Schwervon!

Matt and I discovered Big Snow Buffalo Lodge orginally through our friend Julian Fader (drummer of Ava Luna, ex-Quilty). We were still living in NYC and it was January of 2012. Matt and I knew we were going to move to Kansas, but I really wanted to take a shot at playing a venue or two we’d never played before. In any city I think you can get stuck played the same venues too frequently- we wanted to try something new- maybe to parallel this very new transition we were making of moving out of the city.

We had our “farewell NYC” show in Big Snow in March 2012, and it was one of the most bittersweet fun shows we ever had. RJ and Yoni were running the space and were warm and professional without being uptight- it’s a DIY space, but they managed to get good sound out of it (no easy feat!). Their friendly vibe made everyone there feel welcome and like the place was ours too. Our friend Lippe took a lot of pictures of us at that Farewell show, and a couple of them ended up being the artwork for our latest record, Courage.

Somehow in our transition of moving out of the city ….into the transition of doing more with our music, we developed a real attachment to Big Snow Buffalo Lodge. I think maybe because it was there when we were leaving…offering a supportive place to have our Farewell Show –and it was also there on our subsequent trips back to the city- (the last time standing out in our minds as one of our more joyous NY shows ever—a sweaty dance-filled night with speedy ortiz). Big Snow was a real gem of a venue, and a port in a storm for us. It’s hard to think about NOT playing there now. I can’t believe they are closing their doors.