Rose Hill Drive & Buffalo Creek

There’s a very good chance that you missed an amazing show last Saturday night. I say this because at any given moment I could not spot more than about 20 people in the crowd. As I roamed the Bean Scene for the first time and met a few new people, I realized that about half of the crowd was from my hometown of Morgan Hill, CA. Two of these former South County residents happened to make up half of Buffalo Creek, who opened the night with a solid set. It seemed a little unusual seeing these guys playing in a coffee shop, as they are definitely more accustomed to the bar scene, but the few kegs on tap coupled with the band’s strong songwriting ensured a smooth transition. The band worked through a lengthy set of original alt-country tunes including catchy songs such as “Firecracker” and “Shopping Cart,” both of which displayed the band’s tight rhythm section and smooth vocal melodies from lead singer Bryn Loosley. They even slipped in a few covers, including a nice mellow rendition of the Velvet Underground’s “Sweet Jane.”
The standout of the night, however, was Boulder, Colorado’s Rose Hill Drive.
The three members of the band took the stage looking a little like Hanson if they had started smoking weed and listening to Zeppelin and Hendrix after their “MMMBop” days. All of them were sporting long classic rock-inspired haircuts, and two of them are even brothers. Thankfully, that was where any and all connections to Hanson ended. The band’s sound was absolutely huge throughout their whole set, as the entire band seemed to not be playing their instruments, but rather attacking them with everything they had. I have never heard such a powerful sound from a three-piece before, and after the set, I was informed that they usually like to turn everything up even louder. The songs they played were all clearly influenced by ‘60s and ‘70s rock, when lead guitarists were the most important member of a band and creative, intricate musicianship was expected of everyone else. Guitarist Daniel Sproul shredded through solo after solo, prompting looks of awe from the few of us left watching, while his brother Jake locked in with more subtle but equally powerful bass grooves. The group tore through originals like “Polyester Fad” and “Soul On Fire,” the latter of which would have sounded perfectly appropriate on the latest Queens of the Stone Age album.
My favorite part of the show was when I walked over to the side of the stage just in time to watch drummer Nate Barnes start an instrumental breakdown on his toms, which he slowly built up to a punishing finale on his snare and cymbals as the rest of the band joined back in seamlessly.
Watching Rose Hill Drive, I really got the feeling of what it must have been like to watch people like Jimmy Page and John Bonham doing their thing back in the day, and when they closed with a spot-on version of Led Zeppelin’s “The Ocean,” it seemed naturally fitting and magical. Perhaps the most intimidating thing about this band is that their oldest member is only 21 years old. They are destined for great things, and should we ever be lucky enough for them to make it back here, make sure you clear your calendar.
- Landon Moblad
- Photo by Lauren Asta

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