. During her early touring career, she revealed that most people assumed she was someone’s girlfriend. But in recent times there has been improvement especially with the growing female presence in heavy music. She describes the situation as this “weird oversexualized thing with women shredding”.
More so, Gina Gleason has dabbled into writing songs as her career progressed. She has been credited as a contributor to 3 different tracks on Baroness’s 2019 Gold & Grey album. She admits that the writing came naturally and with lots of contributions from members of the group.
6. Acting
Between 2012 and 2017, Gina Gleason has been a cast in Cirque du Soleil show playing the character called ‘The Muse’.
She revealed that she got the job when she was really young and they did 484 shows in a year while the experience was initially cool it later became extremely grueling leaving her feeling stagnant. She began to work on her music on the side before she finally joined ‘Baroness’.
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7. Career Achievements
In 2010, Gina collaborated with ‘The Good Listeners’ to play the upright bass and lead guitar for the song “Never good Enough” In the documentary about the making of the album titled ‘Never Good Enough’.
She has had the privilege of playing with several established artists including Grammy Award winner Carlos Vives, Carlos Santana, Brendon Small, Denny Walley, Jello Biafra just to mention a few.
In 2016, she co-composed original works for the Cirque du Soleil production of ‘One Night For one Drop’. She played as lead guitarist in Queen Diamond and Misstallica.
