INTERVIEW: Good Bison
Good Bison
The Photo Ladies Interview - by Emily May
Alternative artist Pablo Alvarez has found his voice as an artist after years of experimenting with multiple genres. Born in Bogota, Colombia, he and his mother emigrated to the culturally diverse city of Miami, FL when he was a young child. Alvarez discovered hip hop, Star Wars, and skateboarding, cultivating his internal creative self and later earning a spot in The Guinness Book Of World Records for the Longest Consecutive Rap, freestyling for 26 hours straight in a live broadcast. As a young adult, he moved out West to Los Angeles in an effort to start a music career and formed his latest musical project Good Bison. It was in Los Angeles that Alvarez feels as though he truly found his voice as an artist. Combining elements of surf rock, pop-punk, indie rock, and hip hop, his music is creative and unique without sounding chaotic. Good Bison has released 2 EPs in recent years, 2016's debut EP Buffalo Roots, which explored indie-rock, lo-fi pop, and electronic sounds, and 2017's hip-hop leaning mixed tape That's Bodhi, influenced by acclaimed producer Jeremy Hawkins, whom Alvarez met shortly after releasing Buffalo Roots. 2019, however, saw Good Bison move back into an indie and rock direction. For Good Bison's latest EP, Scattered Storms, due to be released later this month, he wrote and recorded all the music for the EP with Mauri Viladegutt and Slightly Stoopid producer George Spits. Largely acoustic and rhythmic in sound, the 4 song EP showcases his ability to twist melodies and hooks on a dime and embraces organic instrumentation, such as percussion instrumentation from a kid's toy set and a Colombian rain disk. “I want my music to help people feel less alone in the world, as cheesy as that sounds,” he laughs. “My favorite songs speak to the shared human experience. We may all live wildly different lives, but we go through so many of the same feelings and emotions, and in a way, music helps us understand that we’re all in this together.” In November of 2020, Good Bison released their first single from the EP, "Can't Predict The Weather", a song about loss and learning to be ok with it. Most recently, "Lunatic", the second single from the EP, was released. "Lunatic" is the second song I wrote on guitar and it was inspired by multiple trips out to Joshua Tree in the middle of the night," says Alvarez about the making of the song. "One time, I was walking around the desert at two in the morning and genuinely started to feel like I was lost. Nothing looked familiar, and I had wandered pretty far off the main trail which is super dangerous and not something anyone should do. I was lucky enough to eventually find my way back to the campsite, but that feeling is something I carried with me while working on this track. I'm still not sure if I've made it home yet, but at least I'm not lost in the desert." "The lyrics to me are really about being patient and not letting yourself get overwhelmed with anxiety," he continues. "Even if life isn't exactly how you want it to be right now, there's still plenty of time for things to change. But you also can't be so caught up in getting to the finish line that you miss out on the ride." Combining bits of Beck’s Odelay, Weezer’s Blue Album, The Front Bottoms’ self-titled debut, and the tongue twists of Eminem’s The Marshall Mathers LP, the new EP is ambitious and self-assured, a solid EP from a solid artist. “I credit this morph to a re-found confidence, and the desire to create something that was representative of myself, rather than something that sounded like what is already coming out. I wanted to make something that was true to me.” You can connect with Good Bison via the following links.
Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify | SoundCloud | iTunes/Apple Music | YouTube
You grew up in Miami after emigrating there from Colombia as a child. What can you tell me about growing up in Miami and learning to integrate and fit into a new culture? You have mentioned that your first real sense of belonging was within the skateboarding community. What can you tell me about discovering skateboarding and finding a sense of belonging within the skateboarding community?
When I moved to the United States, I didn’t speak a word of English, but Miami has such a huge Latin culture that the adjustment was easy for me, especially since I was only seven years old. We landed in the US on July 4, 1999, and my mom told me the fireworks were to celebrate our arrival. I remember I was scared that people wouldn’t be able to understand me, but to my surprise, pretty much everyone spoke Spanish. I like to say I learned English listening to The Marshall Mathers LP on repeat, which isn’t entirely true, but I was obsessed with Eminem from the moment I first heard him rap. I memorized all his lyrics, even before I fully knew what he was saying.
A friend of mine gave me his old skateboard for my eighth birthday, but it took me a few years to really get into it. I didn’t hang out with a lot of people, so skateboarding was great for me because it was something I could do on my own. I’d force myself to go to popular skate spots, and pretty soon I had a crew who I would meet up with literally every single day. We called ourselves Soda Skateboards. We weren’t anywhere near as good as the other skaters in our scene, but using my camcorder we’d shoot ourselves skating and I would edit the videos. I used “The Kids Aren’t Alright” by The Offspring for my first skate part. Skateboarding gave me something to do, and people to do it with.
What has your journey been like of exploring many different styles of music to try to find where you fit in? What have you discovered about yourself as an artist in the process?
I used to fantasize about making music, but never considered the possibility that it would happen. When I started recording, rap felt like my only option, not only because I loved the genre but also because I couldn’t sing, and I couldn’t really play any instruments. But I could write. Lyrics always came naturally to me. My first songs didn’t even have choruses. They were just long verses. Eventually, I started adding hooks and exploring melodies. After high school, I was in a band called Dinosaurs ‘N Disasters, and for a while, I just saw myself as the group’s rapper. But thanks to that experience I developed as a songwriter, and I realized that I could and I wanted to do more than just rap. With Good Bison there was a lot of experimenting to try to find my lane. “Buffalo Roots” had a much more indie-pop feel, and then “That’s Bodhi” once again leaned into my hip hop roots. But releasing that mixtape and breaking the Guinness World Record for longest freestyle pushed me in a completely different direction. I lost my passion for rap. I wasn’t writing lyrics anymore. I was kind of lost. Around this time, I started playing more guitar, and I became a huge fan of ’60s and ‘70’s Rock. When I felt motivated to make my own songs again, I didn’t want to follow current trends or try to fit into any specific genre. I decided that I wanted to follow the music wherever it took me. Like when I was 17, writing songs without choruses, getting out whatever it is I needed to.
What inspired you to move to LA six years ago and what were your first impressions of the city? What do you love and find inspiring about living and making music there and how do you feel that being there has helped you to find your voice as a musician? Having settled in LA to find your own version of the American Dream, what does that look like for you?
In 2014, my band Dinosaurs ‘N Disasters was playing all over South Florida and we were finishing up our second EP. We were in the middle of planning a tour when two of the members decided they wanted to pursue their own careers. That same night, Mauri, Sebas, and I decided we were going to move to Los Angeles. We scrapped the EP, stopped planning the tour, stuffed all our belongings in a car, and drove west. I had never even been to LA. I was immediately blown away by how many different scenes there were in the city. It felt like anything you wanted to do was fair game. I was also able to connect with some incredibly talented people who helped elevate my music even further. I didn’t know what I was going to do when I got here. I didn’t have a place to live, or a job lined up. But I was willing to do whatever it took to make living in LA a reality, and six years later I’m still here.
You have said that when you bond with someone musically, that bond lasts a lifetime. What can you tell me about your friends/bandmates Mauri and Sebas and how you met and began playing music with them? What was it like to move together to LA and what has it been like to have played music together for so many years?
Good Bison is, and always will be, a collaborative project, but it’s not a band in the traditional sense of the word. Mauri, Sebas, and I started this when we moved to LA, but there are so many other musicians who have contributed to the sound. JHawk Productions, Psolomon Williams, George Spits, Sean Magill, Abraham Mendez; just to name a few. I’ve known Mauri and Sebas since I was 13, but our relationships really started to develop when we bonded over music. Mauri was there when I recorded my first song, which led to us writing and performing together. Sebas joined Dinosaurs ‘N Disasters not too long after that. Moving to LA together was an incredible experience, and for years the three of us lived in the same house. But in a lot of ways, leaving Miami felt like one giant step forward and a million tiny steps backward. The only way Good Bison was able to progress was by opening the doors and letting other people get involved. Mauri and Sebas will always be a huge part of Good Bison, but I’d say the lineup is in a perpetual state of flux. For ‘Scattered Storms’, all the music was written and recorded by Mauri, George, and myself. But the last song I released before this EP, “Nowhere To Go”, was made by Abraham, Sebas, and I. I feel incredibly lucky to have so many talented people willing to contribute to the vision.
Aside from music, you are also a writer! How did your interest in writing develop? You have called writing the gateway drug that got you into music, so having written for publications and online websites such as LA Weekly, Miami New Times, and GUFF, what was the transition like for you to writing songs? Do you still write for publications and websites or are you focusing more on music right now?
I’m pretty sure I’ve been writing for as long as I’ve been able to hold a pen. I have countless notebooks filled with stories and poems from when I was a little kid. I don’t even know how it started, I just know I’ve always loved it. I thought I was writing novels when I was 10 years old, but looking back on them now my ‘chapters’ were not much longer than a paragraph. Writing is the only reason I started making music. I figured if I could write stories and poems, I could probably write lyrics too. The big difference was that when it came to music, I wasn’t writing fiction anymore. I was writing about myself. Later I got the opportunity to write for magazines like Miami New Times and LA Weekly, and I focused on covering music as much as I could. I loved interviewing artists and reviewing shows, but nowadays I’d say almost all my writing is for Good Bison.
You have said that it took a while for you to understand that songs were more than what you were putting down on paper. What have you learned about your songs over the years and what they mean to you?
Since writing is such a huge part of who I am, lyrics have always been at the forefront of my understanding of music. Listening to hip hop, I didn’t care about the beats. I was in it for the raps. No matter what genre I was currently into, the only thing I was listening to was the words. I couldn’t pick out guitar riffs or bass lines, or differentiate drum patterns. That started to change when I was in a band, and even more so when I learned to play guitar. Suddenly I found myself getting blown away by the bass in a song, or waiting for specific drum fill. I also learned to understand that the instruments conveyed just as much feeling and meaning as the vocals, which made me pay way more attention to those elements in my own songs.
What was the inspiration for your latest project Good Bison? What was it about going into this project that made you embrace a timeless sound rather than something contemporary and what made you decide you no longer wanted to do rap?
I didn’t necessarily decide I didn’t want to rap anymore, but I did decide I didn’t want to overthink what I was doing so much. In the past, I would focus a lot on whether I was writing a melody or a rap, and if I was rapping, I felt like it had to measure up to some imaginary bar I had set in my head. But listening back to my music, I realized my favorite songs were the ones where it wasn’t immediately clear if I was rapping or singing. With this new EP, I just let things flow as seamlessly as possible. I also didn’t care if the music sounded like what people are listening to right now. My biggest inspiration going into ‘Scattered Storms’ was ‘Pet Sounds’ and Brian Wil
You recently released your new single "Can't Predict The Weather", which you have said is about loss and learning to be ok with it, but that you didn't necessarily realize what the song was about as you were writing the lyrics. What can you tell me about the song and when did you realize what the song was about?
I don’t usually think about what a song is about while I’m working on it. I’d say my writing style is more of a stream of consciousness. The hardest part for me typically is figuring out what the first lyric should be. “Yeah, I know I should’ve said less, but I felt that pressure building in my chest.” Once those words came to me, the rest of the lyrics just flowed naturally. I only realized what the theme was after someone asked me about it. It’s not that I consciously wanted to make a song about loss, but that seemed to be a recurring theme in the lyrics. “I’m scared I burned my bridges, my feet are covered in ash.” “Nothing looks strange anymore.” “I don’t fit in and I’m so bored.”
"Can't Predict The Weather" was originally supposed to be a part of an acoustic project. What can you tell me about that project and what led you to take the song in a different direction?
I originally wanted the entire EP to be acoustic because it felt like something I could accomplish on my own. I wanted it to rely on real instruments, but I wasn’t sure who was going to want to be a part of the project, or what resources I would have available. Guitar and vocals felt feasible. But working with Mauri the songs started evolving as we added bass and acoustic percussion, and then George took them to the next level by playing the drums. I don’t feel like the EP went in a different direction from my original vision. I actually think Mauri and George’s contributions helped me reach what I was always aiming for.
Your upcoming EP Scattered Storms is a blend of many different sounds and that you credit the morph to a re-found confidence and the desire to create something representative of you. What caused your loss of confidence and how did you gain it back? How do you feel that the EP is a representation of you as an artist and what message do you hope it conveys?
In 2017, I released ‘That’s Bodhi’ and I also officially set the Guinness World Record for longest consecutive rap, but instead of following up on that success I completely shut down. I wasn’t doing anything creative, and I wasn’t even really listening to music. My social life came to a halt as well. I didn’t have any direction, or the drive to figure out my next moves. Sebas moved back to Miami and Mauri and I wasn’t working on new songs. I had lost a lot of my passion for music, and life in general. It felt like I was just going through the motions. Towards the end of 2018, I went to my first live show in a long while, Cal Jam, organized by Dave Grohl. It was such a cathartic experience seeing bands jamming on stage in front of an audience. I was near the front for Robert Plant’s set, and when he performed “Going To California” I absolutely lost it. I couldn’t believe I was seeing him live. Singing about California. In California. I remembered why I moved to Los Angeles. Why I started making music in the first place. It felt like something inside me woke up. I spent all of 2019 organizing monthly shows featuring local and touring up-and-coming musicians at different locations around LA. Good Bison would always perform before the night’s featured artist. Those events also pushed me back into writing, and before I knew it I had a bunch of new songs that I didn’t know what to do with. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to continue the shows in 2020, but that was exactly the motivation I needed to get back in the studio. The lyrics in “Scattered Storms” feel as honest and raw as the stuff I was writing when I was 17, but the music is a culmination of all the genres I’ve experimented with. It’s something only Good Bison could have made. The message I hope “Scattered Storms” conveys is to enjoy the good times, but also appreciate and learn from the bad ones. Life is full of ups and downs. All we can do is strap in for the ride and make the most of this rollercoaster. At least music makes the trip more entertaining.
The EP is a testament to the love you've grown to have for instruments. What can you tell me about that love, as well as the non-traditional instruments you used, such as percussion instruments from a kid's toy set and a Colombian rain disk?
I’ve been obsessed with ‘Pet Sounds’ for the past two years, and thanks to that obsession I decided for the next project I wanted to rely less on production and more on real instruments. I think there’s a warmth that can’t be recreated, so for this EP, I was determined to only use what we had available. Mauri had a ‘Band In A Bucket’ playset that came with shakers and a tambourine so we used that. And the Colombian rain disk is something that has been hanging on my wall for years, so I figured it could come in handy.
You have said the songs on the EP are of a more vulnerable, personal, and introspective nature. What was your songwriting process like for the EP and what led you to write from a more personal and introspective nature? What can you tell me about working with Slightly Stoopid producer George Spits on the recording of the EP?
I wrote the guitar for two of the songs on this EP, and the lyrics for those came easier to me than any words I’ve ever written. I felt like I unlocked something inside myself, and it was an ability I was able to carry over into the songs I wrote with Mauri too. I was able to let go of a lot of doubts that I had been holding on to, and I allowed myself to write about whatever it was that I was feeling. I also stopped worrying about what other people might think. If it felt right to me, I just went with it. Working with George was amazing because he immediately understood what I was going for, and I fully trusted him to do whatever he thought was necessary to get the songs where they needed to be. He not only played drums on all the tracks, he also mixed and mastered the entire project.
What can you tell me about the message behind the upside-down smiley face sticker?
Going into this EP, I partnered with Krölhaus and they have been handling the visual direction for ‘Scattered Storms’, and Good Bison overall. It’s been a game-changer for me because, for the first time, I feel like the presentation is at the same level as the music itself, so the songs, images, and videos are all perfectly aligned. The upside-down smiley face is a reminder to maintain a hopeful attitude, even when things aren't going that well. It’s an optimistic sadness or sarcastic happiness. However, you want to look at it.
What's next for you?
I really want to start playing live shows, as soon as it’s safe to do so. I would love to go on tour and perform these songs in front of an audience. And I want to get back to organizing my own events. Also, more music. There are things that didn’t make it onto this EP that I’m eager to release, and I’ve been writing a lot too. So, there’s definitely more new stuff on the way after “Scattered Storms”.