Karli IngersollIn just over a week Buffalo Jones will release their new full length album, Standing By. It’s a collection of twangy alt-rock tunes they travelled to Athens, Georgia to record with David Lowery of the band Cracker. Buffalo Jones has been a long time Spokane staple. They combine punk/emo/rock and alt-country to create something unique and driving. Take a listen below to a preview track from the record which comes out on 12/27 (merry christmas to us!). And read below more from frontman Jason Johnson about the process of making this new album and what it’s like to be a band in Spokane.
You can also catch Buffalo Jones live opening for Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven at Lucky You Lounge on January 5th.
What was the process for recording in Athens? Is that something you had in mind for a while?
We have been very fortunate to get to play with David Lowery’s bands Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven in the Northwest for the last few years. We started talking about the idea of Lowery producing our record a couple years ago around the time we released our last EP. Then last winter we actually started putting plans together. Initially we were thinking we’d record with him somewhere in Spokane, but when we were offered the chance to go to Athens and record at Chase Park Transduction with Drew Vandenberg engineering we knew we couldn’t miss that opportunity. So many great records have been made there.
How do you feel like the experience was different than other times you’ve recorded?
This was by far the best recording experience we have had as a band. We recorded most of the tracks live in the studio, which is something we hadn’t done before for various reasons. We really wanted this record to capture what we sound like live. Another huge difference for the recording process for this album was that we had 10 consecutive days completely dedicated to nothing but recording the album. In the past we have recorded albums in bits and pieces over months or sometimes years. I think that led to this album being much more cohesive. We also did far more preproduction for this album. We spent the 6 months leading up to going to Athens doing nothing but learning and demoing the new songs. We went down there with 15 songs that we all knew very well. Then Lowery chose the 9 we ended up using for the record. Working with David Lowery was a great experience. He has a great ear and knows how to get the most out of a song. Having him at the helm made the entire process so much easier.
Does being a spokane based band make it hard to keep momentum going? And how do you guys combat that?
We never have done a great job of maintaining momentum. It really ebbs and flows for us around albums or touring opportunities. I’m not sure that has much to do with being in Spokane. In fact, I actually think being a Spokane based band has been an asset to us. We have had a lot of opportunities to connect with bigger touring acts that we admire like Cracker and Roger Clyne & the Peacemakers and since there aren’t a ton of bands in town that sound like us we can stand out. The limited number of venues in town can make it a bit more difficult to keep the ball rolling and sometimes we are envious of scenes in bigger cities, but overall we feel lucky to have been able to do this for as long as we have and the fact that there are people that are still interested in what we are doing is humbling.
Photo by Rajah Bose