Image: Erik Bergamini.
American musician Wes Chiller has released his sophomore EP, Buffalo John & The Rainbow Crew. The four track release was inspired by the musicians experiences fighting the California wildfires of 2020.
Born and raised in southern CA, Chiller is also the son of a fireman, and very passionate about using music as an artistic reflection of this rugged line of work. “The idea for this EP was to illuminate what kind of crazy stuff can happen out there on the road,” Chiller shares. “I bring a ukulele out with me, in case I’m struck by inspiration and can get a voice memo down to revisit when I get home.”
Bringing rich and ripe reverb sounds to the EP, the release was tracked live in Tackytown Studio by Long Beach producer Matt Wignall (Cold War Kids, Wargirl). Full of sweeping, majestic cross-stitch of Americana and folk rock, the release opens with Buffalo Highway, a track written about fighting a fire on the PCH, while No Good Luck was written after fighting wildfire in northern CA, where trees dropped lethally around the crew. “The redwood trees were falling way less often than the firs because they would grow near family, around other redwood roots, whereas the Douglas firs were loners and toppled easily,” Chiller reflects. “That was full of the magic and purpose of life, to me. I took a lot from that.”
To accompany the EP, Chiller has released a mini-documentary that includes live footage from the recording studio as well as from California wildfires this year. Watch Buffalo John & The Rainbow Crew - A Short Film below.
Buffalo John & The Rainbow Crew is out now!