Bison B.C.'s Quiet Earth

Bison B.C. guitarist/vocalist James Farwell is kind of shocked that someone's spending money on him.

"I've never had a fuckin' record deal before," says Farwell. "If someone's gonna put a lot of effort into mass-producing this and marketing it, for this batch of songs, wow. It's cool."

Farwell and his Vancouver-based outfit rounded out by guitarist/vocalist Dan And, bassist Masa Anzai and drummer Brad Mackinnon recently signed with Metal Blade Records. Bison B.C.'s sophomore opus, Quiet Earth, is set to hit the streets on Sept. 30, and Farwell is struggling to grasp what has happened to the band — formerly known as Bison before another group with the same name came a-knockin' holding legal papers — in a little over a year.

"It's been a whirlwind for us. The first album only came out a year ago. But the band came together quickly because I knew what I wanted. It was calculated. Vancouver doesn't have a lot of musicians that do what I wanted. There are cliques. If you can't find anyone in your clique, you're fucked, so I was lucky to find these guys.

"I'd written a bunch of songs over the summer after my old band [punk outfit S.T.R.E.E.T.S.] broke up. I found the dudes, the songs came together, we recorded... easy peasy. I lucked out. I knew what I was looking for, but living here, it's a tough town. It's a rock town, but you gotta dig around for the right people. I did a lot of digging and my hands are dirty as hell."

Dirty, indeed. Quiet Earth's fuzzed-out guitars and hammering drums combine the relentless technical attack of Mastodon's Leviathan as interpreted by apocalyptic dirt-metallers High On Fire. While this amalgamation sounds like a perfect metallic feast, Farwell claims otherwise.

"It depends on what blog you read. A lot of people call us fags because we believe in peace and stuff. We're not a big, tough metal band. I quite enjoy that that's what comes with the territory. When you look at a label like Metal Blade, they're reaching out finding a band like us. We're not their typical act. They're extreme metal and we don't fit that mold. I understand, though. People get comfortable with what they know and they don't like change. If you've been listening to The Black Dahlia Murder forever, Bison doesn't fit in with that. Even I may not be into something different, first off. I might be resistant."

Farwell is still enthused about working with Metal Blade despite feeling somewhat ostracized from the rest of the roster. He hopes for the best with Quiet Earth, and believes that opinions will change once the politically incorrect naysayers experience a show.

"I don't want much. I just expect to tour and create a life where I'm on the road not working my job. I wanna live in my van, filthy, miserable, spending days to get to Pittsburgh to be paid $13 to play for five people. That's the kind of life I wanna live. If those guys come to a show, see us and have a beer with us, I know they'll be down for life. I guess that makes them fags, too."

Here are Bison B.C.'s Canadian dates:

Aug. 30 Victoria, BC @ Logan's Pub (Rifflandia Music Festival)
Sept. 18 Saskatoon, SK @ Amigos
Sept. 20 Thunder Bay, ON @ C2 Nightclub
Sept. 22 Ottawa, ON @ Mavericks w/Genghis Tron
Sept. 23 Montreal, QC @ La Sala Rossa w/Genghis Tron and Baroness (all ages)
Sept. 24 Toronto, ON @ Lee's Palace w/Genghis Tron and Baroness
Sept. 27 Winnipeg, MB @ The Royal Albert Arms w/Baroness
Sept. 28 Regina, SK @ The Exchange w/Genghis Tron and Baroness (all ages)
Sept. 29 Edmonton, AB @ The Starlite Room w/Genghis Tron and Baroness (all ages)
Sept. 30 Calgary, AB @ The Warehouse w/Genghis Tron and Baroness (all ages)
Oct. 1 Kelowna, BC @ Habitat w/Genghis Tron and Baroness (all ages)
Oct. 2 Vancouver, BC @ Pat's Pub & Brew House w/Genghis Tron and Baroness