Buddy’s Last Call For The Quiet Life Streaming At American Songwriter

Buddy is a Portland-born musician who relocated to Los Angeles in 2002, the band evolved from an acoustic project to a full-fledged rock outfit. It was an aesthetic that the group, which came together in 2006 when Buddy was asked to open for Tommy Stinson but couldn’t play guitar with a broken arm and needed a backing band, honed during their live shows on stages around LA and on tour across the country for several years. When Buddy began writing material for a second full-length the musical goals felt fuzzy, the lines between acoustic singer-songwriter and rock band blurred. Buddy and his band recorded an entire new album in 2009 and, after touring with Gomezin 2010, determined to scrap it.
Buddy spent the next year feeling lost, uncertain how to proceed with the band, unsure of where to take the music. He was searching for a new beginning, one that felt organic to him as a musician. It turned out that collaboration was the key to hitting the restart button. Five tracks from the unreleased album did eventually emerge in 2012 as the
The album itself, Last Call For The Quiet Life, reflects Buddy’s struggle and reconciliation with himself over the past few years. For him, the songs are a sort of confessional therapy, a place to channel the issues and ideas that plague his mind. One song, “Anchor,” even began as a poem Buddy had written, which was a new method of songwriting for him. The album’s title is derived from a line in the album’s first track, embodying the idea that you never know how long the window of opportunity will be open. The music itself embraces a more up-tempo rock vibe that reflects Buddy’s live performance, each instrument layering together to create a buoyant but introspective indie pop vibe. Last Call For The Quiet Life features several guest musicians including Michelle Branch, Cary Brothers and Holly Conlan, who lend their voices to the soaring melodies. The duo finished recording the album in early 2013 and went to Seattle in February and March to mix the record with Phil Ek at Avast Studios. The album was mastered by Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound in March 2013 in New York City. The final album is a strikingly evocative collection of songs that represents the musicians who made it. From shimmering opener “Weak Currents” to sparsely wrought closer “Scrap Metal,” “When you start something you don’t know where it’s going to go,” Buddy says. “The whole record felt like solid footing right away. It wasn’t anguished over. We just did what we both do. I needed to feel scared and not know where it was going. I had to learn to just let it happen and let it keep unfolding. When you do that, suddenly you have these songs and they all go together.”