“Hey, I’m Buffalo Nichols. … All the way from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.”
Those were some of the first words the understated musician relayed to our audience between the first two songs of his Studio Milwaukee Session. The comment got the expected chuckle from the crowd on hand, who were well aware that Nichols didn’t need to travel far to play for them.
They also didn’t need a reminder that this hometown artist brings a world of talent to the stage. But, over the course of his performance, he did anyway.
The handful of times I’ve seen Nichols do his thing, he’s consistently exhibited a detached quality — as though the low growl of his vocals and handiwork on whatever instrument he holds are out-of-body experiences. Both were most striking on his second selection, “Living Hell,” which started with Nichols layering effects in a prologue to the stone cold groove that propels the song.
At its end, he took a breather for the mid-set interview and laid out what could be an explainer for how he carries himself on stage:
“My approach is to do whatever I want.”
He punctuated his answer with a laugh and a little dig at himself, and then doubled down on the sentiment. “It sounds good in theory but doesn’t work out for me most of the time,” he began before adding, “I don’t think too much about it. I try not to limit myself, and all my influences just come out naturally.”
It manifests as samplers and drum machines he combines with his guitarwork to create — in the case of his second record — “an album that all those people who love the blues would hate.” Another comment delivered with a smile and a healthy dose of truth, two things Nichols combined at several points during an interview that also covered his Summerfest performance coming up in just a few hours.
Altogether, it made for a musical and mischievous Studio Milwaukee Session you can hear in full using the player at the top of the page.
Studio MKE: Buffalo Nichols set list
- “Cold Black Stare”
- “Living Hell”
- “Belly of the Beast”
