The roots rock jam band keeps adding to its sound, something displayed during this week’s radio show, which also boasted new tracks by Elizabeth Landry, Brutes, The Hacky Turtles and Boy From School.
Robust Lineup: Kyle Brown and Bigfoot Buffalo performing Friday at Cowpie Music Festival. (Photo/Anna Sink)
Bigfoot Buffalo hasn’t changed its sound so much as enhanced it.
Support our coverage of
West Michigan's music scene
‘A Fuller Sound’: Kyle Brown of Bigfoot Buffalo at WYCE. (Photo/Local Spins)
With the addition of guitarist Lucas Smits and drummer Tony Lubenow over the past year, frontman Kyle Brown insists “it’s just a fuller sound,” with Smith taking more solos during the roots rock band’s shows.
“There are so many multiple guitar parts. He’s been great,” Brown says. “He’s a fantastic guitarist. It’s given a little bit of a new flavor to it.”
Indeed, the rock-hued jam band from Grand Rapids continues to add new flavors to its material, with Brown noting that he’s been listening to a lot of reggae music as of late – not to mention playing shows with other Michigan jam bands with different vibes that rub off on Bigfoot Buffalo.
The result is “having all those genres in our style,” something evident in new songs such as “Pangea,” which four members of the band – Brown, Lubenow, bassist Michael Serota and keyboardist Landon Knoppers – unleashed in Studio X this week for Local Spins on WYCE. Watch the video for their in-studio performance here, with the full radio show podcast below.
VIDEO: Bigfoot Buffalo, “Pangea” (Local Spins on WYCE)
The song, which includes references to Michigan’s water resources and shutting down Line 5 in the Straits of Mackinac, is “kind of a reminder that we’re all one people and should all want what’s best for each other,” says Brown.
Keyboard Whiz: Landon Knoppers performing during Local Spins on WYCE. (Photo/Local Spins)
The group also performed a soulful rendition of Solomon Burke’s classic “Down in the Valley,” which Bigfoot Buffalo is performing this weekend as part of Cowpie Music Festival (which has a tradition of asking bands to play certain themed covers every year, with this year’s theme being Motown and R&B).
Bigfoot Buffalo played a late afternoon/early evening set at Cowpie on Shagbark Farm on Friday, before hitting the road for the Upper Peninsula to play the Grand Marais Music Fest on Saturday. They also play Hoxeyville Music Festival on Aug. 18 and the Beaver Island Concert Series on Sept. 1.
“We’re just back in the swing of things and going harder than we ever have before,” says Brown, noting the band hopes to return to the studio in coming months and likely release a new EP in 2019.
This week’s edition of Local Spins on WYCE – which showcases local and regional music at 11 a.m. every Friday on 88.1 FM – also featured the on-air debut of new songs by Elizabeth Landry (E Minor), Brutes, Boy From School and The Hacky Turtles as well as music from Lady Ace Boogie, Jack Droppers & The Best Intentions, The Bootstrap Boys (this week’s musicians’ pick by and another Cowpie performer), Crossbow, Mystic Dub and The Soul Syndicate.
PODCAST: Local Spins on WYCE (Aug. 10, 2018)
Official Sponsor of Local Spins on WYCE
Guitarist Lucas Smits, at left, performing Friday with Kyle Brown and Bigfoot Buffalo at Cowpie Music Festival. (Photo/Veronica Leigh Anderson)
