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La Porte quartet Buxton are fresh off their most successful tour to date, a weeklong all-Texas jaunt that took them as far west as Marfa, as far north as Lubbock and as close to home as College Station. Seated at a table at the Black Lab five days after that tour ended, the band seemed to be getting along together remarkably well.

"This one was fun," says multi-­instrumentalist Jason Willis. "Some of our other tours have been real downers. One time we rented a van and it broke down on the way to our first show, so we ended up doing that tour with three of us in three different cars."

"Then there was that one we did with By the End of Tonight," the 21-year-old adds. "It was fun, but a lot of stuff happened. It was like, 'God hates us.'"

"The four original members of By the End of Tonight all broke up on that tour," says 24-year-old singer-guitarist Sergio Treviño.

"I don't mean this in a bad way, but they replaced their guitarist with our drummer, while we were on tour with them," chimes in bassist Chris Wise.

Man, that's pretty pimpin', like somebody stealing your date at the prom. But it's unlikely that Buxton will be on the receiving end of such indignities ever again. Since then the band has added a full-time drummer (with more dedication) in 19-year-old Justin Terrell. (Terrell, the only non-La Porte native in the band, is from the little town of Tarkington up by Lake Livingston.) What's more, the band's sound has blossomed into a rich, textured and dynamic glory, and their full-length debut A Family Light is a very strong album from a band that just happens to be local.

There's a theatrical Decemberists vibe to some of singer Justin Treviño's lyrics and vocals, though he doesn't share Colin Meloy's Morrissey fascination. (That lack of Morrissey mania likewise helps set them apart from the broadly similar Baytown band Scattered Pages.) "We do like the Decemberists, but only through Picaresque," says Treviño. "None of us really liked The Crane Wife."

Elsewhere on A Family Light, the barn-burning "Holy Water Revival" and "Mothers" each recall early Violent Femmes at their most hell-bent and creepy. (Think "Country Death Song.") "Each Horse with a Name" has a distinct M. Ward feel, and A Family Light also sports more than a twinge or two of twang: "Blood on the Streets" opens with a lovely little stone-country pedal steel riff, while "Westward" is a straight-up mountain music hoedown.

One of the things I like about Buxton is that they both shoot for grandeur and better yet, attain it, as especially exemplified by "Each Horse with a Name." Better still, they don't try to call down the angels' wrath on every song, as do all too many bands in this post-Arcade Fire era.

"If the song doesn't call for it, don't put it in there," says Willis. (Willis plays a dizzying array of instruments including pedal steel and lead guitar, mandolin, and keyboards. "I did a little bit of banjo on the album too," he says. "But I don't do that live.")

Treviño's voice is an angsty yelp, but it's not overdone, and he uses it to deliver odd, memorable little lines like these, from "Blood on the Streets": "There's too many mothers that name their daughters after towns and names of streets, there's too many fathers that name their sons after heroes on TV" and "There's too many whispers and too many secrets in the town of Cypress Creek."

Themes of parent-hatred run through much of the album. Take these from harrowing album-closer "Living Room": "How can I respect someone who would look upon his only son as only a failure for the things he'd never done." Though they sound autobiographical, Treviño insists that they are not.

"My parents are so nice" — until last week, they owned and operated the now-closed La Porte indie venue The Forum — "so I am trying to justify myself where stuff like that comes from. I don't set out with the intention of writing anything in particular. I just write. So I really think this is me looking at other people's parents. My family, everyone was really close. My sister and I were best friends for years and years, and I've always had a great relationship with my parents, and now I grow up and see other people's relationships with their family, and it was just an eye-opener."

When you rip A Family Light into iTunes, it is one of those albums that pops up in the CD Database as "Unclassifiable." Another local record of note in the same category is Jug O'Lightnin's Nuts N' Bolts, and while A Family Light is neither as bluesy as that record nor not quite as groundbreaking and original, it is likewise a neo-roots record that is devilishly hard to pigeonhole. More than a few critics have described Buxton as a folk band, so I asked them if they were comfortable with that.

"Sure, but we have also been called 'new-grass' and I don't really like that," says Treviño. (New-grass? Buxton has about as much in common with the likes of Béla Fleck as Slayer does with Jack Johnson.) "But I guess I would be more comfortable in saying that we are not a folk band, but a band that made a folk album."

"The new songs we are writing now have more of a Yo La Tengo feel," says Wise.

Write Your Comment show comments (13)

  1. damn, this article is piss.

    Comment by brett Taylor — April 9, 2008 @ 04:38PM

  2. I hate vague, strongly worded criticisms. What is so "piss" about it, Brett?

    Comment by John Lomax — April 10, 2008 @ 06:35AM

  3. 1. well, Buxton was faced with no indignity by either me or by the end of tonight. it was completely understood as what should happen. chris lived with me during that time and continued to for a while afterwards. i continued to play drums for them until i recommended justin.

    2. there is nothing barn-burning or violent femmes-esque about "Mothers." it is the most gentle and adult contemporary sounding song on the record.

    3. "Blood on the Streets" does not open with a steel guitar. there is nothing of the sort in the song.

    4. Sergio Trevino's name was written as "Justin Trevino" one time.

    5. Quote from the article...
    '"Blood on the Streets": "There's too many mothers that name their daughters after towns and names of streets, there's too many fathers that name their sons after heroes on TV" and "There's too many whispers and too many secrets in the town of Cypress Creek."'
    (These are lyrics from "Mothers". Not "Blood on the Streets")

    don't get me wrong. the article is well written, both grammatically and creatively. but most of the actual information is just completely wrong and untrue.
    and the section about the tour with by the end of tonight makes everything sound so much worse and dramatic than it ever was. both in their eyes and mine. when jason said "god must hate us," or something along those lines, he was most likely referring to the tour coming to an end in delaware because of a van breaking down. this caused a long, disappointing ride home, as you can imagine.
    that's why i said the article is piss

    Comment by Brett Taylor — April 10, 2008 @ 01:43PM

  4. 1. That stuff was presented jokingly. Apparently you didn't get it.

    2. Dude, if you can't hear the similarity between "Mothers" and "Country Death Song" you're either deaf or willfully obtuse. I'm gonna go with "B."

    3. Then what is that keening, stringed instrument at the beginning of the song? It might not be a steel, but it is deliberately played to sound like one. So yeah, I might be wrong, but to say "there is nothing on the sort on the song" is more willful obtuseness.

    4. Shit. My bad. I kept doing that last week. There is another singer in Texas by the name of Justin Trevino and there is also a Justin in Buxton. I'll totally cede that you are right and I am wrong there.

    Comment by John Lomax — April 10, 2008 @ 02:06PM

  5. why would it presented jokingly. no one knows the real story so why would they choose not to take that as fact.
    and i truly think you have the songs titled incorrectly.
    blood on the streets is organ and mandolin and guitar and drums. it begins with an organ alone.
    maybe the only problem is that the names of your songs are all mixed up. because i can definitely see violent femmes in some of the songs, but NONE in "mothers." it might not be your fault, but im pretty sure that's the case

    Comment by Brett Taylor — April 10, 2008 @ 03:02PM

  6. Nope, "Mothers" is the one I am thinking of.

    Have you ever heard "Country Death Song"?

    You are starting to remind me of the guy who thought I was crazy to compare Arcade Fire's "Funeral" to early New Order.

    Comment by John Lomax — April 11, 2008 @ 12:05PM

  7. Have you ever even heard "Country Death Song"? "Mothers" sounds a lot like it.

    You are starting to remind me of the guy who thought I was nut for saying that Arcade Fire's Funeral reminded me of New Order. He'd never heard Power, Corruption and Lies and so thought I was an idiot.

    Comment by John Lomax — April 11, 2008 @ 01:16PM

  8. This article is solid and it interests me in Buxton more than I EVER would be. I'm already checking out the music.

    But man...the dialog on the comments section is the best part.

    Comment by Jonathan — April 16, 2008 @ 06:23AM

  9. How hard is it to edit something before you print it? Check your facts, and make sure all of your references are correct. Really, it can't be so difficult as to warrant mis-naming this poor Trevino kid TWICE in two weeks.

    And honestly is this how we're writing English these days:

    "is neither as bluesy as that record nor not quite as groundbreaking"

    nor not...? Really...?

    Everytime I think about it, it baffles me you have the job you do.

    Comment by pissed off — April 16, 2008 @ 01:06PM

  10. I'll tell you what baffles me -- why you feel the need to bash me anonymously. Let me guess, you are in a band and you are holding out hope that I'll be your useful idiot some day.

    Look, in journalism we have these things called deadlines. I had all of two hours to work with in writing that story.

    Mistakes happen. I feel terrible about the Sergio/Justin thing.

    But as for the nor/not thing....It is what we call a "typo" in this trade. They happen. Get a grip.

    Comment by John Lomax — April 18, 2008 @ 02:09PM

  11. go to this: http://www.myspace.com/buxtonband
    listen to "Blood on the Streets"
    and just tell me that you had the songs mixed up. NO steel guitar.

    Comment by Brett Taylor — April 19, 2008 @ 11:09AM

  12. Lomax, do you really think you have enough sway over the opinions of the music listeners in this town as to believe that you could ever be "useful" to me or anyone in a band? You don't. No one cares, please move. Incidentally, I am not in a band.

    Comment by pissed off — April 20, 2008 @ 11:50AM

  13. Brett: You are right. The CD Database has it wrong. I listened to the album on iTunes and my iPod and whoever entered the data labeled "Blood on the Streets" and probably more than a few of the other songs wrong.

    Pissed Off: Still wallowing in cowardly anonymity I see...

    Comment by John Lomax — April 26, 2008 @ 07:27AM

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