While some band monikers are so random they seem to have been pulled from a hat, others, like Count Pariah, are so cleverly enigmatic that they serve as a mission statement, telling us everything relevant about the band’s vibe, musical purpose, unique flow of contrasting styles and defiant sense of what it means to be independent, creating their multi-faceted powerhouse rock on their own terms.

In an insightful 2022 interview with the Music Existence blog, the Knoxville, TN based band – frontman James “Shibby” Croft, guitarist Jason Breland, bassist Dustin (“DB”) Barousse and drummer Adam “BiRD” Tilley – explained, “By definition, the count is of nobility. A pariah is a social outcast. We like to look at ourselves as the kings of the outcasts. That’s who we are. We don’t play by your rules. We don’t let big money and big music tell us what we can and can’t do. We do what we like because the passion is there. The passion is in the music.”   

With everything from acoustic tunes to infectious, edgy four- minute tracks and heavier, long form jams, Count Pariah’s fresh, freewheeling approach to indie rock has caught fire quickly. Since inking with Blue Collar Records, they’ve released the critically acclaimed EP Hymns for Heathens and an explosive single, “Paranoia,” whose animated video has over 24K views on YouTube. JW Vibe wrote of the EP: “In less than 20 minutes, Count Pariah will truly cleanse your soul. Just as traditional church hymns express worship, these Hymns for Heathens express and are designed to purge us of the darkness.” Essentially Pop noted that “there’s also a clear tension and unease . . . but there’s still an element of beauty amongst all the darkness and mystery.”

Since venues have opened again post-Covid, the band has gigged consistently in their hometown- drawing big crowds at clubs like the Open Chord Stage and The Concourse – as well as 90 minutes up the road in Asheville NC and as far north as Jersey. They’re planning another hometown show this spring and have Alabama and beyond on the docket for 2023.

Easing from moody and soulful verses through incendiary, high impact choruses, Count Pariah’s latest single “Black Cloud” marks the start of a fresh collaborative relationship with with Grammy winning engineer/producer Justin Miller of Philadelphia’s MilkBoy the Studio. Affectionately known as “Juicy,” Miller has worked in multiple genres with local up and comers Miles Chancellor, Suzanne Sheer and 4VR, in addition to major label artists James Blake, Dolla $Sign, Patti Labelle and Jazmine Sullivan on her 2020 Best R&B Grammy winning album Heaux Tales. The band is currently working with Miller on their debut full length album, due later in 2023. “Black Cloud” and the upcoming second lead single “Risk It All” were tracked at MilkBoy the Studio. They are recording the other sessions at Pink Moon Sound in Knoxville.

“One thing we love about the new album is that it gives us the freedom to show a fuller spectrum of our songwriting and playing, hitting on everything we can do,” says Dustin. “When you do an EP, there’s a tendency to overthink which songs and vibes to present to create a streamlined listening experience. Same with choosing singles, which only reflect specific aspects of our artistry. This project gives us a wide birth and more time to be our most expressive selves. The opportunity to literally do whatever we want is empowering and much more fun. The way the music of ‘Black Cloud’ came together captures the intuitive way we work. Jason came up with the original riff and brought it to rehearsal. We all began jamming and the melody and rhythmic ebb and flow fell together without a lot of thought – and from there, we worked on solidifying the basic structure.”

Though for the sake of easy genre categorization, the term “indie rock” works for Count Pariah, Shibby thinks there are more layers to unpack to fully grasp what the band is about. “Count Pariah has a sound, but it incorporates a lot of elements so it’s not easy to explain. I’m cool with ‘rock,’ but it’s like we’ve created our own niche within the genre. We all have varied backgrounds in music and come at it from different angles.” Jason adds, “As corny as it sounds, there’s never been anyone telling us what we should or shouldn’t be. It’s original rock that’s from the heart. We mean what we sing and are musically confident in what we’re doing.”

Born in Philly and raised in Knoxville, BiRD recalls his parents telling him he was always beating on stuff as a kid, though he says it’s because he was trying to get things to work. Gravitating towards the band room in middle school, he set his sights on the piano but only the drums were available. Classically trained, he played the drum line in school and can read and write music. His influences include Motown (from his mom), Led Zeppelin (stepdad) and 90s rockers Korn, Deftones and Tool. Dustin grew up in NOLA with a bass playing dad and aunts and uncles who were all lifelong musicians. He grew up listening to blues and classic rock, citing Zeppelin as his favorite. Growing up in the 90s, he cites Stone Temple Pilots, Nirvana and the Red Hot Chili Peppers as instrumental in his musical growth.

Jason also grew up in a musical family (in Biloxi MS) and he remembers thinking when he saw guitars around the house that “they were the sexiest things I’d ever seen.” He listened to everything from The Beatles and Led Zeppelin to Bach and Beethoven, and learned from his dad that the hallmark of a great band was one that could create an incredible full album. For all his charisma, natural affinity for rock and talent as a front man, Shibby grew up in a religious, non-musical family and his earliest musical memories are of his two sisters listening to boy bands. A church singer from an early age, he came of age listening to Linkin Park, impressed with the way the late Chester Bennington expressed his emotions in a song. He also loved Chris Cornell and Chevelle’s Pete Loeffler.   

Count Pariah’s superhero origin story begins about 14 years ago with BiRD and Jason meeting through a mutual friend and discovering a special chemistry playing in various Knoxville bands. BiRD says, “You can’t form a more meaningful friendship than that of two musicians sharing a bond like ours. There was magic in the room that first day we played together.” BiRD moved away for work for a while but stayed in touch. When he returned to Knoxville in 2017, the two joined forces and decided to form their own group.

“Something changed that day,” BiRD says. “We were going to take things seriously, create music and reach out to labels.” Shibby was a friend of Jason’s from work, and upon seeing a rough clip of the singer performing and playing guitar, as Shibby recalls, “He came stomping at me, like you should come and sing with our band.” Shibby gave in and put his vocals on a raw recording Jason and BiRD had made. He was an instant fit. Dustin got on board after he accidentally went to the wrong house on his way to hang out with friends to watch a Saints game. “I had my bass stuff in the car,” he says. “We started talking about music and the stuff they played for me was so damn good. Once we started making music together and everyone got it in their heads we could make it, we started making progress.”

Due to Covid, Count Pariah skipped over breaking in material at live gigs and went straight to the studio to record their songs. After a time with another label, they connected with Gary Bernard of Blue Collar Records and were able to secure the rights to their earlier material, which they subsequently re-recorded with higher production values.

“We love the camaraderie and sharing like-minded goals,” Dustin says. “We genuinely enjoy getting together and rehearsing, and feeling that energy when we get in the studio on stage and see where the creativity will take us.“ BiRD adds, “In addition to being part of a tightly knit band, we’ve enjoyed hearing, since the release of Hymns for Heathens, from fans who share how much our music means to them. That’s the best of both worlds for all of us.”