Hailing from Long Beach, California, eclectic singer-songwriter Avi Buffalo defies easy categorization, but offers plenty of warm and hummable melodies.
He and his band are playing MadeLoud's stage at the Monolith Festival in Red Rocks, Colorado before gigging with Beach House this fall. He talked to MadeLoud about his early beginnings and quick rise to a national touring act.
According to the bio on your MySpace page, you started recording songs during your sophomore year in high school. How old were you when you first started playing shows as Avi Buffalo?
Avi Buffalo: I was 16. I recorded the songs and then I got asked to play an acoustic show, so i got together a few friends to help out.
How did you meet the other musicians in your band? What are some of their backgrounds?
AB: I've known Sheridan Riley, our drummer, since elementary school. We started playing music together in middle school in the jazz band, then we played together in high school. She and I have a similar background of music and jamming. I met Rebecca in 9th grade, and she sang on one of my recordings before I asked her to play with me at the shows. She's played/sang at almost every one since, and she's a really great pianist. We used to have another bass player, but he quit to work his job, and I knew Arin from a local house show festival called Murufest. He learned the songs really quick and jumped in the band, and helped out a lot. He's from Huntington Beach, and the rest of us are from Long Beach.
You say that you recorded your first album with Aaron Embry. What was his role at that time? Do you still collaborate with him in the studio?
AB: I met Aaron at a couple shows we were both asked to play by LA Underground. He's a beautiful person and superhuman artist. We soon hit it off, digging each other's stuff. A number of months after that, he called me and told me he was building a studio out of his home on account of his soon to be born daughter, Mayla Ray. He told me he'd like to record some of my stuff, so I went up to Eagle Rock so we could mess around with some stuff. We found a really great chemistry and ended up recording a song, then another song, then it started to become our first record. We're still putting finishing touches on our record. We're gonna bring up the lap steel in one track, bring up the keyboards on another, and mess with the preamps on another song. Other than that, the record is ready to be mastered. We're already getting ready to start working on the next one. Aaron is definitely going to be involved. I'm getting my own econo-studio together and I want to collaborate with a lot of different friends.
At what point did you decide to take on a manager and what has Ashley at Bill Silva been able to do for you that you weren't able to do on your own?
AB: We knew Ashley before she worked at Bill Silva, we played shows with her band, The Monolators (who are fantastic) a few times last year and this year. When Aaron and I got label offers, she came to offer insight into the start of crazy business stuff. She worked at Capitol, Shuretone, a few different places, and had her own record label called JaxArt Records. She has incredible web-skills, and everything skills, so she's really great to have around. She also helped us make stuff like t-shirts and all that junk.
What's the music scene like in Long Beach? Are you on the inside or the outside of it?
AB: Um, I don't really know. The scene is there, but there are very few all ages venues. It's not at all as involved a scene as Los Angeles, but that's kind of cool, because everyone there is doing their own thing. I'm really into all of Luis Gutierrez's bands, Luis Gutee, Beached Whale, Curtains, Roundabout, etc. There's also the classic Minus Radio, though their frontman just moved to Washington. Light Music is a really good band, fronted by Micah Lewis, wonderful songwriter/arranger and guitarist. He's a huge influence on me.
You incorporate a lot of styles into your music – folk, pop, the openness of jazz. Were all of these genres present in your songwriting from the beginning, or did you add them as you discovered more music?
AB: It definitely started as more of a folk thing. I used to even almost call it folk when we were still acoustic. When we went electric it seemed to open stuff up some more, and I wanted to see what I could do about that. We were mostly rock until I decided it was time to bring in more elements of jazz and do more fun exploring stuff. I'm really into when groups incorporate that stuff like Steely Dan, Deerhoof, Wilco, etc. There's always been that kind of focus, though. Since I come from a guitar player's world, I try to use a lot of colors.
How did you land the opening slot with Beach House for your fall tour of the Northwest?
AB: We recently got a touring agent who works for an agency called Billions. Beach House is on their roster, and our agent arranged it for us. We were very excited. I'm a big Beach House fan. I saw them last year at The Echoplex and they were really beautiful. We're nervous, and practicing hard. But very, very excited. I'm really stoked about seeing Portland and Washington a second time. We went on our first little tour there in June.
How does it feel to be playing at the legendary Red Rocks for your first music festival?
AB: I'm really excited. I hear it's a beautiful place to see, and the bands playing are kickass.
