Seen and Herd: Young Buffalo Takes Music On The Road

By: Maggie Coakley

The town of Oxford, MS may be small but that won’t stop it from causing a scene and making a lot of noise in London.

The local boys of Young Buffalo started playing together in the summer of 2009 and only two weeks later Alex Von Hardberger, Jim Barrett, and Ben Yarbrough were playing their first gig at The Lyric on the 4^th of July.

“There was video footage of that first show and when I saw it… it just sounded terrible,” said Barrett. But others didn’t agree. The following week the band was asked to play three different shows, including one outside of Mississippi. Since then the band has signed with two record labels, toured across the states and recently returned from a weeklong tour in London.

“We don’t do the whole gloom and doom thing,” said Barrett. The guys describe their music as upbeat, loud and danceable. The guys focus on making positive sounding music. Testament to this is seen on the band’s Myspace page which reads “Goal 1: make good music.”

All three of them have their own music interests, which Yarbrough says, allows them to be united in their differences. This applies when the band writes new music; one member presents a completed idea and as whole, the trio edits and adjusts the lyrics and music until they are satisfied with the outcome. Apart from the norm, their most recently released single, “Catapilah” was written and composed together.

“If we did every song like that it would take a month every time we want to come up with something new,” said Barrett.

The boys each have a history in playing music. Yarbrough and Barrett started a band called Night Lights when they were 13-years-old. The instrumental project was short-lived.

“We could never get any gigs because we were 13 and they wouldn’t let us play at bars. We would play at a friend’s brother’s birthday party,” said Barrett.

After Night Lights ended Barrett began playing recreationally with Von Hardberger. It was when Barrett realized he was sick of not playing gigs or in public that he introduced Von Harberger and Yarbrough. The band signed with Fat Possum in May of 2010 and with UK label, The Young and Lost Club in early November.

Friends of the band and The Lyric Theatre employees, Capel Howorth and Tim Burkhead provide their house to the Young Buffalo boys as a place for them to practice as well as a facility to store their equipment. Howorth and Burkhead are two of the many local followers and supporters of the band.

“Those guys deserve everything they receive. They work hard to do what they love but also seemingly what they need to do,” said Howorth.

From local house parties to New York’s Bowery Ballroom, Young Buffalo have started to take their music on the road.

“[My favorite show was] our last show in London. We played with a couple other cool bands and it was a later show so the crowd was ready to party. It was jam-packed,” said Yarbrough. The tour in London was Yarbrough’s first time out of the country and he said it was a whirlwind, “but in a good way.” During the tour the band played a live session for Huey Morgan on his BBC 6 Music show. Besides the four shows played during the tour, the band was also interviewed on multiple radio stations and for multiple internet sites.

Young Buffalo has big plans for their future including upcoming shows in Georgia, Texas and Tennessee.

“I’m ready for SXSW. As soon as I found out we were playing I haven’t been able to focus or care about school,” said Yarbrough. The band is booked to play five shows at the festival from March 16^th to March 19^th.

The band also expects to release a new EP with Fat Possum this May. Local fans can see the boys of Young Buffalo this Friday, March 11 at Proud Larry’s.