published: 6 /
3 /
2007
Label:
Alive Naturalsound
Format: CD
Ambitous-sounding garage rock on first album from the Buffalo Killers, the new band of Zachary and Andrew Gabbard from Thee Shams
Review
When the Gabbard brothers were in the criminally neglected Thee Shams they swaggered around like the younger cousins of the Rolling Stones. Back with their new band – Buffalo Killers – Zachary and Andrew initially seem to have taken a different direction.
The opening tracks of their debut are layered, swirling, and – to be frank – drugged out. This is far more ambitious musically than previous efforts – although the swagger is still there.
For balls out garage rocking ‘The Path Before Me’ is equal to the best they came up with in Thee Shams. Even here though they seem more willing to experiment and to break out of the conventions that bound them in a straight up garage rock band.
And on other moments they seem to be more Beatles than Stones – ‘With Love’ has a serious pop-song sensibility. Which makes it all the more surprising when the classic 60's opening of ‘Children of War’ moves into the lyrics “let’s forget about the 60's, because there’s more going down right now”. This is maybe the point though – an influence is one thing but being beholden to a bygone era is another. In acknowledging the where this band have come from we shouldn’t neglect that they’re in a pretty good place right now.
As an album this is a brave effort, and one that takes the Gabbards a long way away from where they were. They nearly always pull it off, and when they don’t, the musical sphere is still a far better place for them having put this album into it.
Track Listing:-
1
San Martine Des Morelle
2
SS Nowhere
3
Heavens You Are
4
The Path Before Me
5
River Water
6
With Love
7
Children of War
8
Down In the Blue
9
Fit to Breathe
10
Something Real
Band Links:-
http://www.buffalokillers.com/
https://www.facebook.com/buffalokiller
https://www.instagram.com/buffalokille
https://twitter.com/buffalo_killers
Label Links:-
https://www.facebook.com/AliveNaturals
http://www.alive-records.com/
https://twitter.com/AliveRecords
https://instagram.com/alivenaturalsoun
https://www.youtube.com/user/JIMalive1