Sludge/Stoner Metallers BISON are performing at this year's The Electric Highway Festival on Saturday April 06th 2025 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The band released their last album You Are Not The Ocean You Are The Patient back in 2017 to a wave of critical acclaim.
I caught up with the band to discuss what folks will have in store from BISON ahead of their festival performance.
Totally fine. Excited to take a couple of days off work and hit the road with the boys.
How are the preparations currently going?
We’ve been regularly exercising our livers and sending lots of memes back and forth in the group chat in order to get ready. Lots of inside jokes saved up, haha. We all live very spread out over BC and the Yukon so most of our prep is just practicing at home. Doing our homework, as it were. Then we usually all meet in Vancouver a couple of days prior to gig time to jam all together and load gear.
What can people in attendance expect from BISON for this festival performance?
Four fellas who absolutely love crushing skulls, laughing, bursting eardrums, hugging, and leaving everything on the stage. The whole point of the band has always been to channel the energy we don’t normally get to express day to day. At times that can lead to some big feelings on stage but we also try to have as much fun as possible.
What type of set will you be performing though I expect it will be a collection of greatest hits.
Yea I think it’s a pretty good mix of older and newer. Last time we were through with Anciients (October 2024) we both had to be mindful of our set lengths and stick to a tight schedule. This time we can let it breathe a little more and maybe switch it up on the fly if we feel like it.
I can neither confirm nor deny wether or not there exists any unheard Bison material nor unreleased recordings at this current time
Will you be doing any more gigs before the festival happens and if so where will you be performing at?
We have one stop on the way out in Nelson (April 04, 2024 @ the Eagles Hall w/ Cave Dweller, Pure Love Eternal Peace & Sweetbeast)
What bands are you looking forward to see performing live at The Electric Highway Festival?
I can’t wait to see GOEFF again! Fucking love those dudes! And our old pal Cliff’s band the Getmines (Cliff also plays in Chunk who are on the friday). And I can’t wait to be pleasantly surprised by something new.
Bison released their last album Your Are Not The Ocean You Are The Patient way back in 2017. The album was critically acclaimed across the board. Did it surprise you the response that it received.
No I wasn’t surprised. Delighted, maybe, and of course relieved. As far as our catalogue goes though it’s some of my personal favourite tunes of ours.
Are there any plans to release any new material the very near future.
Again, I can neither confirm nor deny any recording sessions that may or may not have taken place or will take place in the future and any subsequent plans to release said hypothetical music theretofore.
What has been the high points and low points performing with the band?
The absolute lowest point (for me personally) was July 29, 2009. We had started a tour in Canada with our dear pals Barn Burner and Lazarus AD from Kenosha. The Canadian leg was amazing but as soon as we parted ways with Barn Barn Burner and crossed over from Winnipeg into the States it all went downhill. Breakdowns, sickness, summer in the desert, more breakdowns, promoters ripping us off, our TM Sara almost getting stabbed…it was relentless. We somehow survived but that was the first time I feel like we actually had to regroup and reevaluate. I was ready to call it a day after that one but I’m sure as hell glad we didn’t.
The early days were some great, high times, I mean points. It’s always fluid but the most consistent high period has been the last few years having Evan and Eugene in the band. We pushed ourselves really hard early on and suffered for it. We had a lot of casualties and fractured a lot of relationships. James and I have been doing Bison for…shit, 19 years this August?!? So we’ve learned a lot about each other in that time. Like any relationship it’s not always easy but communication is key.
Do you have any other musical projects that folks can check out or any exciting releases coming in the future?
Eugene put out a record last year with his band Bloodrhine (with Adam & Kent from Black Wizard) which is a riff-filled, bruiser! Evan and his partner Kirsty have a crushing batch of tunes they are releasing with their band Franklin. I was also incredibly fortunate to have been asked to do some guest vocals for both of them, which was an absolute honour.
How did you get involved with music? Was it a particular album, group or artist that made you want to write and play your own music?
I loved pop music when I was a kid in the 80’s. From there onto rap, classic rock, hard rock, punk, metal, grunge, industrial. The obvious answer would be Sabbath, Zeppelin, Nirvana, Black Flag, Melvins…but we were actually really lucky to have Much Music back then. Getting exposed to so many amazing underground Canadian bands that were heavy as fuck but also just looked like us was really inspiring. And then digging deeper and deeper into the underground. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - Shallow North Dakota, Kittens, I-Spy, Swallowing Shit…I wouldn’t be doing this if it weren’t for them.
Will you be performing any gigs later in the year?
We just announced a gig in Vancouver at Red Gate Arts Society. It’s the one year anniversary of Matterhorn Records, the shop started by our pal Johnny Matter. It’s with our pals Night Court, Big Ethel and the Disruptions. We have some other stuff in the works too but nothing we can announce yet.
Before you go, do you have any words of wisdom for your fans currently out there?
There are a lot of absolutely horrendous things going on in the world right now and we all gotta watch out for and take care of each other. Bison stands with all marginalized communities. If anyone thinks that all people don’t deserve to simply exist without fear then they’re fucked. Everything is political.
Words by Steve Howe and BISON
Links
Electric Highway Festival Info:
Website: TheElectricHighway.ca
Facebook: Facebook.com/ElectricHighwayFestival
Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1149647296782460/
Instagram: Instagram.com/TheElectricHighway
X: X.com/TheElectricHwy
Thanks to BISON for doing the interview and for Asher Media PR for arranging the interview
