MUSIC
Andrew Gabbard P H O T O : A N D R E W G A B B A R D. B A N D C A M P. C O M
Andrew Gabbard: Homegrown and ‘Homemade’ The Buffalo Killers and Gabbard Brothers guitarist/ vocalist creates his debut solo album BY B R I A N BA K E R
W
henever Greater Cincinnati Rock band the Buffalo Killers does press interviews, bassist/ vocalist Zach Gabbard typically takes the lead. But now that guitarist/ vocalist (and Zach’s brother) Andrew Gabbard is set to release his first solo project, Homemade, it’s his turn in the promotional spotlight. So how does it feel being the carnival barker directing people into your personal Rock & Roll tent? “It’s cool. I like talking about stuff,” says Andrew with an easy laugh. “It’s nicer when I have my big brother to do all the work, but it’s fun because a lot of this interview stuff is new to me. But you know, if I asked him, he’d probably do it for me. He’d do whatever I needed him to do. He’s a good brother.” The Gabbards have been making music together since the 1999
formation of Thee Shams, and in every one of their subsequent musical iterations — i.e. the Buffalo Killers and the freshly minted Gabbard Brothers — the songs have always been credited to the Gabbards collectively. Homemade makes a fairly potent case for Andrew being the Pop/Rock influence in the Gabbards’ songwriting equation, so it begs a natural question: Why is this the right time for a solo project? “I don’t know,” Gabbard says. “I’ve always written and recorded a lot, but I’ve never pursued anything or shopped around to labels. We were working on a different album that was finished, and during the pandemic, I was recording a bunch of songs on a new set-up I’ve got and the primary focus became the newer songs. It just sort of happened.” “I don’t know if there’s ever a right time, but it just seems to be the time
for it,” he adds. “I’m feeling pretty good about it. I’m ready to release it and see what everybody thinks.” There’s a good chance listeners will think Homemade is one of the best local albums of the year, and Gabbard’s avowed influences like The Beatles and Beach Boys are in clear evidence. “Wake Up, Brother,” the album’s lead track, has the pianocentric melancholy of a Brian Wilson lullaby and a lyric that nods serenely to the tumultuous couple of years we’ve all endured (“We are 2021, kiss the one you love if you’re still here/One thing I know moving on, never take another second for granted...”). That’s followed by “Instant Trancer,” a Beatlesque tune that Cincy Rock icon Rob Fetters would be proud to call his own. “While I was recording this, I had fallen into an annual Beatles obsession, and about the same time, my kids were discovering the Beatles,” Gabbard says. “(The Beatles were an influence) but also the Beach Boys and Neil Young. Those are some of my favorites. When I was trying to dial things in, I would listen to the White Album and try to pick out how Ringo had his drums. I’ve always wished I could sound cool like that in my recordings, so I do my best.” Another influence that looms large for Gabbard is slightly more obscure:
Midwest-born/California-based Emitt Rhodes, who was once dubbed “the one-man Beatles” back in the early ‘70s. Gabbard was clearly drawn to the late Rhodes’ work through their mutual love of the Fab Four, but also because Rhodes was a home-recordist and multi-instrumentalist. Rhodes was the primary influence on the closing track on Homemade, the jaunty and reflective “Promises I’ve Made.” “I always gravitate toward artists where I think, ‘I could do this. I can hear how he did it,’” Gabbard says of Rhodes. “I really relate to him. That was how the whole album started. On the day he died, I recorded ‘Promises I’ve Made’ and sent it to Terry (Cole) at Colemine Records. That was the first recording I did on my new set-up and it kind of snowballed after that.” Homemade is being released on Karma Chief, an imprint of Cole’s Colemine Records label, based in Loveland. Cole’s Plaid Room Records store carries a wide variety of local artists’ material, and Zach Gabbard is a frequent visitor to the store on his rounds to restock retailers with the Buffalo Killers catalog. On one such visit, Cole inquired into the brothers’ current activities, specifically what Andrew was working on. “He told Zach that he really wanted
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