Emmy Etie photograph
He's been dubbed The Godfather of Australian Stoner Rock for his work with ultra-heavy '70s band Buffalo and Dave Tice is re-visiting his revered outfit's legacy with a series of select shows.
Tice has assembled a new line-up under the banner Buffalo Revisited to focus on the earliest of the original band's five albums.
Buffalo Revisited is presenting the music of Buffalo at the Bald Faced Stag Hotel in Leichhardt on Saturday, November 27 with supports Arrowhead and Bitter Sweethearts. Pre-sale tickets are on sale here.
Tice will be joined by Vince Cuscuna (guitar), Steve Lorkin (bass) and Murray Shepherd (drums), all of them are veterans of a host of underground Sydney bands.
Shepherd has played with Harpoon, the Hitmen and the original line-up of the Screaming Tribesmen. As members of Sheek The Shayk, Lorkin and Cuscuna recorded with Buffalo co-founder Pete Wells (Rose Tattoo) before he passed away in 2006.
Buffalo formed in Sydney in 1971. Largely unrecognized by commercial radio, Buffalo was one of the country's first exponents of heavy metal, predating other acts like the Coloured Balls, AC/DC, The Angels, Taste and Rose Tattoo.
Like many pioneering heavy metal acts, Buffalo incorporated strong influences of blues-rock and psychedelia. The band's sound paralleled that of Black Sabbath, who they supported on their first Australian tour.
Buffalo's first three LPs, "Dead Forever", "Volcanic Rock" and "Only Want You For Your Body", are true classics with original copies commanding thousands of dollars.
All five of the band's albums were re-issued in on CD in the 2000s after being widely bootlegged. Buffalo has a large cult following in Europe and in 2011, the UK-based Classic Rock magazine declared them the greatest rock band to ever come out of Australia.
Nationally infamous, Buffalo remained an underground act despite being the only non-European band to sign to Vertigo Records. Controversial cover art for their albums "Volcanic Rock" (1973) and "Only Want You For Your Body" (1974) saw some record chains refuse to stock their albums. Buffalo disbanded in 1976.
Support band Arrowhead is a stoner rock trio from Sydney. The band began in 2008 writing music with elements of '70s psychedelic rock, doom metal and '90s stoner rock. Openers The Bitter Sweethearts are young up-and-comers from Sydney's inner-west with an independent EP and a stack of touring under their belts.
