I had been contemplating why I wanted to write about El Buzzard since the inception of Lofi San Jose. They have always been on the short list of 408 bands that I wanted to document. I couldn't really put my finger on it. I only saw them once, about 8 years ago. They opened for someone at the Blank Club; but they were the main attraction. Then I found out that Josh Santaga was throwing himself a 40th birthday party and his two former bands, Curbside and El Buzzard were going to play. I was stoked. Beyond stoked. I wanted to re-evaluate El Buzzard in a new perspective. Last night they played and they kicked some major ass. What a treat to see them again.
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| check out that drum kit! |
A few months back I started to write this piece. I began to re-evaluate why I was writing this post. El Buzzard must be explored deeper. Why does this band resonate in my consciousness? I only saw them once. Why? I must dig deeper. Upon digging deeper into the thoughts concepts and perspectives of El Buzzard I found their simply, yet informative website. A place where you can download all of their music for free. I did just that and then placed it on heavy rotation in my Ipod. The low fidelity music was great. A chanting tribal blast of adrenaline. Gringa is a must, however they all have some hits and some misses. The misses basically fall into the category of background static, however the hits are a true onslaught of tone. And what better way to see & feel the tone than in a live performance. They are a POWERFUL band. Big and bad. That is what rang the truest in my memories and was re-awakened again last night. They came out of the gates like a seasoned band who just wrapped up a 50 date tour, not one that has been sitting idle for the last 5 years. What a true joy to see them. I captured a video, but it doesn't do the live show justice. It just allows a glimpse into what El Buzzard is/was. My advice, if you see that they are playing go out and check the live show. I'll be there!
Let me wrap up this post with an evaluation of the whole show last night. It was Josh's birthday bash, so in regards to that he brought Curbside out of retirement as well as a band called 4Banger. Both bands had not played in a while either but they sounded great. Curbside has a lively frontman in Sean Bjordahl, and really got the crowd going. They were before my time moving to the southbay, however it seemed like the veteran crowd really really dug the noise. Shawn Packer was filling in on Bass and their drummer was a sheer join to see live. You wanna talk about a live, snappy, quick punk drum sound....this dude was the backbone in Curbside. Truly amazing that he still has the tightness after 20 years. Here are a couple of videos of the other players. All and all a really good night!
4Banger
CURBSIDE
