Dallas musician John Buffalo, also known as John Dufilho, has long been a fixture of the Dallas indie music scene. His resume is vast, having played in bands such as The Deathray Davies, CLIFFFS, I Love Math and John Singer Sargeant, And on Nov. 10, he is releasing his self-titled debut album, John Buffalo, with State Fair Records.
His calling to music came at an early age in the downtown streets of San Antonio, his hometown. Walking with his parents, he came across George “Bongo Joe” Coleman, a treasured San Antonio street musician.
“He always had crowds around him,” Buffalo says.
Between whistling and drumming with makeshift kits, Bongo Joe pointed to young Buffalo.
“Even stranger, he kind of singled me out in a crowd of about 20–30 people and said, ‘Hey, kid, come over here,’” Buffalo says. “He handed me a makeshift drum stick thing and said ‘Why don’t you play drums with me?’ And I started beating on this garbage can, this barrel, in the middle of downtown.”
Playing drums with Bongo Joe as a 7-year-old is a hell of a musical origin story.
“I blame that,” Buffalo says. “After that moment, I started finding anything and everything at home to turn into drums. Much to my parents' horror.”
From there, he joined bands, took lessons, left some bands and joined some new ones. Finally, in his early 20s, he picked up a guitar, began writing songs and moved to Dallas. His self-titled album John Buffalo has a mix of themes, but the 10-track record mostly chronicles the time Buffalo spent in the hospital following two double bypass surgeries, for conditions discovered during routine doctor's visits.
“It was unexpected, and I spent holidays [in the hospital],” he says. “It was over Christmas. It was a pretty weird time. I was on morphine, which added to the weirdness.”
After the surgery, which had to be repeated a second time due to internal bleeding, recovery appeared far off.
“When I got out, I knew that I needed to do something creative,” Buffalo says. “I feel like that’s my therapy. That's my expression.”
His movements were restricted following the procedures. “I couldn't lift up anything at all,” he says. “So I started surrounding myself with keyboards, experimenting with sounds I like.”
Buffalo is a seasoned songwriter, but he had never stripped songwriting down to himself, his experiences, his computer and the piano for a full-length album before.
“I have had plenty of people who had gone down this route,” he says. “But, for me, it was brand new.”
His mind bubbled up with experiences from the hospital and what recovery would look like. One of the songs, "No Rules," documents Buffalo’s experience on medication.
“I've written about medication before, but I've never been actually on medication [while writing about it],” he says.
June, Buffalo’s 13-year-old daughter, sings backup vocals on two songs on the album and helped with music video animations. Their partnership began a few years back, while Buffalo played his music for her on a drive.
“We started singing my songs in the car,” he says. “I realized she knew all the words. I was pretty blown away. I didn’t know she knew all of my words. I didn’t know she knew all of the songs.”
The father-daughter duo, John & June, have played a few shows together, including a stripped-back gig at Elm Street’s historic venue, the Majestic Theatre.
“We couldn’t remember whether I asked her or she asked me,” he says. “For me, it was absolutely irreplaceable. In my mind, the memory I have of those shows is amazing. I’m thankful she’s into it.”
From his punk rock or pop or indie days, creating this album was a different type of experience for Buffalo.
“It was a forced left turn. But I’m glad for the left turn and to do something different,” he says.
This album requires Buffalo, a mic and his laptop.
“In a weird, backwards way, it feels like there’s no pressure on me,” he says. “Just whether the laptop is going to work.”
Performing the songs sometimes takes Buffalo back to the intensity of the hospital and the recovery period.
“I've found the more I've talked about it recently, it has felt odd,” he says. “Sort of surreal, almost like it has been a strange dream.”
On Saturday, Buffalo takes this album home to San Antonio for a gig at The Annex at Blue Star Arts Complex with Buttercup. But first, he is playing an album release show for Dallas.
At 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 10, he'll play at The Kessler, with opening performances from Oblong Cassidy and His Spacehorse and FIT. Buffalo is going on at 9:30 p.m. Of course, there will also be a special guest performer, Buffalo’s daughter, June.
Finally, Buffalo will share the album with the music scene he’s called home for so many years.
“I’m super grateful not only to be around, but to be a part of the Dallas music scene,” he says. “For lack of better words, the community here is a great, amazing thing. There is so many good bands. I'm just grateful that I’m kind of accepted into it.”
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November 11, 2023 at 04:10AM
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Dallas Indie Artist John Buffalo Drops a First Album, Though It's Hardly His Debut - Dallas Observer
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