Buffalo Tom | |
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![]() Bill Janovitz | |
Background information | |
Origin | Boston, Massachusetts, United States |
Genres | Alternative rock |
Years active | 1986–present |
Labels | SST, RCA, Situation Two, Megadisc, Ra, Beggars Banquet, East West, Polydor, Ammal/New West, Scrawny Music |
Members | Bill Janovitz Chris Colbourn Tom Maginnis |
Website | Official website |
Buffalo Tom is an American alternative rock band from Boston, Massachusetts, formed in 1986. Its principal members are guitarist Bill Janovitz, bassist Chris Colbourn, and drummer Tom Maginnis. [1] The band's name is derived from the band Buffalo Springfield and the first name of the drummer. [2]
Buffalo Tom began with a friendship at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst among students Chris Colbourn, Tom Maginnis, and Bill Janovitz. [3] Another friendship with guitarist/frontman J. Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. helped the band's career to take off through Mascis assisting with the production on the band's first two albums. [1] Mascis also played lead guitar on the song "Impossible" from Buffalo Tom's self-titled debut. [4] Dinosaur Jr would also influence Buffalo Tom's music, as would Hüsker Dü, the Replacements, Moving Targets, and the Neats. [5]
Buffalo Tom had their highest-charting songs in the mid-1990s: "Sodajerk" (1993) peaked at No. 8 and "Sleepy Eyed" (1995) peaked at No. 4 on the Heatseekers chart. Their album, Big Red Letter Day , peaked at no. 17 in the UK Albums Chart in October 1993. [6]
The band contributed the track "For All To See" to the 1993 AIDS-Benefit Album No Alternative produced by the Red Hot Organization, and the track "Lolly Lolly Lolly, Get Your Adverbs Here" to the CD School House Rock! Rocks . Buffalo Tom's song "Sodajerk" was featured on the soundtrack to the 1994 television series My So-Called Life . They appeared in a club scene on My So-Called Life, episode 12, titled "Self-Esteem," playing "Late at Night." The episode originally aired on 17 November 1994.
The group also wrote the theme song to the short-lived 1999 sitcom The Mike O'Malley Show . In 1999, the song "Taillights Fade" was used in the Breckin Meyer/Elizabeth Berkley independent film Taillights Fade. They also recorded The Jam's "Going Underground" for the 2000 tribute album Fire and Skill: The Songs of the Jam . Issued as a double A-sided single, with Liam Gallagher and Steve Cradock's cover version of "Carnation", the single reached No. 6 in the UK Singles Chart in October 1999. [6]
They were the final musical guest on The Jon Stewart Show . [7] Buffalo Tom is a perennial performer at the Hot Stove Cool Music concerts that benefit Theo Epstein's Charity, 'Foundation to Be Named Later'. [8]
After a lengthy hiatus through most of the decade, during 2007 Buffalo Tom re-emerged to perform at the South by Southwest Music Festival [9] and to go on a summer tour across the US. An album, Three Easy Pieces , was released on July 10, 2007, through the New West label. The band has played a number of concerts in the US, Australia and Europe. [10]
On November 24, 2010, it was announced through the band's Facebook and Twitter pages that their new album would be titled Skins, and was intended for release in mid-February 2011. It came out to positive reviews from AllMusic [11] and others on March 8, 2011, through their own label Scrawny Records, via The Orchard distribution company. [12] Quiet and Peace was released on March 2, 2018. [13]
The band performed the theme song for NBC's Extended Family , called "We Thought We Were Done". [14]
Tupelo Honey is the fifth studio album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. It was released in October 1971 by Warner Bros. Records. Morrison had written all of the songs in Woodstock, New York, before his move to Marin County, California, except for "You're My Woman", which he wrote during the recording sessions. Recording began at the beginning of the second quarter of 1971 at Wally Heider Studios in San Francisco. Morrison moved to the Columbia Studios in May 1971 to complete the album.
Joseph Donald Mascis Jr., better known as J Mascis, is an American musician who is the singer, guitarist and main songwriter for the alternative rock band Dinosaur Jr. He has also released several albums as a solo artist and played drums and guitar on other projects. He was ranked number 74 in a Rolling Stone list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists", and number 5 in a similar list for Spin magazine in 2012.
Situation Two was a British independent record label founded in 1981 by Peter Kent as an offshoot of the Beggars Banquet label. The name is a reference to Bauhaus's old management company, Situation 1.
"Going Underground" is a single by English rock band the Jam, released in March 1980. It debuted at number one in the UK Singles Chart, spending three weeks at the top. "Going Underground" was the first of four number one singles the band were to achieve throughout their career.
Let Me Come Over is the third album by American alternative rock band Buffalo Tom. It was released on March 10, 1992, by RCA Records, Situation Two and Beggars Banquet Records. The cover art is taken from an issue of National Geographic and shows an Aboriginal Australian stockman.
Fire & Skill: The Songs of the Jam is a compilation album of hit songs written by The Jam. Each track on the album was performed by a different artist or band.
"Start Choppin" is a song by Dinosaur Jr. written by J Mascis and taken from their fifth album Where You Been. Created after Mascis came up with the title phrase, the song was accompanied by a music video that aired on alternative rock music programs.
Bill Janovitz is an American musician and writer. He is the singer, guitarist, and songwriter of alternative rock band Buffalo Tom, and has also released three solo albums. Janovitz has written extensively for Allmusic, authored the Exile on Main St. book for the 33⅓ series, and contributed to Boston Magazine, the Boston Phoenix, and Post Road magazine. He wrote Rocks Off: 50 Tracks That Tell the Story of the Rolling Stones (2013) and Leon Russell: The Master of Space and Time's Journey Through Rock & Roll History (2023), which was a New York Times Best Seller.
"Cannonball" is a song by American alternative rock band the Breeders from their second studio album, Last Splash (1993). It was released as a single on August 9, 1993, on 4AD and Elektra Records, reaching No. 44 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and No. 40 on the UK Singles Chart. In November 1993, the single was released in France, where it charted for 30 weeks, peaking at No. 8. The song demo was originally called "Grunggae" as it merged "island riffs and grunge". This demo was later included in the 20th anniversary re-release of the album LSXX.
"Divine Hammer" is a song by American alternative rock band the Breeders, released as the second single from their second album, Last Splash (1993), in October 1993.
Birdbrain is the second album by American alternative rock band Buffalo Tom, released in 1990. J Mascis again assisted with production, alongside Sean Slade. Buffalo Tom singer/guitarist Bill Janovitz said that Mascis's influence probably accented the band's edgier side.
Buffalo Tom is the debut album by the American alternative rock band Buffalo Tom, released in 1988 and featuring production from J Mascis.
Big Red Letter Day is the fourth album by American alternative rock band Buffalo Tom, released in 1993.
Sleepy Eyed is a 1995 album by Buffalo Tom. The band was looking to move away from the polished sound of their previous album in favor of a more stripped-down, live-sounding approach.
Smitten is a 1998 album by Buffalo Tom. It was their only album for Polydor Records.
Three Easy Pieces is a 2007 album by American alternative rock band Buffalo Tom. The album - nine years removed from their last LP Smitten - took over two years of off-and-on recording sessions to complete.
"The Wagon" is a song by alternative rock band Dinosaur Jr., released on their 1991 album Green Mind. Featuring lyrics inspired by the band's use of station wagons for transportation in its early days, the song was written by J Mascis and was one of the three songs on Green Mind to include drummer Murph.
"Heaven" is a song by the English rock band the Psychedelic Furs, written by the band's lead vocalist Richard Butler and bassist Tim Butler. It was the first single from the band's fourth studio album, Mirror Moves (1984). As a single it reached the top 30 of the charts in the United Kingdom and peaked at number 41 in New Zealand.
Quiet and Peace is the ninth studio album by American alternative rock band Buffalo Tom. It was released on March 2, 2018 under Schoolkids Records. It was their first album in seven years.
Skins is the eighth studio album by American band Buffalo Tom, released in 2011 on Scrawny Records. The album was released in CD, LP and deluxe double CD formats as well as for download and streaming. The deluxe double CD edition included a disc of demos.