The Chapel hosts midweek psych summit with King Buffalo
SAN FRANCISCO -- Rochester, New York-based heavy psych power trio King Buffalo plays songs from their latest ambitious album Regenerator when it headlines the Chapel Wednesday with like-minded band Spirit Mother.
Formed in 2013 by guitarist/singer Sean McVay, bassist Dan Reynolds and drummer Scott Donaldson, the band weaves together elements of melodic psychedelia indebted to pre-Dark Side Pink Floyd, progressive experimentation and riff-focused stoner rock to craft its unique sound.
The trio embraced extended song forms from the beginning, as revealed by the epic, echo-laden 11-minute jam "Providence Eye" that closed their debut demo that they self-released to sell at shows the band performed on the East Coast. King Buffalo would gradually build up a solid following in New York state with steady touring and a string of EP and album releases starting with the band's self-titled three-song effort that was also released as a split with like-minded Swedish psych-blues outfit Le'Betre.
The trio's 2016 full-length album Orion seemed to be the first to truly put King Buffalo on the radar of a wider audience, garnering ecstatic reviews from a variety of online publications and blogs praising McVay's gift for compelling guitar atmospherics and catchy choruses. And while they continued to revel in gradual, more languid song development on extended cuts like the album closing "Drinking from the River Rising," the trio also showed they could be as direct and punchy as any current rock crews on driving anthems like "Kerosene."
The band was soon bringing its music abroad as the threesome launched their first extensive tours of Europe the following year (they have shared stages with such heavy rock and modern psych luminaries as the Sword, All Them Witches and Elder).
Subsequent releases including the follow-up album Longing to Be the Mountain and the Repeater and Dead Star EPs further cemented King Buffalo's status as one of the premiere band's of the American psychedelic underground. With the COVID-19 pandemic eliminating the possibility of touring last spring, the trio decided to focus on filming a number of "Quarantine Sessions" posted to YouTube and writing new material for what was announced as three full albums of new songs in 2021.
The first of the three recordings -- entitled The Burden of Restlessness -- came out in June of last year to another round of euphoric reviews hailing the album as the trio's finest effort yet. They also released the second effort Acheron last year featuring four extended tracks recorded live inside a cave, continuing the potent trio's current creative tear. Though pandemic-related vinyl pressing delays pushed back the final record of the series, last month the band issued its latest spectacular recording Regenerator.
King Buffalo will be joined at the Chapel by like-minded psychedelic rockers Spirit Mother. The moody Long Beach-based outfit echoes the headliner's sometimes languid and experimental approach to heavy sounds. The power trio of bassist/singer Armand Lance, drummer Landon Cisneros and guitarist Sean McCormick are joined by classically trained violinist and vocalist Sarah Jane "SJ" Long.
While the band has only put out one full-length -- Space Cadets, issued in 2020 right before the pandemic hit -- Spirit Mother's compelling combination of ominous atmospherics, punchy riffs and tandem melodic vocals by Long and Lance has made a name for the foursome as one of the more unique groups on the SoCal stoner/psych scene. They were one of the younger acts to be included as part of the Giant Rock Records' pandemic concert recording series Live in the Mojave Desert that included such established greats as Earthless, Nebula and all-star trio Stoner releasing live albums and blu-rays of their performances among the Mojave's majestic rock formations after their sets were livestreamed for quarantined fans. More recently, the group added second violinist/vocalist Camille Getz.
King Buffalo with Spirit Mother
Wednesday, Nov. 2, 8 p.m. $20
The Chapel
