(Photo by Ciara Shockley)
There’s been an onslaught of new music produced on the Buffalo scene in the last few weeks. We admit: not only have we’ve been struggling to keep up, we’ve been caught completely off guard by a handful of recent releases. Case in point: ‘Demo ’24’ by new Buffalo hardcore band Seconds Left, which dropped seemingly from the sky on May 17.
We had a chance to sit down with the four-song demo the morning after its release, and once again, we were caught completely off guard: Not only is this demo an impressive debut, it grabs you by the throat.
Seconds Left is made up of three-fifths Selfish Act: Griffin Coyne, Owen Jones and Conor Kennedy. The band also includes Aidan Howard and newcomer Olivia Delcamp on vocals, who knocks it out the park both lyrically and in delivery.
Coyne — who also plays in the excellent first-wave Buffalo hardcore band, G.O.A. — has emerged as one of the strongest songwriters on the Buffalo hardcore scene and his guitar riffs on Demo ’24 exude a distinct melodic power. Complimenting Coyne is Jones, whose songwriting prowess has grown exponentially over the past year. Jones, the front man for Selfish Act, moves to drums in Seconds Left, and is joined in the band’s rhythm section by Howard, a well-known presence on the hardcore scene. The multi-talented Kennedy, meanwhile, who plays bass in Selfish Act and also serves as the band’s reserve drummer in the absence of David Wagner, combines forces with Coyne in Seconds Left and plays guitar here.
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“The whole transition from fronting to drums has been pretty natural I’d say, from the perspective of writing and practicing,” Jones said. “I typically like to have a direct hand in writing, so it’s been pretty interesting to directly have my own groove translated in the songs vs. saying what kind of rhythm we should play and see what’s in my bandmates’ head.
“Playing live (recently at Rec Room), I was trying my best not to lose my cool. Prior to this I hadn’t played drums seriously since my sophomore year of high-school, when I had one practice for a math rock band that instantly fell apart,” Jones added. “More generally, I feel so grateful to be able to grow in the way I have in the last year since taking any of this seriously. I’ve picked up guitar, drums, and have so many people around with motivation to make things and make it well. I’m just trying to take the time to meet that part of the people I’ve come to call friends in Buffalo HxC.”
If ever there was a band that was aptly named it’s Seconds Left. The group simply hasn’t wasted a moment since forming. In a span over just more than 60 days, the band has gone from not even existing to releasing a demo and playing the Rec Room, opening for Spaced as part of a packed bill before a huge crowd. For Delcamp in particular, who has never been in band, it’s been a baptism by fire.
"These past two months have been crazy,” Delcamp said. “It started off with Owen dm'ing me after I had left a comment on a @buffalohardcore716 call for hardcore bands post on Instagram. Soon after, we had our first practice. Lexi from Spaced reached out to Aidan, I believe, asking her if we could be ready to play by May 19. We agreed, because how could we not!
“Playing a huge bill right off the bat at Rec Room was absolutely terrifying,” Delcamp acknowledged, “but with the support of all of the other bands playing that night, my friends, family, the people who showed up, it felt freeing. I've only been living in Buffalo for about eight months now, but I've known boundless love and support. That’s what it's about, man.”
Lyrically, as far as the subject matter explored on Demo ‘24, Delcamp said: “I wanted to start off as passionate as I could. My teenage years are coming to an end soon and I'm experiencing a lot of change externally and internally, which can be painful. I wrote about how I hardly recognize myself anymore, and frustration with my peers. I wrote about how, in the end, we share the same traits. The goal was to make the lyrics easy to understand and sing along to, and to keep it as true to myself as possible.
“Working with Owen, Griffin, Conor and Aidan has been so much fun,” Delcamp added. “They are such a passionate group of individuals. There were a lot of firsts for all of us. This was not only my first time performing, but Aidan's first time playing bass in front of a crowd, Owen's first time drumming in a band since high school, Conor's first time playing guitar in a band, and Griffin's first time releasing a demo before the first show. I am so extremely proud of them. They really are so inspirational. This was all so terrifying but they were supportive every step of the way, and I truly believe that they are the epitome of what Buffalo Hardcore stands for.”
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