BUFFALO TOM

„birdbrain“

(Situation Two, 1990)

It was 1990, a few months or weeks before Seattle exploded onto the musical map of the world and the really big name around was Dinosaur Jr. Back then, “big name” didn’t mean the same thing as “big name” would mean one year later, after “Nevermind” had found its way into every room of every teenager in the western civilised world. Buffalo Tom’s second album hit me like a stone to the head, only beautiful. Ten songs on this record and every one a winner. Especially the first song – the title track “Birdbrain”; I knew from the first listening that I would have to take this record home. This song is to me really the central point of Buffalo Tom, where everything regarding that band revolves around and started from. Something like the spot of the “Big Bang”, which it was to me. Jangly, distorted guitars with lots of energy, simple guitar-riffs using fully strummed chords, a supporting bass line and a drummer who was all over the place, filling rightly into each and every chord-progression and never actually doing more than the necessary. The best thing was the slightly smoky, very emotional singing of Bill Janovitz. The most important thing though was how they used the dynamics of more silent, slower passages and loud, distorted breakouts, which flow into each other constantly and always hold back emotion and give way to them at exactly the right time. Perfect formula for a song.

Actually, the formula was so perfect, that it has to be admitted, they used it practically on each and every song for about four full length albums. But the formula was really that good, that it lasted and never got boring during all of their records and even the 12”es (and it is a rare thing that I buy the 12”es to albums I bought. I do that only with my really really favourite bands where I can’t resist the urge to own everything they ever released. Which never works out, because I live in Austria and it is impossible to get hold of everything. If I remember correctly I had a crummy tape-copy of Buffalo acoustic Tom’s session MTV’s 120 Minutes, which was one of the coolest shows back then.) And the formula obviously had enough range and possibilities to keep one or more albums interesting and lively. There is a rather bland rip-off of “Birdbrain” as first song to side B called “crawl”, there is the more folky more demanding “Fortune Teller” (also later a single) and the popping melody included into “Baby” and that goes on for every song on this album. There is another thing about this formula that has to be mentioned: it was invented by J Mascis from Dinosaur Jr (see above) and he is still using it up to this day. And, what a coincidence, J Mascis produced this album together with Buffalo Tom and Sean Slade. As he had already done with their debut. So it is close enough to guess that he saw them as living on his inheritance and supported them because of that.

One thing I always puzzled about, were the lyrics of Buffalo Tom, which are always close to the obscure. Take this: “Birdbrain, they call me a birdbrain, well if I am, why can’t I fly away” and that is one of the more obvious lines. What about “crawl over my secret door”? Then I think, that the lyrics were never that much important, but they are a fun think to ponder on.

Buffalo Tom were the perfect college-band from New England. I have no clue, if they actually were a college-band, but just like the Pixies they seemed to be and definitely had a lot of airplay on all the college stations, which were so important for alternative music back then. They incorporated melancholia and depression into energy and the need to rock, and they put a lot of distortion and noise into their music and played both fast and slow songs with sincerity and honesty. I saw them live once in Vienna and they were great, everything I expected. My memory fails me as to anything else, except for the story that I wanted to meet a friend there, but couldn’t find him. But when we met the next day at university-class we were both proudly wearing t-shirts we had bought the night before at the show. Maybe that is why I have classified Buffalo Tom as a college-band, because I was living through my very own “higher education” back then. Hm, that was a good time after all. Buffalo Tom had a lot of what other bands live on today. From today’s perspective, I have to think of all the emo-rock-bands that were so important during this year and last year, such as Jimmy Eat World, who are also always combining good melodies with dark emotions and putting them into a pop-context, so that everyone can sing along to them. Or …and you will know us by the trail of dead, who are also bathing their melodies in distorted guitars. But then, everything has been done before, only the mixture and the aesthetics change (and you might argue that that produces something new, but hey, who really cares.) Let’s not break down our very own lives into collectibles and memorabilia, but hold our good memories and mementos to our good times close to our hearts, because after all, they are the things that will stay with us forever.

 
Coming up in this series: GYBE! – „lift your skinny fists..“, The Cramps  – „Bad music for bad people“, CCR – “Green River”, Beat Happening – “Dreamy”, Liz Phair  – “Exile in Guysville”, Grifters – “Crappin' you negative”, Nick Cave – “Kicking against the pricks”, Soundgarden – “Louder than love”, Jesus and Mary Chain – “Automatic”, Harry Pussy – “Ride a dove”, amm.