Grant Lee Buffalo was an American
rock band
Band or BAND may refer to:
Places
*Bánd, a village in Hungary
*Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran
* Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania
*Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, I ...
based in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...
,
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
, United States, consisting of
Grant-Lee Phillips
Grant-Lee Phillips (born Bryan G. Phillips; September 1, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He led the group Grant Lee Buffalo in the 1990s, afterwards launching a solo career. He features as the town troubadour ...
(
vocals
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...
and
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...
), Paul Kimble (
bass
Bass or Basses may refer to:
Fish
* Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species
Music
* Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range:
** Bass (instrument), including:
** Acoustic bass gui ...
) and Joey Peters (
drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a ...
s). All three were previously members of another Los Angeles band, Shiva Burlesque.
Shiva Burlesque
In the late 1980s, Jeffrey Clark, Grant-Lee Phillips, James Brenner and Joey Peters started as a rock music formation called Shiva Burlesque.
They released two studio albums, the self-titled ''Shiva Burlesque'' in 1987 on Nate Starkman & Son Records, and a follow-up (and final) album, ''Mercury Blues,'' which was released in 1990 on Fundamental Records. Matt Snow in Q Magazine highlighted
the Doors
The Doors were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most controversial and influential rock acts ...
and
Echo and the Bunnymen as references and described the last album as "great late-night un-easy listening".
Paul Kimble replaced Brenner on bass and the band renamed as Grant Lee Buffalo in 1991.
Career
Grant Lee Buffalo released four
album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records c ...
s: ''
Fuzzy
Fuzzy or Fuzzies may refer to:
Music
* Fuzzy (band), a 1990s Boston indie pop band
* Fuzzy (composer) (born 1939), Danish composer Jens Vilhelm Pedersen
* ''Fuzzy'' (album), 1993 debut album by the Los Angeles rock group Grant Lee Buffalo
* "Fu ...
'' (1993), ''
Mighty Joe Moon
''Mighty Joe Moon'' is the second studio album by American rock band Grant Lee Buffalo, released in 1994 by Slash Records and Reprise Records.
Track listing
Personnel
Credits adapted from liner notes.
* Grant Lee Phillips – vocals, acoustic ...
'' (1994), ''
Copperopolis'' (1996) and ''
Jubilee'' (1998).
They toured with major bands including
R.E.M.,
Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. The band's lineup consists of founding members Jeff Ament (bass guitar), Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar), Mike McCready (lead guitar), and Eddie Vedder (lead vocals, g ...
,
the Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins (also referred to as simply Smashing Pumpkins) are an American alternative rock band from Chicago. Formed in 1988 by frontman and guitarist Billy Corgan, bassist D'arcy Wretzky, guitarist James Iha and drummer Jimmy Ch ...
, and
The Cranberries
The Cranberries were an Irish rock band formed in Limerick, Ireland. Originally named the Cranberry Saw Us, the band were formed in 1989 by lead singer Niall Quinn, guitarist Noel Hogan, bassist Mike Hogan and drummer Fergal Lawler. Quinn was ...
. In the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
, the band's 1998
single, "
Truly, Truly", received extensive
airplay
Airplay is how frequently a song is being played through broadcasting on radio stations. A song which is being played several times every day (spins) would have a significant amount of airplay. Music which became very popular on jukeboxes, in n ...
.
Paul Kimble departed the band in 1997,
but Grant Lee Buffalo's next album ''Jubilee'' met with more success than the prior releases thanks to "Truly, Truly." But, as Phillips describes, a number of changes led to the dissolution of the band's time at their label and their time together.
:"The celebrational spirit of Jubilee actually brought a renewed optimism to me personally. The album was well received and understandably the expectations at the label were high, probably too high. Although the highly refined Jubilee had brought the band considerable success at radio with "Truly, Truly," a shift within the industry was well underway. The label's constant nagging about "Call-out Response" was both a new term and a bewildering concept to our ears. The basic strategy: a radio station arranges to call up a listener who is asked to consume about 30 songs over the phone, perhaps 20 seconds of each. From this remote encounter, the listener will then proceed to judge the material. Insufficient call-out response was a big reason that Jubilee hardly got a shot at Warners. Grant Lee Buffalo tunes are often like an old car or an old amp that needs a few seconds to get warmed up, but when it does... look out! Meanwhile, a new crop of young record buyers, the largest since the Baby Boomer era, were now being targeted to the exclusion of Gen-Xers, like myself, still waiting for the Pixies to reform.
In 2001, a
compilation of singles, album tracks and rarities called ''Storm Hymnal'' was released.
Grant Lee Buffalo's sound is comparable to
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Fu ...
and an electrified version of
Americana songwriter
John Stewart.
Phillips writes that their first album "would galvanize the sound of Grant Lee Buffalo, i.e., the acoustic feedback howl of overdriven 12-string guitars, melodic distorto-bass, tribal drum bombast, the old world churn of pump organs and parlor pianos."
Lyrically, they reference American history as well as contemporary events.
For instance, “Lone Star Song” from ''
Mighty Joe Moon
''Mighty Joe Moon'' is the second studio album by American rock band Grant Lee Buffalo, released in 1994 by Slash Records and Reprise Records.
Track listing
Personnel
Credits adapted from liner notes.
* Grant Lee Phillips – vocals, acoustic ...
'' references the
Waco siege
The Waco siege, also known as the Waco massacre, was the law enforcement siege of the compound that belonged to the religious sect Branch Davidians. It was carried out by the U.S. federal government, Texas state law enforcement, and the U.S. ...
and “Crackdown” from ''
Copperopolis'' references the murder of
Yoshihiro Hattori as well as the
Oklahoma City bombing
The Oklahoma City bombing was a domestic terrorist truck bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, on April 19, 1995. Perpetrated by two anti-government extremists, Timothy McVeigh and T ...
.
In May 2011 the band returned on a limited tour, making stops in Los Angeles, Dublin, London, Brussels, Copenhagen and Oslo. On August 8, 2011, the band performed at
Dranouter festival in Belgium, and on August 9 in Copenhagen. The band also played at the German
Haldern Pop
Haldern Pop is an annual German open air music festival, first held in 1984. It takes place in Rees-Haldern (North Rhine-Westphalia).
Focus
The Haldern Pop Festival cannot be limited to one genre. The focus ranges from experimental metal, punk ...
Festival in August 2012.
In October 2017,
Chrysalis Records
Chrysalis Records () is a British record label that was founded in 1968. The name is both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders' names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis. It started as the Ellis-Wright A ...
acquired Grant Lee Buffalo's back catalog from
Slash Records. Chrysalis/Blue Raincoat CEO Jeremy Lascelles had previously signed the band to
the label's publisher in the 1990s.
Solo careers
Lead singer
Phillips has had his own solo career as well. He explains:
:As for Grant Lee Buffalo, I sensed they were beginning to wonder if we'd ever get through finishing school. Before that could happen, band and label parted as did Peters and myself. The scenery was changing and I was looking for new explorations. I'm sure we all were. Perhaps we always will be."
[
He was signed to the Boston-based indie label Rounder Records and launched a solo career, issuing '' Ladies' Love Oracle'' online in 2000. The recording was later more widely released. His first full-length album, '' Mobilize'', was released in 2001. Phillips has released ten albums between 2000 and 2020.
]
Discography
Studio albums
Singles and EPs
Compilations and live albums
Music videos
Soundtracks
''(*) - Soundtrack demos only, not on the OST.''
References
External links
Grant Lee Buffalo official webpage
h2g2 article on Grant Lee Buffalo
{{Authority control
Alternative rock groups from California
Musical groups established in 1991
Musical groups disestablished in 1999
Musical groups from Los Angeles
1991 establishments in California