Darrell Arnold and the Dead Buffaloes

With hundreds of gigs under their belt -- from the legendary Fehrman Festival, where Hendrix played his last concert, to concerts in some of Europe's most renowned clubs, which regularly feature the likes of Wishbone Ash or Papa Chubby -- Darrell Arnold and the Dead Buffaloes have become a mainstay of the European live music scene. The band is strongly influenced by a wide variety of roots musical styles: From classic rock numbers to heartfealt ballads to pop-rock influenced guitar songs, you can't tell what the band will pull out of its hat next. But the blend between Arnold's thoughtful and soulful lyrics and the bands divergent musical styles always results in a rich musical experience. Darrell Arnold and the Dead Buffaloes have produced two studio CDs, both showing the diversity and depth of this band as well as their performing and production finesse. The debut CD, "Here or Somewhere Else," was recorded with Chris Beckers, one of Holland's best known jazz guitarists and producers, who regularly produces and plays with the likes of Earnie Watts (The Rolling Stones) and Peter Erskine (Weather Report). It has received a smattering of airplay on German radio. "Everyday Stories," the just released second CD, was recorded with Klaus Bohlmann, one of Germany's most renowned studio engineers and producers; and on keyboards it features Hendrik Schaper, known from his work with Passport and Udo Lindenberg's Panikorchestra. Both CDs are available through the bands own record label, Strange Little Records. Among the recent band highlights: - opening gigs with The Yardbirds (October 2002) - opening band for Eric Burdon in Schwerin Germany (June 2002) - selected by Javamusic as a showcase band for Popkomm (July 2002) - showcase performance at the Hard Rock Cafe, Boston, during the NEMO conference (2002) - song "Give What You Can" included on the NEMO Sampler (April 2002) - inclusion of "Western Skies" on the sampler of Germany's Musiker Magazine (March/April 2002) - "Case 1327" as the number one song at MP3Songs (April 2002) - feature story on WDR TV, Germany (June 2002) - radio interview on WDR2, with Udo Vieths (October 2002) The band's CDs can now be ordered throught Media Markt and Saturn stores in Germany. They are also available at htt://www.javamusic.com (for the North American market) and http://www.glitterhouse.com (for the European market).

Since 1996 we have been playing together live. Mayo, Thomas and Bill played eight years together in the eighties in a project called the Interns. So we're a pretty tight band. Not that you couldn't play 15 years together and still be sloppy as you can imagine. But that would certainly be a pity -- not to get better. In this project we recently played as the warm up band for Eric Burdon and the New Animals in Schwerin, Germany. It was fun -- because the music went over so well. And then I ended up talking to Eric Burdon for about an hour after the show. Real nice guy, who told me about his Greek girlfriend (who's like 30 years younger than he is). That guy looks really good for 62 -- and then to get a 25 year old girlfriend. That's rock'n'roll-- the kind of thing I expect from our bass player, Thomas. Anyway, sometimes playing is the kick -- and sometimes hanging around and talking to people after the show is the kick. When you get lucky, both are a kick on the same evening. And if you have bad luck, then neither of the two experiences is very gratifying -- and your realize that the best thing about the evening was the free beer.

The band used to play Dr. Feelgood cover songs. So, they were all pretty strongly influenced by that band and by British R&B in general. I, on the other hand, grew up on Americana: Neil Young, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Bob Dylan. And then I was strongly influenced by songwriters like Jackson Brown, Dan Fogelberg and James Taylor.