Buffalo Tom

Buffalo Tom is an alternative rock band from Boston, Massachusetts, formed in 1986. Its principal members are guitarist Bill Janovitz, bassist Chris Colbourn, and drummer Tom Maginnis. The band's name is derived from the band Buffalo Springfield and the first name of the drummer. The Massachusetts-based trio Buffalo Tom "crafts rootsy garage-rock pop songs that tap the essence of 'real life' with infectious melodies and knife-edged lyricism," Scott Carlson wrote in A&E. Jon Steltenpohl added in Consumable: "Their sound mixes the power three-piece sound of Sugar or Husker Du with the pure pop of a band like the Smithereens. The result is a pure, no-frills style of bare bones music which you can still sing along with." In their nine years of existence, Buffalo Tom has gone from Boston cult favorite to alternative-radio mainstay, but they have yet to live up to Rolling Stone's prediction that they would become "the next R.E.M." Buffalo Tom formed in 1988, when three college friends from Amherst, Massachusetts--Bill Janovitz, Chris Colbourn, and Tom Maginnis--began playing parties and local clubs together. All three were originally guitar players, but Colbourn switched to bass and Maginnis learned to play drums to accompany Janovitz's guitar and vocals. Maginnis explained the origin of the band's name to Steltenpohl in an interview for Consumable: "A friend of ours was just kind of playing around with the name 'Buffalo Bill,' perhaps since there was Buffalo Springfield. Bill's the lead singer, and I'm just more of the shy guy in the back playing drums, and they thought it was pretty funny to have 'Buffalo Tom.' We didn't think too seriously about it at the time because we were just playing parties and shows at school, and it just kind of stuck."