F ront Row
South Park Tavern
July 15, 2011
– Benjamin Dale
Buffalo Killers
If you missed the Buffalo Killers/R.Ring show at Canal Street Tavern Friday, July 15, then you missed some of the greatest music Dayton has to offer this summer. R. Ring — Kelley Deal’s new band with Cincinnati recording artist Mike Montgomery — opened the night with a stirring acoustic/electric set that showcased Deal’s new, post-Breeders material. After all these years, Kelley still manages to sing with total innocence and wonder, with a voice that earned her legions of fans in the 90s and still compels her audience to rapt attention. She said she doesn’t know if or when she will record her new songs, but considering Mike Montgomery runs his own Candyland Recording Studio in Cincinnati, a new record doesn’t seem that far-fetched. Buffalo Killers went on next in support of their third studio album, entitled 3, which remains consistent with the Killers musical canon — tight, artful harmonies laid over rollicking guitar ballads. The crowd pushed their way forward, drenched in sweat and PBR and sang along with the Buffalo Killers as they played through their new album in its entirety. They ended the set with a cover of GBV’s A Salty Salute, and turned a classic of Dayton music into something else, something uniquely Killeresque.
