Watch Doug Martsch Play Butthole Surfers Covers At A Boise Skatepark

We just returned from Big Ears Music Festival in Knoxville, and, while I love it, the most difficult decision we have to make, aside from which acts to see there, is leaving the Northwest during Treefort. I only attended the Boise festival once back in 2016, but I had an incredibly positive experience. It’s not too far of a trek from Seattle, and we know people who live there, but one of the music fest’s greatest strengths is its overall energy. Despite thousands of people swarming in for it each year, the city welcomes you. Rather than feeling like invaders, they made us feel like they actually wanted us there. It was relaxed, but organized. Big Ears and Treefort are similar in the respect that they are set up for attendees to actually experience the cities that host them, as opposed to just operating as a plot of land for some multi-day corporate fiasco.

Treefort was born out of a desire to showcase the local music scene, with the dates initially chosen to coincide with the musical acts returning home from SXSW. Built To Spill is easily the biggest success story to ever come from “The City Of Trees,” and the indie rock innovators have maintained a consistent presence at the festival since its founding in 2012. The year we went, BtS played multiple sets, which seems to be typical for them. Even cooler was the fact that frontman Doug Martsch was pretty much just kicking it around town when he wasn’t scheduled to be on stage. At one point, I ran into him while he was waiting for his turn to rotate into a basketball game being played in the street with a hoop attached to the side of a van. Even after he moved to Portland, it went without saying that he’d be back to represent for Treefort. It will always be his home. Plus, he’s more or less the official ambassador. 

One of the first places we went when we got back to Seattle was Royal Records. The shop’s co-owner, Tyler, is a Built To Spill fan who regularly attends Treefort, so I asked him how it went this year. His response was fairly typical, but the one thing that stood out was when he told me that Doug played a show at a skate park. I would hear it mentioned a couple more times from others, but I wasn’t completely wrapping my mind around the details. From what I gathered, the set wasn’t formally announced, and Martsch wasn’t performing with the other current members of Built To Spill. This was a completely different thing altogether. I’d also heard that they played at least one Butthole Surfers song.

Digging deeper, I discovered that Doug performed as part of a trio that was billed as Buffalo Surfers. Rounding out the “secret” side project was the rhythm section of Matt Fabbi (bass) and Michael Mitchell (drums). The pair appears to work together frequently as part of the local dance company/music project/film studio, LED, as well as in other projects. Doug previously worked with the duo during a local artist residency he did back in January. I’d be curious to find out what that sounded like. Their Treefort debut consisted of Martsch shredding his guitar through a half-hour’s worth of instrumental Butthole Surfers covers as a crowd watched and people skateboarded in the distance. All they played were Surfer‘s tunes, and it’s pretty glorious. Hosted by Boise Skate Association and held at Rhodes Skate Park, the event took place on March 28th and, according to the flyer, there were giveaways and skate sessions involved.

This is definitely one of those events that would have been amazing to witness in person, but the good news is that it was documented. Not only has the soundboard recording of the full set been uploaded to Archive.org, but the entire show was also recorded on video. Check out the footage recorded by Shambling History below.

A cleaner video shot directly in front of the band is available from another account on YouTube. Unfortunately, it won’t allow me to embed that one here, but I recommend linking through to take a look at it. Both are worth watching for their different perspectives and energy.