it's a buffalo

Manchester, the city which bore bands such as The Smiths, The Stone Roses and most recently The Courteeners, a city which has nurtured the talents of its prodigal sons and daughters and has delivered some of the most talented and forward thinking individuals such as the late great Tony Wilson, who left his fingerprint on the city for many generations to enjoy. Now the focus is back on Manchester after the music media did a bit of scene hopping from Sheffield to Leeds and finally back to the City which had it all along, Manchester. Now the bands who have been here since the beginning and those which have been influenced by those here since the beginning are all starting to get noticed, one such band who have neatly secured a seat on the bandwagon are It's a Buffalo, none of whom are actually from Manchester, but all of whom have the attitude and the talent to blag it in true Manc style anyway, so it doesn't really matter.

I meet the band in one of Manchester's quirky Northern Quarter establishments, aptly named, 'Common Bar', and settle down for a drink with the Buffalo clan. It's 6:00 and the working day is done for the Buffalos, and with some members of the band working at toilet roll factories and city offices by day its been a long one but its all worth it to make it through to the evening practice session at the back end of town. And in true Buffalo style the lads stick together and hunt in their pack back to their shared terraced house in the student suburbs of the city. Much like The Walton's without the frigid hair cuts, the band are tight nit and banter round the table with each other like a group of mates after a Football match.

The main topic of conversation is the final cut of their new album which lead singer Ben Thorley and guitarist Steve Warburton have listened to for the first time on the car stereo on the drive down here, Ben puts and end to the inquisitive questions of drummer Nigel Bennett and Bass player James Cole who have been sat waiting for the verdict for the past half hour, "it sounds pretty good actually, maybe not the best sound system in the world but I'm pretty impressed." This only prompts more questions from the unfortunate two who are yet to hear their hard work in its final state. And what a long wait it has been, taking over two years to complete due to, "waiting around for our mate to be free so we could go and record it at his studios", and "chopping and changing stuff, coming up with new ideas" to finally having a finished product in their hands which will be released to the public in March 2009 under the name, 'Don't Be Scared', it promises to be one of the most promising albums of next year if their My Space tracks are anything to go by. It's clear that it's been a long and drawn out process and Ben seems to speak for all of them when he says, "I just want to see the back of it now, get it out into the public and see where it goes!"

The band are now beginning to see the possibilities which await them, especially with the current focus on Manchester music, as lead singer, Ben Thorley knows all too well, "I think now is a really great time to be making music in Manchester as the focus is back on the city rather than on Sheffield or Leeds and places like that. I think there's always been a load of great bands in Manchester but they never got the right recognition because there was never a 'scene' around at the time whereas now things are getting pretty exciting and it's great to be involved with it all in some way."

Their close relationship with other bands from Manchester has also proved to be vital in the lead up to their current success, thanks to Liam Fray, lead singer of The Courteeners, "having a word with the record company and getting us on tour with them", the band have been able to share their awe inspiring live shows and up beat unique country influenced sound with the rest of the UK. If you are one of the unfortunate few who don't have access to Myspace or don't ever venture out into the live gig scene, for reasons known only unto yourself then I'd say that the best way to describe their music would be a cross between the bouncing beats and happy strums of The Coral and the melody and audacity of the Gang of Four. A brilliant mix if ever I heard one. It seems that playing live is where the band come into their own as drummer, Nigel Bennett comments mid sip of his pint, "I think some of our most defining moments have been when we were on stage playing live. Certainly for me one of the best nights of my life was when we played at the Manchester Academy as part of our support with The Courteeners on their UK tour, it was amazing, playing to over 1,000 people who were proper going for it, you can't beat that feeling."

While there's great experiences in any bands life on the road, things do often turn out for the worse as Ben remembers all too well, "I think one of the lowest points for us was when we were on our first tour with The Courteeners, this was when they were touring the smaller venues and we were travelling in our van (the van which has since become the official Buffalo tour bus, a red 12 seater boasting all the best facilities for on the road, a CD player and somewhere to put your can, so be sure to give them a wave if you see them chugging along the A6) up to the top of Scotland and it was one of the last gigs of the tour and the van broke down in the worst place to break down, literally in the middle of nowhere and we were stranded, ending up missing the gig and got to the venue for midnight which by that time proved to be totally useless!" It's stories like this that show just how close the band are, as they all sit around laughing at their experiences together, trekking across the UK chasing the excitement and experiences of being in a band, made all the better with the fact that they are all clearly best mates.

When asked if the band ever cook for each other Nigel mentions the 'All you can eat nights' which is explained as "we'll make fajitas or something like that and then see who can eat the most, I won that game last night but James was crowned champion when he ate 10 slices of Dominos pizza in a row, legendary" and it does seem to be a legendary feat as James sips his pint with pride nodding his head in satisfaction at his very impressive success. It sounds like the house most young people would want to live in, and it becomes obvious that this group of mates are on the verge of something big, each one bringing something unique to the group, Nigel's heavy pumping drum beats, originating from his, "love of heavy music and heavy, loud sounds, I think they always make songs sound so much better" this is coupled with the mellowed out attitude of lead singer Ben whose love of Country and Folk music appears to have infiltrated the bands sound and has left them with something unique and memorable in its place.

With the highly anticipated release of their debut single, 'Marbles', an upbeat song with all of the ingredients for a classic summer track, (if the sun actually shines) sounding like a bee at a punk induced rave, it defines everything great about this band, it will be heading for the shop floors in Autumn, and with promising UK dates in the pipeline including a highly anticipated slot at the Platt Fields Summer in the Park Festival which they secured without even trying, "Someone just rang us up and said they liked our stuff and asked if we'd like to play and we were like, yeah!" as well as playing across the UK, it looks like both 2008 and 9 will prove to have exciting times ahead for the Buffalos. When asked if they see their album as the penultimate moment of their year Ben replies in his usual calm tone and manner, "who knows, you just take each day as it comes, I reckon it will be a defining moment for the band but I always like to think there's something else around the corner too."

And I for one would not like to prove Ben and the band wrong, with everything going for them from their music to their tight knit friendship it wouldn't surprise me if this lot are heading for something big and, even better, it doesn't seem apparent that they even realise this themselves, "if we could just get big enough to be able to give up our jobs and just make music all the time then that would be amazing, that's what we really want." I reckon they could do this and more, and with the current Manchester climate being as it is it won't be long until NME start knocking at their door asking for a cover shot, but just remember, Sandman told you first!

Interview by Ella Byford
Photography by Martin Cohen

www.myspace.com/itsabuffalo