With ‘Say So’, Dred Buffalo Let the Riffs Fly and the Electricity Flow
Over the past few years, very few bands have made as much of an impact in the music scene around Providence as Dred Buffalo. The quartet of vocalist Alerisa Rose, guitarist Chase Cavacco, drummer Logan Underwood and bassist Nate Svogun have a dynamic sound that harks back to classic rock’s glory days of the ’70s while keeping things modern. It’s electrifying, charismatic and flat out cool in simultaneous fashion, and it’s exemplified in their latest single that’s out today (August 23). It’s called “Say So” and it’s a groovy tune that has kickass riffs and an overall cool vibe. The release is from a session the band did at Bell Tone Recording in Nashville with producer and engineer Roger Alan Nichols.
The message behind the track comes from Rose’s personal experience with past relationships. She defiantly confronts controlling aspects of certain folks through the lyrics.
“I was heavily inspired by the bouncing bass line and used it to create the vocal melody,” Rose says about the single. “The lyrics stem from my frustration and anger with people who are constantly telling me what to do. ‘Oh, so you say so? so I’m supposed to be like this and sound like that?’ A lot of those people in my life have been controlling men that I have unfortunately dated. They have a whole idea and perspective on the type of girl I ‘should be’ and I’m sick of it.”
“I’m not going to be your blank canvas to project all your fantasies onto just because you ‘Say So’”, she adds. “This song was a cathartic release that officially pushed me away from ever surrounding myself with people like that again.”
For the instrumentation, Underwood initially conceived the arrangements due to a part that was stuck in his head late into a particular evening. Nichols also played a role in it coming to life during the initial process.
“The main riff of the song came to me like a fever dream at 3am when I couldn’t sleep,” Underwood mentions. “It popped in my head as if it was meant to be, or maybe as a side effect from nature’s greenest herbs. Once we had Roger over the rest of it fell into place — it felt like we had known this song before we even played it. Like an old friend, welcomed into our band.”
“When we first worked out the idea with Roger, I wasn’t sure how I’d approach the guitar parts and how it would sit in the song and represent me because this style wasn’t something I was used to,” Cavacco adds. “Then, Roger suggested making it have more ‘snot’ and ‘attitude’ with a Keith Richards type of swagger which me helped mold my parts into what you hear on the song.”
The music video for “Say So” was filmed by Anthony McGill with the setting being put together by Emotive Productions. To check it out while giving the single a listen, click on the link below and dive right in.
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