The Buzzkills have made a musical leap from a side project to a full-time band. It also made the jump from college basement parties at Indiana University to touring Midwest college town bars with high hopes and southern rock smoothness.,”Loud licks and maybe a Cheap Trick cover will echo through the Union Sports Annex when the venue hosts the hard rocking Buzzkills on Saturday.
The Buzzkills has made a musical leap from a side project to a full-time band. It also made the jump from college basement parties at Indiana University to touring Midwest college town bars with high hopes and southern rock smoothness.
Drummer Matt Schory, a senior at IU, discussed the Buzzkills' formula for writing music.
"Everyone in the band is into something different, so just in one song you might hear something Wilco-esque, some Umphrey's McGee and some Led Zeppelin," Schory said. "But we really try to go for that dirty, classic rock sound. I love that sound, just the sheer power."
Classic rock was a theme Schory reiterated continuously. The Buzzkills has built up a solid foundation of classic covers and original material for its live shows.
"We're all children of Zeppelin," said Schory. "Them, the Beatles, and all the classic rock stuff are our influences just because that's what our parents listened to."
According to Schory, the Buzzkills got its name when it was still a side project and after the name clicked with friends, it just stuck around.
"Our old guitar player's sister was nicknamed 'The Buzzkill' as a joke so we stuck with it. It's kind of an ironic name, because we aren't here to kill your buzz, we do the opposite," Schory said.
The group added more members and became a more cohesive unit. One of the additions was former Marquette student Jon Barnett, who attended during the 2004-'05 school year.
"Jon is the reason we're playing the Annex in Milwaukee," Schory said. "He's our connection to Marquette. And since we're originally from the Chicago suburbs, it's nice to have a hopping point from the burbs in Chicago to Milwaukee before we drive seven hours back to school."
When the 2007-'08 school year comes to a close, four of the five members of the Buzzkills will be out of school and the band will take on more full time gigs. So as the band tests material at the Annex, its current tour seems to be a glimpse of what's in store for the future.
"The Buzzkills are going to cut a CD here soon," Schory said. "After we graduate, we're all going to put everything into this. Our biggest goal is to support ourselves on tour. We have a trailer right now and hopefully we can get a van soon."
It's been a long time coming for the Buzzkills and the current incarnation of the band is only three months old, but the band has been hard at work for over two years. Things have changed, but most of all, Schory said the band's attitude has matured.
"We started out playing house parties every weekend, playing balls to the walls rock music and now that's all changed with the Buzzkills," said Schory. "It's much more serious."
Schory promised any fan of the golden oldies like Pink Floyd and The Allman Brothers Band should enjoy the Buzzkills show, as it plans on an even mesh of covers and originals for its Annex show.
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