An Interview With Sludge/Stoner Metallers BISON (The Electric Highway Festival Interview Special)

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.

How are things with you today?

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.

Will you be performing any new material to surprise listeners with.

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

Facebook | BandCamp

​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

BISON - You Are Not The Ocean You Are The Patient (Album Review)

Release date: June 23rd 2017. Label: Pelagic Records. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

You Are Not The Ocean You Are The Patient – Tracklisting

Until the Earth is Empty

Anti War

Drunkard

Kenopsia

Tantrum

Raiigin

Water Becomes Fire

Band Members:

James Farwell (or "Gnarwell")

Dan And

Shane Clark

Matt Wood

Review

Listening to Bison's new album ‘You Are Not The Ocean You Are The Patient’ it soon becomes clear that these guys are experienced musicians and know what they’re doing. The record is packed with sludgy grooves, harsh vocals and a variation of clean jams. To get it out of the way early, this record is a total sludgehammer.

The album, whose title unfortunately makes me think of a stereotypical metalcore-band, is luckily far from that. No time is wasted wailing out top class riffs that makes one think of Yob and Conan. It’s noticeable just how much Bison puts an effort in creating progression in their songs. ‘You Are Not the Ocean You Are The Patient’ delivers just enough diversity to keep it interesting the whole way through.

The track Tantrum, in particular, stands out to me. This could be taken straight from Mastodon's classic album Leviathan based on the sheer quality of the riffs, melodies and instrumentation not typical to a sludge-band. Using violins and flutes creates a soundscape that is both immersive as it is impressive. It creates the feeling of sitting alone in a forest cabin on a dark rainy evening with only solitude as company.

Another stand-out track, Anti War, help Bison reach another level of dynamics with a raw punk approach. Still it does groove in between the crushing riffs. This is certainly one of the “must-listen” tracks on the album due to its screamed vocals and trash-metal solo.

To finish with a sombre track such as Water Becomes Fire is a bold and genius move. Everything is slowed down as guitars are plucking chords and the drums play real carefully as the violin makes another appearance to create an eerie and disturbing feeling. Here Bison plays some of the albums most warm and soothing jams. This is before they erupt into some proper Yob-esque riffage. And it is with songs like these that Bison shine the most.

There is no denying that Bison are both skilled musicians and a great band. This has allowed them to create a piece that will certainly stand the test of time. The production is clear, cutting guitars with a rumbling bass are the main focus here, they do not disappoint in any way. Everything is filthy and has its own layer of dirt, massive plus. Every instrument has its own place and never steps on another, thought has been placed while mixing this beast to let everything breathe.

To fully appreciate the eeriness and brooding doom, Bison conjures that you really should listen to ‘You Are Not the Ocean You Are The Patient’, perhaps in a single sitting in a lonely forest cabin, on a dark rainy evening.

Words by Simon Ohlsson

You Are Not The Ocean You Are The Patient is available to buy on CD/DD/Vinyl via Pelagic Records now.

Links:

Facebook | BandCamp