Easton’s success aside, his ability to harness talent immensely translated his belief in a particular artist to their seemingly boundless success.

Take this time to familiarize yourself with Quiet Fire Media — a media platform born in the local and Baltimore areas owned and operated by Head North’s Brent Martone & Ben Leiber, Baltimore’s Rachel Cooper, and Emily Tantuccio.

The backbone behind QFM’s mission involves a focus to work with artists in an effort to trampoline them towards a higher platform and, in its short tenure, the group has already done such, from Connecticut’s A Will Away of Triple Crown Records, Baltimore-based singer/songwriter WATERMEDOWN of Equal Vision Records and our very own, Casey Bolles of Pure Noise Records. A pretty witted and wicked track record if you’re asking me.

Immediate plans for the group include a release from WNY’s Well Kept Things as well as Long Beach Island, New Jersey’s indie/punk outfit Gin War. Details to be announced today on an independent media outlet.

Quiet Fire Media, although crisp in their animation, has every capability and resource to expand their brand throughout the remainder of the year. The group aspires to tackle a handful of both national and local releases in the imminent future.

Stream both singles from the group’s new alumni WATERMEDOWN and A Will Away below.

The post An Exclusive with Quiet Fire Media first appeared on buffaBLOG.

Allow for me to introduce you to semi-fresh indie/punk outfit, Well Kept Things, composed of members who have cultivated themselves straight down the 219 in the Springville/Delevan area(s).

I was fortunate enough to make a trip to the area this past week to sit down and chat with two of the band’s founding members, Cullen Dedrick and Charlie Rumfola. While there, I was given a tour of Rumfola’s full-functioning crop farm, where I got a lick at this year’s carrot batch, as well as a first person glance at Dedrick’s goat colony, including a goat playground (I’m not joking).

The experience was genuinely enjoyable. I was successful in realizing that the best things do not always stem from an urban environment, proving that punk rock is much better off without the GMO’s.

Matt Cox: Other than universal access to the internet, were any unorthodox steps taken to familiarize yourself with the local music scene?

Cullen Dedrick: For me, the biggest step to familiarize myself with the local scene was to just go out and see shows. My first few shows I went to included Pentimento, but then I began seeing bands like Young Youth, I Can See Mountains, and a ton more I can’t even think of. In a nutshell, just go out to shows stacked with locals and you’ll never know what band you may really dig.

MC: How is the local — city/suburban-based — music community perceived in rural areas surrounding Western New York?

CD: Whenever I tell people from out here (Yorkshire/Springville) that I’m in a band, the common perception is that I’m in a hardcore band. I’m not really sure, but everyone I’ve talked to thinks that it’s really weird. Out here, Country and EMD music are really popular as well, and that’s not us. So at times, it can be a little difficult to get my friends to listen or come out to shows.

MC: What does the rural community have to offer to the local music scene that it cannot offer itself?

Charlie Rumfola: Different musical backgrounds is the biggest thing I can think of. Out here, I didn’t really know there was any cool, newer music. I was stuck listening to whatever my Dad was listening to, so I basically grew up with a ton of classic rock and Snoop Dogg (my Dad’s a big Snoop fan). So, then to start writing new stuff with out people from different backgrounds, I think there are just a lot of different, strange ideas that come together to make a cool final product.

MC: If you could choose one crop to personify the Buffalo music scene, what would it be and why?

CR: Definitely potatoes. You can make millions of things out of them and there’s always something for everyone. Plus french fries are awesome.

Stream the band’s single “Great White North” from their debut effort Homegrown below The EP is available to purchase here.

The post Farm Rock feat. Well Kept Things first appeared on buffaBLOG.

Over the last handful of years, the band has been able to transfigure their once pop punk connotation, inducing circle pits and please-don’t-step-on-my-tuner stage dives into one of indie, which still undoubtedly involves the listener/audience with plenty of room for a head nods with their 2015 full length record, Peripheral Vision.

Peripheral Vision,  a record that intrigues me to the thought of launching myself down a flight of stairs, only to gather myself optimistically to climb the stairs and repeat. Roughly forty minutes of incredibly smart songwriting with emphasis placed on organized melody, welltempered drumming, and dairy-based guitar tones that mutate the senses. A truly brave effort , the bravest release I have personally seen in roughly two years within this particular sphere of music considering the band’s environmental circumstances.

Turnover’s bravery stems from their ability to, whether willingly or indirectly (I’m going to say willingly), rebrand their audible identity without fear of rejection from surrounding peers or a community of listeners alike. I must stress (an inclination suggesting there are bands in the world that exist only to fear being drafted into the army of “scene” as a resting place), a lobby well fed with sighs of social relief in response to an odd concept of creative acceptation would be callously inaccurate. Rather, Turnover has stayed true to one’s self and have continued to dance with the girl that they brought to the party.

I do not prescribe to the concept album rating, almost an insulting act resurrected out of what I believe to be boredom as any creative effort to which an artist(s) plant their entirety into, psychologically, even physically, deserves equal top dog appreciation regardless of the illusion of social popularity. But I am more than willing to be analogous, and yeah… Peripheral Vision is a familiar world of hell but without the parking tickets.

Stream “Intrapersonal” from Peripheral Vision below and in it’s absolute here. 

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I’m paraphrasing here, but I believe it squawked something to the matter of, “Behind Every
Man Stands a Woman Kicking Him in the Ass” — subsequently leading to a giggle, a nibble, a giggle, a nibble…

Now, in my early twenties, I reflect upon this sign with a realization that no matter how
distinctly-talented any particular individual may internally believe themselves to be, there
exists an essential, completely necessary call for guidance. For leadership independent entire from their own creative ideals.

The Western New York music community is genuinely ordained with the opportunity — GCR Audio-based Recording Engineer/Producer, Jay Zubricky — the mind involved in efforts including The Traditional’s You Can’t Rebuild Forever, Arctic Death’s Self-Titled, as well as an encompassed role as Assistant Engineer in the nationally-celebrated singer/songwriter James Taylor’s 2015 studio album, Before This World.

As his credentials stand like Redwoods, Zubricky has successfully conquered the elephantine practice of abolishing the organic, often inevitable fraught environment of studio recording, simultaneously presenting bonafide professional direction that undoubtedly magnifies the recording process, augmenting it’s assembly entirely.

Zubricky offers a unique skill set — the intertwining of exceptional, crème de la crème
engineering ability with positive human element that provides artists with the pacified sense of comfortability along with a convincing sense confidence. Artists who wisely elect to work with Zubricky are bestowed with the frameworks that allow for the production of an elite final product.

With the music colony the Buffalo-area has been blessed with, Zubricky has indisputably
played a role in the bright tints it proudly shines on local, national, and international levels of musicianship. We — as a community — are incredibly fortunate to have an immensely talented, genuine, and incredibly professional individual at our disposal to expedite our musical aspirations.

Having personally worked with Jay numerous times over the last handful of years, I have seen first hand the unprecedented platforms artists are gifted with to reach their full creative potential, and for that, — We salute you, Jay Zubricky. Thank you for your persistent dedication to the Western New York area as well as the unremitting positive impact you continue to provide.

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Yes, our area has been spoiled with unparalleled national acts including the Goo Goo Dolls & Every Time I Die, groups whose impact is not only absorbed right here at home but also on an immense international level. But what about those armfuls of bands who had every opportunity to do the same but rather opted out based on the inevitable sense of vexation that comes with being in a band — the erosion of personal funds, the push & pull between personal and creative relationships, the shows you promised yourselves would have gone better but just didn’t.

For local show-goers, or even those who attend shows strictly out of social obligation, we time and time again see the same local talents, but once again, under a brand new identity, asking ourselves “Isn’t that the dude from that other band, what happened to them?” Common theme amongst our local music scene over the last handful of years suggests that bands in our area are exterminating themselves at an irrational rate for even more irrational reasoning.

Subsequent to similar action taken by myself (sharing the guilt), I spent a year propelling
myself to believe that every sour taste left in my mouth by the band was supported by the
backbone of rationality. The sad reality of that notion is that it simply is not true.

In early March, I attended a show at Mohawk Place that included Brooklyn-based,
female-led punk band, Thick. To be brutally honest, my attendance wasn’t completely accredited to social obligation, more so social intrigue as one of Thick’s members is a dear friend of mine, Canisius College graduate Christine Mulhivill: a truly ultra-genuine, exclusive human being — the type of girl they write indie movies about.

What I was able to assimilate from their set was an incredible sense of camaraderie as well as a spirit of enthusiasm that forced a dilution towards my brain. The band spit well whiskey all of over each other, and exposed embarrassing personal information about one another only to be followed by a shameless ear-to-ear giggle from the particular victim. Bottom line, Thick euthanized Mohawk Place that evening with not only their performance but also their reason for doing, ultimately smushing some serious tush. The band’s love for their own aesthetic purpose cut directly through all those in attendance while spiking every PBR served that night.

Following Thick’s set, I began to internally contemplate the manifests I once held as shrewd, the illicit generalities to “band life” I stubbornly held close to heart only to realize they were completely inaccurate. Case in point, love your bandmates; do not let the idea of someone throwing an orange peel at you for playing A Minor instead of C Sharp derail your shared purpose and allocate your attention(s) towards negative energy rather than sharpening your communication skills.

Within the visual perspective of a band exists ironic, quirky blindspots that often allow for
members to forget the conviction that their band may mean just as much to someone else as it does to themselves –maybe an individual you have never met or a stubborn older cousin, who you find admirable, but would never admit what you do is cool yet still slams your jams on their way to and from work everyday.

Do not quit your band out of frustration you have ever ability to overcome. Your band is
important and you are important to your band. Go ahead, allow for Thick to prove that to you.

Photo by Patty Daigler

The post I’m Broke, I Hate You, I Quit first appeared on buffaBLOG.