Boston’s Buffalo Tom returns with new material

During the band’s heyday from 1988 to 1998, Buffalo Tom – formed at UMass Amherst in 1986 – was a fan and critic favorite for comparable degrees in the US and UK.

Made up of guitarist Bill Janovitz, bassist Chris Colbourn and drummer Tom Maginnis, whose first name gives the group the second half of its name (the ’60s folk-rock group Buffalo Springfield having inspired the first), the trio recently unveiled his 10th LP, “Jump Rope.”

The 14-track collection is the final entry in a second act that began with the 2007 release of “Three Easy Pieces,” released after a decade-long hiatus from the trio. During this time, Janovitz began a career in real estate and wrote the first of three books, the most recent of which is a best-selling biography of Leon Russell, and the next will be about The Cars.

Buffalo Springfield will headline the Lowell Summer Music Series on Saturday, when they will perform new songs and revisit old favorites.

Boston.com: Do you think fans will find something refreshing, familiar and surprisingly different in “Jump Rope”?

Bill Janovitz: I’m not very good at predicting our audience’s reaction to things. I’m never good at choosing songs that people will like. But I think the main difference is that, and it’s not a big change, Chris brought more and more songs to the band. I would say almost half of this album are songs that Chris sings and wrote the main idea of ​​the songs.

But what I’ve seen in people’s reactions is that Buffalo Tom is a comforting thing. It’s the nature of the group. It’s a somewhat predictable and comfortable pair of jeans that you wear more often than anything else. I think people who were fans of Buffalo Tom to begin with are going to love this record.

Were specific influences deliberately exerted?

The whole idea of ​​this record was to make more of a campfire record. We said, “Why don’t we pick the most acoustic songs and keep them acoustic?” In that respect it was similar to REM’s “Fables of Reconstruction” that they did with Joe Boyd in England. Or “Out of Time,” where they played a lot of mandolin. It’s really more like we’re noticing our bubbling influences, like it’s our thing (Rolling Stones song) “Coming Down Again,” or a lot of these songs sound like “Aftermath” from the late ’60s ( Rolling Stones album). Songs.

The grunge explosion occurred right in the middle of Buffalo Tom’s run between 1988 and 1998. How was the musical landscape different before and after the release of “Nevermind” in 1991?

When we started, the stakes were extremely low. It was just like, “Let’s see if we can get a gig; let’s see if we can open for The Replacements here at UMass,” stuff like that. Then we started making demos and sent them to all the independent labels in our collection. A Dutchman answered and signed us a dubious agreement. But the guy finally got a license for Beggars Banquet, and we signed a new contract there. It was like between 1988 and 1990.

Boston was super fertile then. There were so many bands, so many clubs, and there was a lot of competition for slots. Having REM, Husker Du and The Replacements sign on major labels was huge for us. We were like, “Oh my God, are these selling?” » … “Oh my God, The Cure on top 40 radio.”

Then our generation moved from college radio to mainstream radio and MTV. Then we headline in Europe before we can headline in the States. It was a bit like a gradual moving of the goal posts. We realized that we could continue like this and avoid finding a real job!

Then Nirvana hit, and that was the big pivot point. Everything just changed. When I hear some of these records, like Screaming Trees’ “Nearly Lost You,” it brings back such fond memories of the days when mainstream radio played almost all great stuff.

But very quickly, the FCC laws that Bill Clinton signed – and I don’t blame him, but he played a big role in this – allowed for massive consolidation. And that’s what we’re faced with today: one society, one playlist, across the United States. Predictably, this resulted in the lowest common denominator version of grunge, like Limp Bizkit and Creed.

That brought us to 1998. We had just signed with a major label in the States and were immediately dropped. We immediately took the money they paid us with and made a break for it. This allowed me to get real jobs and raise children.

How did you end up singing your song “Taillights Fade” with Eddie Vedder at Fenway Park in 2018?

It was Labor Day weekend, I was having a glass of wine and we were about to take my daughter to college that weekend. And I got a text from Eddie saying, “Buffalo Bill, what do you think about doing “Taillights Fade” in center field at Fenway Park? And I said, “I feel like that would be a lot of fun!” » So he said, “What are you doing right now?” Can you come (to the rehearsal)? »

They played the first show on Tuesday, and as he was leaving the stage, he said, “Play two? Do it again?” and I said, “Fine. I’ll be back!”

Can you give me a preview of your upcoming book on The Cars?

The Cars book is going to be substantial. It kind of starts with Ben (Orr) and Ric (Ocasek) meeting in Ohio and goes on from there. And he talks a little about the personal history of each of the characters. Like Dave Robinson, who was in The Modern Lovers (with Jonathan Richman) and DMZ with one of Boston’s biggest characters, Jeff “Monoman” Conolly. Then you give it another chance and you’re in The Cars and you sell 6 million records. What an incredible story! It’s also about how they define the tipping point between ’70s excess and stripped-down, stripped-down new wave, and basically the music I listened to as a kid.

What Please Come to Boston festival are you organizing?

Basically, we have three nights at the Armory in Somerville. I hope to make this an annual event and maybe expand it, but for now we’re keeping things pretty simple. It will be Friday, Saturday and Sunday from November 1st to 3rd. It will be a mix of music and conversation. We’re doing three different records: “Let Me Come Over”, “Big Red Letter Day” and “Sleepy Eyed”. We’re going to do one a day.

We’ll have Dave Hill, comedian and musician, on Saturday. He’s going to do a set. And we’re also going to have an Earfull series that day with Tom Perrotta, me and Dave Hill doing some readings. We’ll also have another comedian, Eugene Mirman, on Friday. Then on Sunday we will have Punk Rock Aerobics with Hilken Mancini in the morning, and we will have food trucks all weekend.

Buffalo Tom plays the Lowell Summer Music Series on Saturday, June 29 at 7:30 p.m. at Boarding House Park, 40 French St., Lowell. Tickets cost between $48 and $98 plus fees.

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