You know those times when you’re reading the newspaper and spot an article about how Spotted Strawberry Lemur Kittens are about to go extinct because there are only five left, and you’re suddenly flooded with both amazement that you lived so long unaware of their existence and motivation to keep them around for future generations to drive to near extinction?
Well, this is kind of like that if you swap out the adorable endangered creature with the Eastern Washington-based harmonic modern folk band Buffalo Death Beam.
For the last several years, Buffalo Death Beam has traveled the Pacific Northwest, playing consistently beautiful and complex sets while catching the attention of The Inlander and KEXP, releasing an EP and, more recently, the album Salvation for Ordinary People (which you can listen to hear [GET IT!?]).
Now, there could be a slight chance that your’s truly is social network friends with a couple of the band members because she may or may not have gone to college with nearly all of them and may or may not have helped vote on the band name over coffee and cigars at Bucer’s and may or may not have imbibed unintelligent amounts of gin with a certain Tiffany Harms, who she may or may not have had a hilarious morning radio show with once upon four-ish years ago.
Probably due to these possible-but-not-directly-admitted connections, the author came across the disturbing news that Buffalo Death Beam’s population is in decline (something about Texas eating their drummer) and will be playing their last show “for a while.”
Obviously, the scientific solution is to tranquilize the remaining band members and relocate them to a controlled environment groomed to resemble their natural habitat, where they can be encouraged to procreate themselves a new percussionist, but until the author’s Buffalo Death Beam conservation group is recognized as a non-profit, she can’t afford to rent a storage unit and decorate it like the rolling hills of the Palouse, let alone the bag of roofies needed for transporting the specimens.
In the meantime, newly inspired activists and long-time fans alike can hit up the Tractor Tavern in Ballard tonight at 9 p.m. to catch BDB, along with Yarn and Red Heart Alarm, to enjoy an inevitably fantastic performance and let the band know you hope it won’t be their last.
Bring some cash because it’s highly unlikely you’ll want to leave without a copy of Salvation for Ordinary People, which gracefully exhibits the band in all their seven-person Southwestern Gothic polyphonic glory, and because if enough of you buy the band drinks, roofies will no longer be necessary and conservation efforts (also known as kidnapping) can begin immediately.
