In a rock year marked by high-profile reunions, reunifications and redundancy, it would be easy to lump Buffalo Tom in with groups like The Police, Genesis, Smashing Pumpkins, Crowded House, Van Halen and everyone else out to pad bank accounts and recapture past glories.
There is, however, a slight problem.
"We never really went away, completely," Buffalo Tom singer/guitarist Bill Janovitz said said in a recent phone interview from the trio's home base in Boston.
"We all just kind of stepped away from it a bit. But, we never really broke up. We've been a regional act the last eight years or so, but I can understand that people outside of New England are probably surprised that we're back together."
The band's new CD, "Three Easy Pieces," which was released July 10 by Ammal, a division of New West, echoes the group's earlier work with jangly guitars, call-and-response vocals and poetic lyrics, but it is not a rehash.
From the lush Beatles-esque harmonies of the opening track "Bad Phone Call," to the chugging title track, the wistful "Lost Downtown" and "Pendleton," the band shows indie rockers can age gracefully. Janovitz's love of the Rolling Stones, Neil Young (and Bob Mould, Nick Cave and Leonard Cohen, too) are evident throughout the disc. "September Shirt" fits alongside boot-stompers from previous albums, as does "Bottom of the Rain," which includes the plaintive question "Where'd they go? Where are all those golden years?"
Formed at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1986, Buffalo Tom -- Janovitz, bassist Chris Colbourn and drummer Tom Maginnis -- built a strong following on the New England club circuit and put out albums like "Let Me Come Over" and "Big Red Letter Day" that became college radio darlings.
Like most bands of the time, the group experienced highs and lows -- sometimes simultaneously -- and found the "why can't you sell as many records as Nirvana" pressure from labels to be stifling.
"We just figured it was time to take a break," Janovitz said.
At its peak, the band placed songs on TV shows ("My So-Called Life") and commercials (Nike and Pontiac), but were conflicted about the process and accused in some circles of "selling out."
"It's funny how people expect their rock musicians to be almost saintly," Janovitz said. "Our attitude was ‘We can either do this commercial or go open for this band on tour and continue to make music, or we can not do it and get real jobs. Things like that subsidized being in the band at the time.
"I honestly don't think many art choices are tied to money. We opened shows to make money and have people see us. Those choices were made from a business perspective."
In an interview with Billboard Magazine earlier this year, Janovitz recounted a memorable trip to Wisconsin.
"One of our last tours was opening for the Goo Goo Dolls in 1998, when they were really getting huge," Janovitz told Billboard. "I remember playing in Oshkosh, to a bunch of 15-year-old girls. My wife was home pregnant and I just remember jumping up and down on stage trying to get these girls to not yawn through our set. It was like, this is just ridiculous. Why am I doing this?"
Janovitz laughed when reminded of the story. "All I remember from that town was it was hunting season and everywhere we went, people were dressed in orange," he said.
Although the band is playing shows to promote "Three Easy Pieces," a major tour is probably out of the question because the band members, all in their early 40s, have spent the decade since their last release ("Smitten") having kids and developing other interests. Janovitz works as a realtor. Colbourn works for an international booking agency. Maginnis is employed by a publishing company.
"I'm not allowed to say the word ‘tour' in my house," Janovitz said. "There is no way we're going to get into a van and go on the road for six weeks. But, we're going to do some shows. It's good to be able to make choices. At this point, there is no way we're going to get out on the road and open up for a band, unless it's someone legendary that we see as an influence. We'll just do the shows we want to do."
Friday night, the band will visit the Ed Sullivan Theater for a guest hit on "Late Show with David Letterman" on CBS.
"We put a lot into this record, and it'll be exciting to see where it takes us," Janovitz said.
Host of “The Drew Olson Show,” which airs 1-3 p.m. weekdays on The Big 902. Sidekick on “The Mike Heller Show,” airing weekdays on The Big 920 and a statewide network including stations in Madison, Appleton and Wausau. Co-author of Bill Schroeder’s “If These Walls Could Talk: Milwaukee Brewers” on Triumph Books. Co-host of “Big 12 Sports Saturday,” which airs Saturdays during football season on WISN-12. Former senior editor at OnMilwaukee.com. Former reporter at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
