Live shows are supposed to be a special event, says Grant Lee Buffalo drummer Joey Peters.
"It has to be - especially for those who come to the concert," Peters said during a phone call from Nashville, Tenn. "For us, there needs to be something that breaks up the insanity of traveling 24 hours a day with the same eight people."Peters, bassist/pianist Paul Kimble and guitarist/vocalist Grant Lee Phillips - collectively known as Grant Lee Buffalo - will play Club DV8, 115 S. West Temple, Sunday, Nov. 10. Doors open at 7 p.m. Opening the evening will be Slush, a band Peters' brother, Johnny, helped form.
"Our music is not a recital," Peters said. "We have the freedom to play different ways and twists songs around. We've got a different set of rules than the other bands that have theatrical elements to them."
Though Grant Lee Buffalo is named after Phillips, it's a band.
"We all migrated to L.A. in the early '80s," Peters said. "Grant and I were in a band called Shiva Burlesque, which was a psychedelic cabaret type of band with another lead singer and bassist that made two records and toured Europe, New York and San Francisco. But the band was very unstable. The first bass player left and was replaced by Paul. During that time, Grant began writing more songs and we moonlighted with our own project."
That project ate away its host organism and busted loose to become Grant Lee Buffalo.
The band recorded and released the albums "Fuzzy," "Mighty Joe Moon" and its most recent, "Copperopolis." In between, the band has hit the road with such artists as R.E.M., Pearl Jam and Sugar.
"We played more than 100 shows in 19 countries and traveled more than 200,000 miles," Peters said. "You need to eat and sleep a lot while on the road or you lose it."