King Buffalo’s Acheron: Notes From the Cave
I’ve been sitting in this for months. I set off north on I-87 on April 26 to Howe Caverns in New York to be there when Rochester three-piece King Buffalo — guitarist/vocalist/keyboardist Sean McVay, bassist/keyboardist Dan Reynolds, drummer Scott Donaldson — recorded their fourth album and second in a series of three written during pandemic lockdown. In a cave. They were recording in a cave. And I got there, and I took an elevator down, and yes, it was a cave. Load-in took a while, as one might expect.
As I will, I took notes and pictures while I was there. And as you read — and if you do, thanks — and see that I was not there the whole day front to back and indeed missed three out of the four songs on Acheron (due out Dec. 3) being tracked, you need to understand the monumental task that was before the band, before producer Grant Husselman and before videographer Adam Antalek and their respective crew. King Buffalo brought all their own gear, oversaw the assembly not only of that, but a mobile recording studio, as well as a professional video shoot. In a day. Really, in a morning and afternoon. Regardless of anything they actually recorded, it was a massive achievement in logistics, even with some snags along the way.
Keep that in mind. Their original plan was to be done by 4PM and that was my gotta-go time, but of course it ran late. How could it not? They finished as I understand it around 9PM and then loaded out thereafter, lugging everything back up the long path set out through Howe Caverns, which, indeed, seemed like a fun place to take your family if you happen to be nearby. One of the people running it — Bill, I think — let me have a magnet that now adorns my fridge and brings pleasant memories of the day.
And I’ve heard the album. I’ll review it in the next week or two, but suffice it to say, it’s cave-tastic.
Here are the notes:
10:45AM – It’s moist living in the cave.
Howe Caverns probably isn’t much different from a lot of roadside-style attractions. Or maybe it is. I don’t really know. Lots of highway signage leading to a thing that’s probably been owned by the same family for however many generations. You wonder about the insurance, but I’m sure there’s a policy for caves. The stalactite plan.
King Buffalo are recording the second of their three upcoming albums today, mostly live, in this cave, 150 feet underground. Drums are in open air, such as it is with a rock ceiling, guitars, bass, synth mostly DI to the computer. They’re filming as well — pro-shop, same crew that did their Quarantine Sessions last year — because if you’re going to do a thing, do it right. And I’m here, presumably just to make it awkward.
The first of the band’s three intended LPs isn’t out until June, but they’ve had this plan for a while and Howe Caverns opens to the public next month, so I guess now was when it worked all around. I know nothing about the songs other than Sean, Dan and Scott pared down a lockdown’s stockpile of jams into a third, fourth and fifth record’s worth of material. Fair enough.
I got suitably turned around coming in — it’s not like the gift shop was open — but Scott managed to retrieve me from my meanderings on the (above-) grounds. Load in was a load in, but down in the dank on a brick path with running water alongside. Lots of little bridges but only one tighter spot. I imagine when it comes to what’s captured on the mics today, the cave will be a presence in the recording.
11:11AM – First plugged in guitar sounds. Drums soon after. Voice warm-ups. Everything still being set up with a ways to go, I’d think. Though I expect someone will say “alright” at some point and they’ll just hit it.
12:37PM – More guitar noodling. Sabbath, Pearl Jam maybe, Hendrix, Metallica, some KB stuff. Scott was playing drums a while ago. Mostly lighting and mic setup it seems. I’m just trying to stay out of the way to the degree I can. It’s always weird going to a recording. You want to do something, everyone around you is doing stuff, all the more here with a video crew and a full A/V thing happening, but the best place for me to be is out of the way. I still haven’t heard bass and I’m not sure I will but cameras are coming out and various lights are strewn about the cave, so I feel like we’re getting closer.
Cameras are shooting B-roll of the water and such. The owners of the cave are in and out. I can’t tell if it’s gotten colder or what, but I’ve got my hood up, so yeah. Facemasks doubling as face-warmers. Somewhere in the back of my head this morning was my mother’s voice saying to me, “You’re going to a cave, dress warm.” I’m thankful for that. I also brought a book to read. Not my first time at the dance, even if it’s the first time said dance happened in a cave.
More checking mics, drum sounds, etc. The recording gear is a good ways down the corridor or whatever you’d call it here from where the band is. The cave lights are on. Red, green, set up to show detail on different formations and whatnot. There’s communication back and forth between band and console. The waiting. It is like this all the time in recording with bands. Especially a mobile setup since you basically have to build a studio, on the fly, adjusted to the specifications and acoustics where you are. Remote recording done right is serious shit and not a production task I envy. But progress is being made. It’s well after 1PM now.
1:36PM – The issue is with the in-ear monitors Sean and I think Dan are using. Too far from the console setup or some such. I have always been a skeptic of in-ear monitors. One more thing to break. But I assume that if you actually want or need to hear yourself they could make that happen. When functional.
To put this situation in Treknobabble, which I’m honestly more comfortable with, the natural radiation of the cave formations are causing isometric interference that’s scrambled comm circuits. An engineering team has been dispatched but I’ve yet to hear a time estimate on compensating.
Film crew shooting more of the cave to stay busy, I think. Things are being moved from here to there.
2:13PM – Passed Scott on the path on my way back from the topside restroom. He was going to order pizza. He says he hopes noise by three, then move for different filming spot, then two more songs in second location, then done. Better be some quick pizza I guess. Apparently Bill, who owns Howe Caverns, is a major dude and is being generous with the time. That kind of thing is good to know. My own time schedule is somewhat less forgiving — hard 4PM out — but so it goes. Even if I don’t actually see or hear any of the recording, at least I was here. The running water is peaceful.
2:53PM – Two keyboards. One for Sean, one for Dan. The entire recording console ended up moving for the monitor issue, then drum mics weren’t doing what they should’ve been.
For anyone who’s never been in a recording situation and imagines it’s mountains of cocaine and everybody’s stoned and getting laid and whatever other bullshit, nope. More often than not, this is what it is. You want to make something happen and the universe and all manner of physics known and unknown do their best to crap on your plans. This time it’s happened in a cave. But that’s what you do, you sort it all out in the hope of chasing some creative dragon, same way a band might spend 23 hours of the day waiting to play for an hour on tour. Don’t get me wrong, it beats working, but way, way, way more often than not, it also includes working. You gotta really love this shit to do it for more than five minutes without saying “screw it I’m going home.”
3PM now. I guess there’s pizza somewhere.
3:13PM – One song played and recorded — “Acheron,” it’s called — I think just to test what’s working and what isn’t. Only drums and guitar audible to naked ear, but Sean’s guitar tone sounds good and I can hear some bass now on the playback. Not a lot of vocals, and it’s a different vibe than the Burden of Restlessness stuff, though it’s got a clear build. Synth is more forward, which is cool. They’re breaking for lunch, which I think means my time here will be done by when they get going again. I guess maybe it’s time to split.
3:50PM – So much for the hard out.
I went up and pizza seemed to rejuvenate the entire populace as only pizza, or, for some people, Jesus, can. Back down now and getting ready to film the two songs, “Acheron” and one I haven’t heard even part of yet, and then I’m Jersey bound.
This time I have headphones. They’re getting the video ready to roll out, I’m in back with Grant Husselman at the board, Adam Antalek doing video. It’s four so there goes me, but yeah, you drive up what’re you gonna do.
“Acheron” starts at 4PM on the dot. Cave snare dominates all, but so it goes. Vocals are soft but there, guitar dreamy and riding that groove. I’m glad to hear Dan this time, especially as the heavier riff kicks in. This song is 10 minutes long, reportedly. So is the next one. You’ll not find me complaining about that. The synth comes in late, second half accoutrement, but it sounds good.
4:12PM – They’re going to do another take and get more video. Time for me to roll. Bill was kind enough to let me have a fridge magnet from the gift shop when I asked if I could buy one, and with that as my memento I’ll head back to NJ glad I got to hear what I did, sorry I couldn’t hear more, and most likely distracted by the gorgeous scenery of the Catskills. I’ve never been here that I didn’t want to build a house and never leave it again. Doing so, at the very least, would shorten the drive. Ha.
This is wild JJ
Howes cavern was a school field trip for me in grade school,twice.
Hope you dug it
Too cool
[…] was that of jealousy towards JJ Koczan. He got to experience the first song, titled Acheron, first hand inside the cave! Although technical difficulties, and a long load in, prevented him from hearing the remaining […]
[…] special records, and even more while following the news that dropped here and there about it (like this article from The Obelisk describing the recording conditions of Acheron). It was pretty obvious they would […]