Alberta, Canada-based garage rock trio Scratch Buffalo are set to release their upcoming self-titled album (pre-order here) on 18th May.The Thermals’ Hutch Harris produced it, and the band recorded it almost entirely live, in two days. Scratch Buffalo’s music is a combination of garage rock, 70’s punk, surf guitar and deeply personal lyrics. They formed in 2014, and released EP’s in 2016 and 2017. This past January the wrote and recorded 50 new songs in 24 hours, raising more than $4,000 for cancer treatment. Check it out below!
We managed to catch up with Chris (Vocals/Guitar), Scott (Bass/Vocals) and Mark (Drums) as they talked about their upcoming release and more!
How pumped are you for your upcoming self-titled album?
Chris: I’m very excited. This is our first album, and it has been a very long time coming. It feels like a major huge step of a journey I’ve been taking and will keep taking my whole life. It’s like a movie I’ve been watching is finally past the credits and we’re getting to a really good part.
Scott: Very excited about us. It is a lovely snippet of where we were at as a band at that point in time.
Mark: I’m at level = medium.
Can you tell something about the release no one else knows?
Chris: Sure! I played the synthesizer on a couple songs. The oldest song on the album were written in 2016, most were written in 2017. The newest was written at our marathon songwriting session – one month before the album was recorded.
What is your favourite track from the release?
Chris: Girls in the Back Row has my favourite guitar stuff, and I love trading off vocals with Scott. Let ‘Em Fall has a great vibe, and I’m really proud of how it comes off. Hyena Snow is probably my favourite one to play live.
Mark: Hyena Snow
Scott: Hyena Snow I think is my fav. Good grove to it and a little heavy feeling.
What was it like raising $4,000 for cancer treatment, is this something that has an impact on you personally?
Chris: We did a marathon – writing, recording, and releasing 50 songs in 24 hours. It was very humbling that people felt inspired to donate due to something that we were doing. My mom passed away from cancer March 2017, and my aunt is a breast cancer survivor.
Mark: It was a long 24 hours, but for a great cause!
Scott: It was a lot of music in a short amount of time. I don’t do well with no sleep so I ended up getting sick and needed to leave for a while. Cancer is something that has touched us all to different degrees so it was a great cause to get behind.
What was it like working with The Thermals’ Hutch Harris?
Chris: It was perfect. It was a huge game changer on a personal and musical level having Hutch really believe in us, believe in our songs, and to have him put in the work and effort behind that belief.
Mark: He was nice!
Scott: It was good to have someone with industry knowledge guiding us through the creation of this album.
If you could work with any band on a new song, who would it be and why?
Chris: I would want to work with Lana Del Rey or Miranda Lambert because they are insanely cool and very, very good at writing lyrics.
What do you get up to in your spare time when not working on music?
Mark: Woodworking, PC Gaming, hanging out with cats.
Scott: Family responsibilities.
Chris: I’m a stay-at-home dad, cartoonist, and graphic designer. I love to make art, watch TV shows, movies, exercise, and read as many books as I can.
Have you got any gigs or festivals lined up for 2018?
Mark: Yes a dazzling number of them. CHRIS!!!
Chris: Yes!! We have a nice tour coming up of Western Canada, which we’re still booking. We’re playing two sweet festivals – East Town Get Down in our hometown of Calgary on May 26 and the River City Rock Fest in High River, AB, on August 25.