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| photo by Stephen Bloch |
Recently MKE Rocks had the chance to catch up with Ryan Necci of Buffalo Gospel and Joseph Huber to talk about tunes and their upcoming concert at Anodyne Coffee Roasters in Walker's Point:
MKE Rocks: What are you the most proud of right now about playing with Buffalo Gospel and your new record On the First Bell?
Necci: Truthfully, I’m most proud of the way the band has been performing lately. We’ve always had a bit of a rotating cast and it’s made it difficult to do much more than simply learn the songs. Recently, we’ve had a much more consistent line up and it’s allowing us to grow together musically - something that was very difficult when we were only playing sporadically and with different folks in the past. I love that the songs are starting to shift and morph a little on stage as we learn more about them. We know how they’re played on the record and we’re certainly proud of the album -- but they’re living organisms on stage and we’re always tweaking and tightening. We’ve been having a great time together on stage and off. It’s a really good feeling.
MKE Rocks: Anodyne Coffee has been such a special venue for many of your past performances. Could you please share you thoughts about having your album release show in the Anodyne venue? You've pulled out some special performances there in the past... any special treats in store for Saturday?
Necci: Anodyne has always been very kind to us in the past. I’m a very loyal person and when somebody does me a solid when they don’t have to, I tend to stick with that person. Matt and the folks at Anodyne took a chance on us when nobody knew who we were and they certainly didn’t need to. That meant and continues to mean a lot to me. It’s also just a great room. You know you’re always going to get a crowd that’s there to listen to music.
We definitely like to mix things up from show to show - especially, here in Milwaukee. Sometimes those moments work really well and sometimes they fall flat. I think that’s part of the fun for us. We certainly have some some special plans for Saturday.
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| photo by Brooke J. Billick |
MKE Rocks: You've been touring more recently and have had some great gigs supporting alt-country icon Robbie Fulks in Minneapolis and performing at the sold out Back Room at Colectivo for the Field Report album release in Milwaukee, as well as other shows. Can you reflect on these performances a bit?
Necci: Minneapolis was wonderful. Any time you roll into a town you haven’t been to or haven’t been to in awhile, you don’t really know what you’re getting yourself into. There can be a little excitement and anxiety, at least for me, around those types of gambles. That crowd was in it to win it, though. They treated us very, very well. Robbie is one of the best around. It was a real honor.
The Field Report show was a really special one for me. Their music has meant so much to me since that first album -- if you’d have told me we’d be supporting them and that they’d be good friends of ours a few years ago, I’d have laughed in your face. The audience was great, the Field Report guys couldn't be sweeter and that room is a lot of fun -- it was a great evening.
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| photo by Brooke J. Billick |
MKE Rocks: You have a new video that you just released for “18 Wheeler,” an incredibly catchy and fun track off of On the First Bell. In the video you have Fox 6 anchor Ted Perry acting as a bartender, and Joseph Huber and his wife in there too. Can you please share about the music video and how it was made?
Necci: It was a really fun, really quick process. I approached my friend and coworker, Rick Ebbers, about helping us out with a few videos for the record a while back. He’s done the majority of the bands’ press photography over the years and we all feel very comfortable working with him. I knew Rick had wanted to get more into video so it seemed like a great excuse to do a little experimenting.
I basically sat down and wrote out what I thought it could be. Rick took that document, ran it through his supremely creative brain-filter and turned it into the video that you saw. He did all the filming, directing and editing.
We were lucky enough to enlist Kat Wodtke as the lead. She’s a very talented stage actor, musician and teacher here in Milwaukee. I played a truck driver and Kat played my love interest. Her acting definitely made the whole thing. I just drank beer and looked sad - something I’ve been rehearsing for a quite a while.
There’s a bar scene at the end and we needed to fill the room with people so we enlisted a bunch of our friends. Ted, Joe and Michelle happened to be in that crew. I thought they knocked their parts out of the park. It was a really fun evening. We got the shots we needed and then all sat at the bar and celebrated.
I want to give a quick thanks to Sue and the Cedar Lake Motel and Pub. I’ve passed by it so many times and wondered what it was like. It’s a really special place and Sue takes a lot of pride in maintaining the history and integrity of it all. She also makes a damn fine burger.
MKE Rocks: On Saturday May 5th you're sharing the stage with Joseph Huber who shares a lot of similar qualities to Buffalo Gospel in terms of aesthetic and song writing. Can you share a bit about what it's like to play with Huber?
Joe’s a treasure. To me, he embodies the blue-collar, hard-working gritty spirit of this town that I love so much. His songwriting is fantastic and his band is a bunch of killers. We all have a great deal of respect for Joe and what he’s done for this style of music. It’s always an honor to share a bill with him and a privilege to watch him perform.
We also had the chance to catch up with Joseph Huber who has had a busy 2018 so far touring around the country including a recent run in Texas.
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| photo by Stephen Bloch |
MKE Rocks: 2017 ended with a bang for you guys, opening up for Horseshoes and Handgrenades at their New Year's Eve show at the Pabst Theater. You have been on the road quite a bit so far this year. Can you share how things have been going for you and he band.
Huber: We've been touring pretty heavy since the release of The Suffering Stage. It's been about a year since the release date, and, actually, the Anodyne show this week will be exactly one year to the day that we did 'The Suffering Stage' release party there also. So it's an anniversary or sorts. We had so many great opportunities within that year's time, that I feel things are still on the up and up for us. Heck, even just since the New Year we've played shows with the Hackensaw Boys, Charlie Parr, The Tossers, and so many more. Also, in the meantime between touring, we're working on recording and should have a new group of tunes for everyone really soon.
MKE Rocks: The show coming up at Anodyne is poised to be a real special one. Can you share what you're looking forward to the most about this show and playing with Buffalo Gospel?
Huber: We're all looking forward to the release of the new Buffalo Gospel album. I, of course, know how long it takes to organize releasing an album. These guys are professionals and I knew they would take their time and get it right. I've had the pleasure of hearing the new album already, and I can certainly say that taking their time paid off, and it is truly worth the wait. As far as the upcoming release itself, I'd say that this group of fellas has always been good at slowly building the intensity in their live shows. So, with an album release show, where the intensity is always a little bit more amped-up and more natural, I'm expecting it to be an evening where folks will be extra ready to feel those highest highs and lowest lows that make the Buffalo Gospel sound so great!
Limited tickets are still available for this barn-burner of a show coming up on Saturday. Come shine your boots and enjoy a night of amazing songwriting and music.
