Just out of high school, the crew that makes up Avi Buffalo is young, adventurous, and seems to know exactly what it’s doing. After signing to some minor label called Sub-Pop (not like they’ve spit out huge indie band after indie band or anything), they embarked on a world tour with the likes of Rogue Wave and Japandroids. Consequence of Sound had the delight of speaking to lead-singer/guitar-player Avigdor Zahner-Isenberg about the road, the band, and most importantly… new beginnings.

So you’ve been on the road for quite some time now. How was the East Coast/South/first leg of the tour?

It was super fun, we had such a good time. Although it was a lot to get used to. Some shows went really bad–I really wasn’t channeling my energy very well. Also my guitar broke. But SXSW was a grand time–so many awesome bands, and there was such intense motivation to do our best. Just cool vibes for a show. It was also great to see and meet Happy Birthday as well there.

Being new to touring, what was it like playing with Rogue Wave, an older, experienced band?

It was interesting–really awesome people. Steven the keyboard player is just a busting piano player, and I learned a lot listening to him. The shows had a different attitude when Rogue Wave played, with all they’ve accomplished musically. They got the crowd so stoked–the energy was so intense and just powerful.

Your music is a mix of acoustic jams and rock songs. What do you typically play at shows?

Well, we play ”What’s It In For?” because we have to. It’s tough because that song was overproduced–not that I didn’t love that–but we can’t recreate that live, which is a bummer. We just don’t have enough musicians for it. The song that I’m most proud of playing live is “Coaxed”–which is pretty different from our version on the record, and is a clue to us to always make the live stuff different than the recording. A lot of the tunes are super old, and we need to write some new music. It’s a weird deal; I’m proud of some, not proud of others, they really go in cycles. Some songs are good for some days, others good for others.

You’ve been decribed as Wilco-esque, music for a mature audience. Do you shy away from that label or embrace it?

I grew up with older people’s music because of my parents. We’ve got a lot to do in terms of working on a sound that’s new–a song like “What’s It In For?” is fun, but at the same time to me it’s an easy way out, which is weird because that song is what has gotten us this far. I’m just really into the patient guitar playing and it’s easy to grab on to, with traditional music. Growing up learning from blues guys has helped me with giving me a classic approach.

Getting this far. What was it like signing to Sub Pop [and] simply blowing up so fast?

It’s been really fucking rad–there’s no other label like that that backed us up, that were so completely reliable. You hear horror stories about bands not getting attention from their labels and being neglected, and Sub Pop has been so wonderful. They put all their love into everything they do, and it feels like a family up there. It’s rare when you get that. They don’t tell you what record you’re supposed to make–do whatever you want. Freedom.

Speaking of which, tell us a little about your self-titled full-length.

We recorded it with this guy Aaron Embry, who’s been essential to all this that’s happening. Magical, unreal relationship. People from Sub Pop heard it, called us up. Before that, I had only made home recordings that were much darker. The album is a good introduction to the band, with some heavy production. I’m happy with it, but next time I’d like to go a little more sparse, careful, kind of stripped-down stuff, clear the clutter. Space is one of the most awesome things. It’s a jolly, bright, jangly-sounding album and I like that, but I don’t necessarily want to stay there.

You grew up in Long Beach, playing shows all over So-Cal. Did living so close to Los Angeles benefit Avi Buffalo?

Absolutely, it was nice living in Long Beach. L.A. has almost too much going on, so it was nice being isolated without too big of a scene around. You drive 25 minutes up and you’re in the L.A. scene. As soon as we played a show up there we never turned down a gig. When we got a booking agent, we couldn’t play as many shows, and starting to tour was really weird. It’s been quite a process–I just need to write more and get the juices out.