There aren't too many reasons why a place would ever want to be compared to New Jersey. Case in point: last week's episode of South Park. But like New Jersey, Buffalo has a knack for producing great musicians.
Case in point: Autopunch.
As the defending champion of UB's Battle of the Bands, Autopunch amalgamates music from several different decades to create an eclectic mix.
The group consists of five friends who started as jam buddies and eventually unified to form a band.
"We all played in different bands and then came together. We all always jammed together. The seeds got planted, in a way, freshman year," said bassist Luke Hammill, a senior English major and the only band member who goes to UB.
While Hammill grooves out on the bass, Dan Burkhardt provides the vocals, Tom Bowers and Dan Wallace provide the soulful guitar work and Dan Sheppard lays down the drums.
Autopunch may have been an idea in 2007, but it wasn't until Burkhardt joined in 2009 that the band started to become a reality.
With influences ranging from the Red Hot Chili Peppers to Pink Floyd to Rage Against the Machine, Autopunch is a hard band to group into one genre.
"We sound like five people who are too stubborn to change how they play," Wallace said.
The band members may be too stubborn to change, but Autopunch uses this to its advantage when it comes to writing music. As the band members merge their sounds together, they produce Autopunch's unique sound that is unlike anything else out there.
"One of us will have a riff and from there it goes somewhere," Sheppard said. "Sometimes we will come upon something when we are just making noise, and we will just stumble upon a riff."
While the band writes a lot of its own material, covers hold a soft spot in Autopunch's heart.
"We do a lot of covers," Bowers said. "We have a couple that we rely on the most. Our Pink Floyd cover is pretty cool. We played ‘Another Brick in the Wall' the other night at Nietzsche's because Roger Waters was in town. But when we play ‘Killing in the Name,' people lose their minds."
While Buffalo is full of venues both big and small, Autopunch prefers the venue that has given the band several opportunities to play its music for the people.
"Nietzsche's is the best so far," Wallace said. "We [also] played this battle of the bands at the Tralf… playing the Tralf was cool."
Autopunch didn't just perform at the battle of the bands at the Tralf; the band won it. That is two battle of the bands wins in a few months' time.
Autopunch has recorded six songs altogether. Fan favorites "Go Funk Yourself" and "Time for Livin'" are available for download on the band's website, www.autopunch.org. However, if you go to an Autopunch show, you can get a free copy of the band's CD.
For anyone that is interested in going to see Autopunch but can't get downtown, don't fret; Autopunch is coming to you.
On Oct. 30, Autopunch will be performing at Broadway Joe's at 3051 Main St. right near South Campus.
Autopunch chose Broadway Joe's because it is walking distance from South Campus, allowing easy access for all students. They are hoping that the crowd will be bigger than usual.
"You can get tickets at the door, but they are cheaper through us. It's $7 if you buy them through us and $10 at the door," Bowers said. "Hopefully we have a big crowd there. I don't think we should have trouble being able to get students there."
And if students go to Broadway Joe's that night, they'll see a band that possesses the potential to become the next big thing to come out of Buffalo.
Full disclosure: Luke Hammill is a Managing Editor at The Spectrum.
E-mail: arts@ubspectrum.com
