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Meet Float Like A Buffalo

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Cory Pearman, Phil Pleckham, Jason Clukies, Garrett Achten, Evan Crabdree, Luke Story, Cory Meier.

Cory, Phil, Jason, Garrett, Evan, Luke, Cory, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Float Like a Buffalo had a rough start but really came together from several different communities of friends. Garrett (Percussion) and Cory (Vocals, Rhythm Guitar) met at the job they shared in 2013 and started jamming as a duo called The Shower Curtains. A friend’s band had a show at The Meadowlark and needed an opener so the two threw together an 8-piece band in a couple of weeks, practiced some songs, and played their first-ever show as Float Like A Buffalo.

When we lost our original guitarist and bass player. Garrett brought in his band members from Shredding Heights – Evan (Lead Guitar) and Jason (Bass, Vocals) which had been together since the three were in high school. We found our forever drummer, Phil, in 2016 and our horns Luke (Sax, Trumpet) and Beef (Trombone) in 2017. That’s when we started to really find our unique sound. Since then, we’ve added keys to the mix with Beef behind the magic.

We always like to think that we each found the band when we needed it the most. It has brought each of us to hope in a really dark time of our lives, and we think that’s why we each treasure it so much.

Has it been a smooth road?
As with any close group of people trying to work in a creative space the road was not smooth to start out. When we first formed as a band in 2015, the struggles were all about finding reliable band members and people who had the same vision people who wanted to work toward the goal of making music for a living, not just as a hobby.

We lost a couple of key members early on due to personal differences and it was a struggle to find our sound after that. We even went through a period where Garrett had to switch from percussion t0 drums just to keep the core of the band alive.

With the addition of Phil, our drummer in early 2016 (from Craigslist believe it or not) and our brass section, Luke and Beef, in 2017, we were able to really start carving out our own space and finding our groove. Now that we’ve found seven solid band members who all share the same goal, the day-to-day is much smoother, though we still face the struggle of coordinating seven different schedules. We work hard to remain close and to keep the brotherhood that we have created alive and well. The relationships we have formed in this band are something really special.

This band has really saved each of us in a way from our personal struggles, and we know how lucky we are to have it.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Float Like A Buffalo story. Tell us more about the business.
Our band is Float Like A Buffalo. We make fun, creative, positive music that makes you get up and dance. We’re really proud of what we do. The thing that we love the most about what we do is that we get to build our community through music. We never would have made it as far as we have without our families, friends, and fans who have stood with us and cheered us on from the very beginning. It’s incredibly rewarding to see some of the same faces that used to stand in an audience often out there in the audience of thousands at Red Rocks or The Gothic.

We’re also really proud that through it all, we’ve stayed true to our own unique sound. Yes, we do some covers but we always do our best to make them our own. Our original music is genre-bending – we like to call it ska-funk-reggae-rock – which we believe sets us apart. We never want to sound like another band and we love that everyone is able to relate and dance to our music from 10-years-old to 100.

We pride ourselves on working hard, day in and day out to continue to evolve and refine our sound. Music is our dream and we love putting in the work to achieve it. We’ve had an absolutely incredible year so good that we can hardly believe it. We’re incredibly proud to have headlined The Gothic Theatre twice this year made our debut on the Red Rocks Main Stage, released our first full-length album (Back From Nowhere), released a new single and the music video to go with it (Gone By Morning), won Denver Westword’s Best Funk Band in Denver, were listed among 303 Magazine’s Top 30 Rock Bands in Denver, and have the insanely awesome opportunity to play Jazz Aspen Snowmas this Labor Day Weekend.

We’re known for our super high-energy, unique live performances. A lot of production work goes into each of our shows but in the end, the performance rests on good tunes and solid musicianship. We hear all the time that people love our album, but that our live performance is on a whole different level.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
We believe that there has already been a significant positive shift in the Denver music industry and in the music industry overall. Over the next few years, we think these trends will continue to develop. In our local music scene, there is so much talent and such a high level of musicianship that there isn’t room for ego or bad attitudes. The effect that this has had is that our music scene has truly become a music community, where bands collaborate and raise each other up. We honestly believe that the Denver scene is the next Seattle a true community of artists who do a ton of collaborating and making music together to make something really incredible.

We also think that it’ll become harder and harder to really have any kind of overnight fame or notoriety for musicians and bands. Because there are so so so many high-level performers out there, we’ll all have to work a lot harder to differentiate ourselves and reach the ultimate goal of making music for a living and achieving that insane level of success of artists like Metallica and The Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Becoming “known” and making a living relies way more heavily on putting together rockin’ live performances that people want to come back and see. Albums and merch are still a big part of it but performing live on stage has so much more weight in the big scheme of being a successful band. We think the days of putting out a couple of big hits and becoming famous are nearing the end (though there will always be exceptions).

We are of the thought that in order to “make it” as a band, you have to play shows in front of different audiences all over the world. You have to create unique and interesting online content to build the followers, then get them out to a show, and then the next show, and then the next.

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Image Credit:
Sarah Shuel
Charla Harvey
Brandon Thrift

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