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The Obelisk Questionnaire: Scott Donaldson of King Buffalo

Posted in Questionnaire on May 26th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

Scott Donaldson of King Buffalo

The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.

Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.

Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.

The Obelisk Questionnaire: Scott Donaldson of King Buffalo

How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?

I define myself as a musician and small business owner. It started from a desire to play music with friends and organically grew into a full-time job.

Describe your first musical memory.

Watching music VHS tapes at my dad’s. The three that come to mind to mind are Styx and Van Halen Live concerts. I remember Alex Van Halen making his drumset sound like a helicopter which blew my mind at the time and Tommy Shaw having a shiny metallic guitar that changed colors (it was just the stage lights). My tiny brain thought a color changing guitar was the ultimate. It’s kinda hilarious that I now have a drumset that can “change color” haha. The 3rd was all the Def Leppard music videos through Hysteria. I loved and completely wore through that tape.

Describe your best musical memory to date.

That’s tough. I’ve been extremely fortunate to meet a lot of super talented musicians and even luckier to be able to call many of them friends. I honestly can’t pick just one but it’d involve touring with them.

When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?

Probably when Sean said I should start playing certain songs to a click. A lot of his delays are mapped out and for some of the synth work, I have to be exactly on. I didn’t like the idea at first and now I love it. It’s comforting to know I’m in the right place and kinda liberating. Thanks Sean!

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

Does anyone know? I think everyone’s journey is different. Each person has their own views and ways of moving forward. I think it depends on the person and the environment they develop in.

How do you define success?

I think definitions of success change as you grow musically and as a person. Success to me when I first started was to make four records with my name on it and to do a West Coast tour. Now we’re approaching 10 records with KB so, I think we’ve achieved some success, but I also think there’s a lot more to go.

What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?

A dog at a live show without ear protection. Please protect your animals!

Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.

It’d be cool to have some KB tunes in a video game haha.

What do you believe is the most essential function of art?

For me it’s trying to have fun. Music has become my full time job and I’m lucky to be able to say that. I think it can become easy to get jaded and forget how far you’ve come. I don’t want to take anything for granted and enjoy things for as long as they last. Having fun while creating is essential, because if it stops being fun I think it can stifle your creativity.

Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?

Dune Part 2. I read all the books over the pandemic and always had a campy appreciation of the David Lynch film. Part 1 was close to perfect for me and I’m excited to see what the next one brings. Fingers crossed they make a 3rd as well.

kingbuffalo.com
facebook.com/kingbuffaloband
instagram.com/kingbuffaloband
kingbuffalo.bandcamp.com

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facebook.com/Stickman-Records-1522369868033940

King Buffalo, Acheron (2021)

King Buffalo, The Burden of Restlessness (2021)

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King Buffalo Touring with Uncle Acid in Spring 2022

Posted in Whathaveyou on December 8th, 2021 by JJ Koczan

If you’re going to put out two of the year’s best releases — talking this month’s Acheron (review here) and June’s The Burden of Restlessness (review here) specifically — with the promise of more to come, I guess the thing to do is hit the road on a bigger tour then you’ve ever done before. Cheers and best wishes to King Buffalo as they announce they’ll head out next March in the esteemed company of Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats. No word on whether Uncle Acid will also have a new record out by the time they go, but if you believe in due, they’re due as well.

Tickets go on sale Friday and I’ve marked my calendar for the first show of the run, which is at Brooklyn Steel. They’ll be out for a month, hitting both coasts and into Canada on a final loop back east. Even as King Buffalo toured with Clutch earlier this Fall on an abbreviated stint, the scope here is the largest I’ve seen the band do in a supporting role. Pretty badass.

Dates follow as per the social media:

king buffalo uncle acid tour

TOUR ANNOUNCEMENT… Dates w/ Uncle Acid and the deadbeats! Tickets go on sale THIS FRIDAY at kingbuffalo.com.

3/2 Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel
3/3 Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
3/4 Pittsburgh, PA @ The Roxian
3/5 Baltimore, MD @ Baltimore Sound Stage
3/7 Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel
3/8 Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade
3/9 Tampa, FL @ The Ritz
3/11 New Orleans, LA @ House of Blues
3/12 Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live
3/13 Dallas, TX @ House of Blues
3/15 Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom
3/16 San Diego, CA @ Observatory Northpark
3/17 Los Angeles, CA @ The Belasco
3/18 Berkeley, CA @ UC Theater
3/21 Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater
3/22 Vancouver, BC @ The Commodore
3/23 Seattle, WA @ Showbox Market
3/25 Salt Lake City, UT @ The Depot
3/26 Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre
3/27 Kansas City, MO @ The Truman
3/29 Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
3/30 Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
4/1 Toronto, ON @ The Danforth
4/2 Montreal, QC @ Club Soda
4/3 Boston, MA @ Big Nite Live

King Buffalo is:
Sean McVay – Guitar, Vocals, & Synth
Dan Reynolds – Bass & Synth
Scott Donaldson – Drums & Percussion

kingbuffalo.com
facebook.com/kingbuffaloband
instagram.com/kingbuffaloband
kingbuffalo.bandcamp.com
stickman-records.com
facebook.com/Stickman-Records-1522369868033940

King Buffalo, “Shadows” official video

King Buffalo, The Burden of Restlessness (2021)

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King Buffalo Post “Shadows” Video From Acheron Album Film

Posted in Bootleg Theater on November 25th, 2021 by JJ Koczan

King Buffalo

Say hello — and Happy Thanksgiving, if you celebrate it — to the first full-song audio and video to be unveiled from King Buffalo‘s upcoming LP and album-film, Acheron (review here), which is out Dec. 3. There was the teaser before, but with “Shadows,” you get far more of a sense both of what the four-song record has on offer and what the vibe was like when they started playing songs in that cave, deep beneath the surface of the earth. Granted, there hasn’t been a ton to compare it to on my end in terms of going-places-and-doing-stuff, but hitting up Howes Cavern to watch King Buffalo record was the coolest thing I’ve been to this year so far. And I only add the “so far” because I’ve got another, not-KB-related studio visit planned for December and you never know what might happen on a given day or two. But the standard is high, even considering the context of 2021.

If you couldn’t tell, I’m writing this while listening to “Shadows,” and the song just hit its circa-midpoint swell. Acheron has a couple linear builds, as did The Burden of Restlessness (review here) in June, and I guess if you’re only counting the first seven minutes or so, “Shadows” is one of them, but the song runs 11 minutes total, and I think the quiet exploration in the back end is pretty essential for more than just the return-kick to which it leads. Enough so that the band put it out as the first whole track unveiled — I would’ve expected the opening title-track, but it’s nice to be surprised — and would seem to have done so with the clear intent to convey just how different Acheron is from the preceding album in their plague-era trilogy, the third part of which will be released in 2022.

Don’t let me keep you. It’s a holiday, and while I could probably go on about the record, suffice it to say that King Buffalo have two of 2021’s best albums to their credit. With the next impending, they’re a bright spot in a perpetually weird reality.

Dive in:

King Buffalo, “Shadows” official video

From the new album and film, ‘Acheron’ available everywhere on 12/3/21.

For more info or to support the band directly visit: https://kingbuffalo.com/links

Directed by Adam Antalek.

King Buffalo, The Burden of Restlessness (2021)

King Buffalo BigCartel store

King Buffalo website

King Buffalo on Facebook

King Buffalo on Instagram

Stickman Records website

Stickman Records on Facebook

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Album Review: King Buffalo, Acheron

Posted in Reviews on November 11th, 2021 by JJ Koczan

King Buffalo Acheron

With Acheron, Rochester, New York’s King Buffalo continue their emergence among the most essential acts of current American heavy psychedelic rock. The first thing you hear is running water. It is the sound of the place the four-song/40-minute full-length was recorded; Howe Caverns in Schoharie County, NY. An underground stream runs alongside a path both natural and cut into the rock 150 feet under the ground, and it’s where the band — guitarist/vocalist/synthesist Sean McVay, bassist/keyboardist Dan Reynolds and drummer Scott Donaldsontracked the album, playing the songs live with audio and video recordings running simultaneously. The trio’s original ambition to release three albums in 2021 of material composed during the tour-less lockdown of 2020 may have met with vinyl-pressing-delay circumstances beyond their control — the third in this trilogy will be out in 2022 instead — but their will to create in different locales as a part of that project has thus far been maintained.

June 2021’s The Burden of Restlessness (review here) — which shared the face-forward artwork theme with Acheron, albeit in a grimmer manifestation — was self-recorded. Acheron arrives produced by Grant Husselman, who had previously worked on their early 2020 EP, Dead Star (review here), and the prior sophomore LP, 2018’s Longing to Be the Mountain (review here), and who here was tasked with nothing less than building a mobile studio unit in a day and capturing the band’s energy in a remote setting, deep beneath the surface of the earth. As McVay‘s guitar enters over that initial water flow — which will return as an aural theme throughout the songs — his lines seem to give some shape to the movement of water over stone, Acheron is not quite 30 seconds into its opening title-track before its first victory is declared.

What unfolds gracefully from that point across “Acheron” (10:21), “Zephyr” (9:26), “Shadows” (10:35) and “Cerberus” (9:47) is an acknowledgement of who King Buffalo are as a unit that brings some of the sharper-edged progressive aspects of The Burden of Restlessness — these songs were written at the same time, after all — together with the duly fluid heavy psychedelia the band offered on Longing to Be the Mountain, their Jan. 2018 lead-into EP, Repeater (review here), or 2016’s debut album, Orion (review here).

The album feels brilliantly curated to this purpose and to its setting. The angry melancholy of “The Knocks” or “Locusts” from the prior record — looking inward and out — isn’t absent from Acheron, but the context has shifted, and even the angular chug toward the apex of “Cerberus” that feels like it’s speaking directly back to the last outing arrives with a different energy, complemented by a layered, harmonized crescendo of guitar solos over grand crashing drums and Reynolds‘ ever-steady presence in the low end.

No doubt earlier vibes like the drifting synth and guitar of “Zephyr” or the echoing breadth of “Shadows” play into that impression as well — Acheron is best taken as a whole work — but the tension that King Buffalo crafted into their material on The Burden of Restlessness can still be heard, whether it’s Donaldson‘s drumming pushing through beneath the final cascades of guitar and melodic float in “Zephyr” or the foreboding jabs of guitar from McVay as “Cerberus” makes ready to do its final battle with that mythological creature, who perhaps is acting as a stand-in for some of the same feelings The Burden of Restlessness took on. “Acheron” itself seems to build outward from that foundation — the title referring to the River of Woe in Greek folklore — and its own repetitions and builds of chugging guitar, particularly as filled out by an overarching keyboard line in the second half of the song, become crucial for understanding what Acheron, the album, is looking to accomplish.

King Buffalo Acheron Cave 1 (Photo by JJ Koczan)

It is not just about doing something different from the last record, or about answering the last record, or about recording in a cave. The truth of Acheron is that it is its own work. I’m not sure if “Shadows” is about Erebus or not, but “Zephyr” is the Greek God of the West Wind, and the song’s atmosphere, even solidified in the midsection and freaked-out-shred later as it is, is duly gorgeous. As much as Acheron is the second of an intended three-part collection, it’s also a fourth King Buffalo full-length, and it works no less to demonstrate the band’s live energy, yes, as well as their broadening instrumental and melodic reach, their patience in executing ambient as well as more intense stretches, and more over, their skill at creating a sonic narrative by setting the two against or alongside each other.

After its surge shortly before the four-minute mark, “Cerberus” pulls away from its final lyrics and from 4:20 on dedicates itself to an entirely instrumental movement, turning back and forth from its tense chug — which at one point stands alone in willful make-you-grind-your-teeth fashion — to lead guitar in setting up the payoff solo(s) and final epilogue riffing, which itself cuts short and echoes out at the end of the record. The motion from one part to the next is neither stark nor overly molten. Instead, it is precisely what King Buffalo want it to be. A given push from one part to the next can be a dramatic return, or it can be a setting off into unknown spaces, or it can be as simple as a shift from a verse to a chorus.

The band’s songwriting accounts for all of these, just as that first guitar line of the title-track seems to carry the rhythm of the running water, so too does the rest of Acheron play out in a series of carefully shaped moments. They may have shown up to Howe Caverns to record in a day, but that didn’t happen without having their parts refined beforehand, and the work King Buffalo put into sculpting Acheron as it is pays dividends in a front-to-back immersive listen. It is your own freight elevator down to that river, the stalactites and stalagmites and the cool moisture surrounding.

I do not know what the third installment of King Buffalo‘s plague-era trilogy might hold in terms either of atmosphere or the circumstances of its being put to tape, but as much as Acheron feels tied to The Burden of Restlessness in some ways, it no less breaks away from that album to find its own place as one of 2021’s best releases. Expectations and anticipation for their next work should be high, but Acheron underscores just how justified their audience is in trusting King Buffalo to meet and surpass their own standards, setting new ones along the way. They certainly do that here.

King Buffalo, Acheron trailer

King Buffalo, The Burden of Restlessness (2021)

King Buffalo BigCartel store

King Buffalo website

King Buffalo on Facebook

King Buffalo on Instagram

Stickman Records website

Stickman Records on Facebook

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King Buffalo’s Acheron: Notes From the Cave

Posted in Features on November 1st, 2021 by JJ Koczan

King Buffalo Acheron Cave 1 (Photo by JJ Koczan)

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:

King Buffalo Acheron Cave (Photo by JJ Koczan)

King Buffalo Acheron Cave (Photo by JJ Koczan)

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.

King Buffalo Acheron Cave (Photo by JJ Koczan)

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.

King Buffalo Acheron Cave (Photo by JJ Koczan)

King Buffalo Acheron Cave (Photo by JJ Koczan)

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.

King Buffalo Acheron Cave (Photo by JJ Koczan)

King Buffalo Acheron Cave (Photo by JJ Koczan)

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.

King Buffalo Acheron Cave (Photo by JJ Koczan)

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.

King Buffalo Acheron Cave (Photo by JJ Koczan)

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.

King Buffalo, Acheron trailer

King Buffalo, The Burden of Restlessness (2021)

King Buffalo BigCartel store

King Buffalo website

King Buffalo on Facebook

King Buffalo on Instagram

Stickman Records website

Stickman Records on Facebook

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King Buffalo Announce Acheron Album Details; Preorders Coming Friday

Posted in Whathaveyou on October 18th, 2021 by JJ Koczan

King Buffalo

Also newly confirmed to appear at Desertfest Belgium 2021 for an exclusive one-off on Oct. 30 in Ghent, Rochester, NY’s King Buffalo have just announced the details of their next full-length release, the four-song Acheron. Due out Dec. 3 on CD and DL as previously noted, the offering goes up for preorder this Friday through the band and Stickman Records in Europe for those as well as the vinyl which is currently due in January. Here’s hoping.

King Buffalo were out with Clutch and Stöner recently on a somebody-got-Covid-shortened tour. Acheron was tracked earlier this year at Howe Caverns in New York. Way up the Thruway. I was there for a goodly portion of the day and will post my notes from the cave at some point before the record is out. I felt lucky to be there and hear some of the new material being put to tape (and video), and I was glad to have worn a hoodie. Cold in that cave. Also got a fridge magnet.

Below is the bio I wrote for the album, tour dates, tracklisting, all that PR wire stuff, plus a trailer for the record:

King Buffalo Acheron

King Buffalo – Acheron – Dec. 3

Acheron – King Buffalo’s brand new record, recorded live in the Howe Caverns of eastern New York

Presales begin Friday, October 22nd
Release date: Dec. 3rd (CD/digital) / mid-January (vinyl)

Preorder ‘Acheron’ THIS FRIDAY 10/22/21 at 12pm EST via https://kingbuffalo.bigcartel.com

What will inevitably be known as ‘the cave record,’ Acheron is the second King Buffalo LP recorded in 2021. It follows this spring’s The Burden of Restlessness and finds the Rochester, New York, trio of guitarist/vocalist Sean McVay, bassist Dan Reynolds and drummer Scott Donaldson expanding their sound once again.

Both records – and an intended third in the series to follow in 2022 – were born of the pandemic-era touring shutdown, as evinced by the grim themes of The Burden of Restlessness. Acheron – named for the “river of woe” in Greek mythology – brings the tension and disquiet of the prior offering into a new context.

To put the four extended songs of Acheron to tape, the band traveled three hours east from Rochester to Howe Caverns in NY, recording with trusted engineer Grant Husselman and videographer Adam Antalek – who worked on their Quarantine Sessions early in 2020 – to document a day-long live session in a cave. In the cave. “Underground” in the most literal sense.

In sound, Acheron is likewise spacious and fluid. If The Burden of Restlessness showed the band’s sharper angles, Acheron add complexity to the shape of the whole. In some ways, the wash of tone in “Zephyr” will be familiar to those who took on 2018’s Longing to Be the Mountain or the band’s 2016 debut, Orion – let alone any of the four EPs they’ve done along the way – but in “Shadows” and “Cerberus,” the band’s intent becomes clear.

Available on 180gr. liquid blue LP + download code and on CD.

Tracklisting:
1. Acheron 10:21
2. Zephyr 09:25
3. Shadows 10:34
4. Cerberus 09:46

TICKETS ON SALE NOW!
10/30 Ghent, Belgium @ Desertfest Belgium
11/5 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s
11/6 New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
11/11 Pittsburgh, PA @ Club Café
11/12 Detroit, MI @ Loving Touch
11/13 Indianapolis, IN @ HI-FI
11/14 St. Louis, MO @ Off Broadway
11/16 Madison, WI @ The Bur Oak
11/17 Minneapolis, MN @ 7th St. Entry
11/18 Milwaukee, WI @ The Back Room at Colectivo Coffee
11/19 Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
11/20 Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom
1/20/22 Ottawa, ON @ Club Saw
1/21/22 Montreal, QC @ Bar Le Ritz
1/22/22 Toronto, ON @ Velvet Underground
* w/ Clutch & Stoner

King Buffalo is:
Sean McVay – Guitar, Vocals, & Synth
Dan Reynolds – Bass & Synth
Scott Donaldson – Drums & Percussion

kingbuffalo.com
facebook.com/kingbuffaloband
instagram.com/kingbuffaloband
kingbuffalo.bandcamp.com
stickman-records.com
facebook.com/Stickman-Records-1522369868033940

King Buffalo, The Burden of Restlessness (2021)

King Buffalo, Acheron album trailer

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King Buffalo Announce Second Part of Album Trilogy

Posted in Whathaveyou on August 10th, 2021 by JJ Koczan

King Buffalo recorded their next album, the second in the pandemic-era trilogy previously announced, in a cave. They don’t say which specific cave, but I know it was a cave, because I was there. I took notes that I’ve been sitting on posting for a couple months now. It was a nice cave. I helped them load in, hung around while various technical difficulties were sorted through and sat with headphones on by the control board while they recorded what will serve as the opener and title-track of the next record.

I won’t say much more about it than that, but if you heard The Burden of Restlessness (review here) and were surprised at the shift in sonic persona away from the kind of progressive heavy psychedelic nature-communion of the prior 2018 sophomore album, Longing to Be the Mountain (review here), then surely this is a cave in which you’ll want to spend some time. As they note, the record is four songs and they’re all over 10 minutes long.

They have more news besides the coming of the next record. It’ll be out in late Fall, while the third of the three has been pushed to 2022 in accommodation with the ubiquitous production delays. Foreseeable. They’ve also got new ideas brewing that they tease, and they made Live at Freak Valley (review here) free. You’re gonna want to snag that if you’re interested in anything in this post whatsoever.

And dig this list of tour dates. Hope they happen. I want to hit that Connecticut show with them, Clutch and Stöner. That sounds like my kind of party.

Here’s news of varying sorts:

king buffalo cave

Friends, We have good news, bad news, and more good news.

Good news: We recorded our second record LIVE in a cave! It will only have one single because it’s four 10-minute songs. If you like our long-form stuff (and caves), you’ll love this record! Swipe to see a sneak peek.

Bad news: As you’ve probably seen, the whole world is experiencing massive vinyl production delays, so the second record won’t be released until late Fall of 2021. This also means we are pushing the third part of this album-trilogy into 2022.

But MORE good news: Because of this delay we’ve started on MORE ideas! We came up with a killer one recently and it’s going to be really unique. We can’t wait to reveal more in the coming months.

Bonus: ‘Live at Freak Valley’ is now FREE on Bandcamp! Hopefully this will hold you over until we get closer to revealing more about the second record. -KB

King Buffalo on tour:
9/9 Greeley, CO @ Moxi Theater
9/10 Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge
9/11 Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge
9/14 Los Angeles, CA @ Moroccan Lounge
9/15 San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill
9/17 Seattle, WA @ Barboza
9/18 Seattle, WA @ Barboza
9/19 Portland, OR @ Lola’s Room
9/29 FT. Wayne, IN @ Piere’s Guys*
10/1 Albany, NY @ Empire Live*
10/2 New Haven, CT @ College Street Music Hall*
10/3 Portland, ME @ State Theater*
10/5 Buffalo, NY @ Town Ballroom*
10/7 Long Island, NY @ Paramount Theater*
10/8 Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground*
10/9 Hampton Beach, NH @ Hampton Beach Casino*
10/11 Washington, DC @ 930 Club*
11/5 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s
11/6 New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
11/11 Pittsburgh, PA @ Club Café
11/12 Detroit, MI @ Loving Touch
11/13 Indianapolis, IN @ HI-FI
11/14 St. Louis, MO @ Off Broadway
11/16 Madison, WI @ The Bur Oak
11/17 Minneapolis, MN @ 7th St. Entry
11/18 Milwaukee, WI @ The Back Room at Colectivo Coffee
11/19 Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
11/20 Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom
1/20/22 Ottawa, ON @ Club Saw
1/21/22 Montreal, QC @ Bar Le Ritz
1/22/22 Toronto, ON @ Velvet Underground
* w/ Clutch & Stoner

King Buffalo is:
Sean McVay – Guitar, Vocals, & Synth
Dan Reynolds – Bass & Synth
Scott Donaldson – Drums & Percussion

kingbuffalo.com
facebook.com/kingbuffaloband
instagram.com/kingbuffaloband
kingbuffalo.bandcamp.com
stickman-records.com
facebook.com/Stickman-Records-1522369868033940

King Buffalo, The Burden of Restlessness (2021)

King Buffalo, “Silverfish” official video

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