The Buffalo Ryders promise loud, fierce alt-rock show and new songs at Buzzbin in Canton - Canton Repository

Kevin McManus, bass player for The Buffalo Ryders, didn't flinch while explaining why he and his bandmates juggle day jobs and personal lives with their passion for making music and playing live shows.

McManus, who also belongs to popular area band The Outside Voices, is used to questions about his rock music aspirations.

"You get that when you're a grown-up and play in a rock and roll band," the 31-year-old Akron resident said. "There are always those family members and people who care about you and ask, 'What if you don't make it, when are you going to settle down?'"

But "we see how the other side lives and we want to live in this world," said McManus, his tone unapologetic and teeming with conviction. "We're younger guys, but we've had a ton of experience, and we have a lot of gas left in the tank and we want to see where this goes."

The Buffalo Ryders will play Saturday night at Buzzbin, 331 Cleveland Ave. NW in downtown Canton, part of a summer club show schedule that has included venues in Michigan and Wisconsin and elsewhere in Ohio.

Starting at 9 p.m., the free outdoor concert on the Kempthorn Stage also features Joshua Powell & the Great Train Robbery, Gudger and Brimstone Coven.

Equally driven to play loud, raw, alternative rock with modern studio production are lead singer and guitarist Joe Risdon, 27, and drummer Mike Lupica, 32, both Akron residents. 

"It's a lifestyle," Lupica said. "We chose this lifestyle – it's probably what we're going to do forever."

Released earlier this month, the band's new album, "Where the Liars Go," embodies that underground rock scene ethos – a lean, sonically cohesive, unrelenting seven-song blast of guitar-heavy, percussion-and-bass anchored alt-rock complimented with moody, purposeful vocals.

Songwriting credits are shared by the trio.

"We really didn't want any filler songs," said Risdon, a self-taught vocalist. "We really wanted it to be a fluid album that rocked from start to finish – however long it was."

Cuts from the new album will be played at the Buzzbin show.

"You're going to feel us when you come to see us," Lupica vowed. "You're going to feel our intensity. We give it all on stage every time we go out there – that's what we do."

Added McManus: "These guys go out literally like it's the last time every time. It's hard and fast and we're having the time of our lives."

New album

Risdon, who learned to play guitar under the tutelage of Akron bluesman Mike Lenz, first formed The Buffalo Ryders in 2009.

"Where the Liars Go" was recorded in February at Amish Electric Chair Studios in Athens, Ohio, with producer-engineer Neil Tuuri.

With the 2019 album "Egghead" and multiple EPs to its credit, the band added McManus for the new material and subsequent live gigs.

Full-blown sonic assault

Influences on the record are obvious – The White Stripes, The Black Keys, Cage the Elephant and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. All esteemed bands in the world of alt-indie-rock.

But The Buffalo Ryders make the sound their own.

From the album's opening track, "Built a Prison," it's a full-blown sonic assault, the threesome marshaling the ferocity of a band at least twice its size.

On the song "7734," Risdon's guitar work is fuzzed and raging while "Ghost," the album's first single, is a hooky, riff-based track where Risdon's clear, rhythmic singing is showcased.

"Learn the Language" is another firestarter of a tune. Risdon's chant-like, haunting vocals combine with potent, angry guitar licks and melodic interludes to form a beautifully ominous soundscape.

Lyrics are cryptic and abstract in the alt-rock tradition but openly hint at observations on the state of the world.

Consume the message, it's fear that drives them

Asking permission from armed politicians

They'll tell ya they feel ya, they'll tell ya they need ya

There's a place they run

There's a place they hide

There's a place they preach

There's a place they lie awake

Unique and sophisticated 

Weaving a thread through all seven songs is Risdon's musicianship.

"The way he plays guitar is unlike anybody I've ever seen or worked with," McManus said. "He plays in open tunings like Keith Richards or a bluegrass or country player might do."

And "he attacks the strings with his fingers like a bass player and creates different tunings," the bandmate added. "So the way he plays is really, really unique and is really sophisticated."

Evolving as a band

Production and elevated musicianship both shine on "Where the Liars Go," the byproduct of a maturing, evolving band, and the addition of McManus.

"I knew that (Tuuri) would nail The Buffalo Ryders," McManus said of the producer. "He likes to use sonic space to the best of the band's ability."

Prior to joining the band, McManus saw untapped potential in The Buffalo Ryders.

"I just knew that ... there could be a much larger sound that did it justice, particularly on the bass and drum end of things," he said.

Risdon agreed the new material unleashes the band's primal sound coupled with more refined studio techniques.

"The first album, we recorded it all ourselves," said the frontman, whose musical influences include Bob Dylan, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Motorhead and Neil Young.

"... I think they are both sort of in the same vein," said Risdon, a Wadsworth native. "There's a raw feel."

Pandemic impact

The pandemic's impact has been undeniable on the band, both with the new album and in grappling with the inability to perform live for an extended stretch.

Risdon penned some lyrics in Montana and Washington state while camping and immersing himself in the outdoors at national parks.

"I think it was a time for everyone to reflect in life and society as a whole," said Risdon, who works as an event coordinator.

Dealing with pandemic-induced isolation and loss is at the core of the track, "See This Thru."

"Did you take it for granted?" Risdon sings with palpable longing. "All of us passing in a dying age. Separate we live our lives, together we fade."

Value of live music

McManus admitted to struggling without the release of live music during the COVID-19 outbreak.

"That left me feeling really lost because that's what I absolutely love to do more than anything," he said.

Collaborating with Risdon and Lupica on the new album was "very cathartic" and "very powerful," McManus said.

Risdon said the pandemic proved that live music can't be replaced virtually.

"There's certainly nothing like live rock and roll with people in a sweaty venue."

Reach Ed at 330-580-8315 and ebalint@gannett.com

On Twitter @ebalintREP

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