Issue #1: The Pilot Issue
Core4Brewing, Concerts, and Local Tunes!
Welcome to the first issue of Red Dirt Reverb! This is the monthly newsletter where I will be covering underground music from the state of Oklahoma, among a few other things from these parts.
I’m going to consider this a “pilot” issue. First off, I’m not really sure how interested people will be in something like this, even in the state itself. I haven’t gotten a ton of feedback on the idea yet. It’s still early though. We will see. Also, I’m still playing around with the format to determine how this thing is going to look. I’d appreciate any feedback you could give me on that end.
Some background on myself. I’ve been back and forth between Oklahoma and other parts of the world for most of my life. Somehow I also end up back here. I’ve been in several bands in the Oklahoma area, most notably the punk bands ABF and Get Fired. Aside from that, I’ve tried my hand at a few Oklahoma-based music podcasts. One of those was called Off the Record and I played only music from Oklahoma bands.
But enough about me, let’s get into this thing, shall we?
First off, I want to spotlight a local business that has been around for a few years and has been helping to keep the music scene alive since its inception. I’m talking about the Core4 Brewing Company in downtown OKC.
I had to chance to talk briefly with one of the owners of Core4, Buck Buchanan about the business and it’s place in the local music scene.
What inspired you to start a brewing company?
My business partner Marty & I played in a band together. Marty was a homebrewer and his home is where we practiced. He always had his kegerator full of his homebrew, so it made it a great place to practice. Marty got me into homebrewing as well. We would brew together at his home. At the time we were both about to turn 40 and he was working in commercial construction. We talked about doing something different as his back was already starting to hurt and we discussed how he needed to change careers for it crippled him. He thought with his beers and my promotional qualities we may be able to go commercial with the beer. We then took the idea to our wives. Marty’s wife Amy is an OU Alum with a Degree in Business Management. She dialed out a good business plan and away we went.
How did the Core Four idea come about?
…The name generates from the 4 main ingredients in beer, Water, Hops, Barley, & Yeast. We struggled trying to find a good name for the brewery. At the time Craft Beer was brand new and we felt like it was hard to go to a brewery and just get a beer. Everyone was throwing every adjunct you could think of in their beers. Our goal was to change that. We wanted to make sure our beers were always approachable to any person no matter where they are on their Beer Journey. My wife Jill came up with name and a rough draft of the logo as we discussed this and the fact there were 4 of us at the time that were owners.
How would you describe the personality of Core Four?
It’s hard for me to describe our personality as I feel it’s a blend of multiple things. Since we are all from the music and art scene in OKC we are heavily focused on these areas. We are safe space for anyone to come have a beer. Most consider us the Cheers of the craft beer industry. We like to say “Come in as a Stranger and Leave as a Friend. We are extremely community focused as we raise funds for different local non-profits every month. We raised over $25k last year. We have local artists work for sale in our hallway that is 100% commission free. Its nice to have a space that allows us to give back to the community that gave so much to us.
What role does music play in your space?
If beer is the blood, music is the heartbeat of Core4. We are all massive music fans and Marty & I are both musicians. When we were putting this together, music was never questioned. We have an open mic every Thursday, Live music nearly every weekend, and a songwriter session every third Sunday. There is music art in the taproom, and a lot of beer names are based on fav bands or songs.
Over the time you’ve been open have there been any live music highlights that stood out to you?
We like to say the music gods tend to shine down on us from time to time. There are many music moments that mean the world to me at Core4. I think one that I am most proud of is our YouTube Series Tiny Brewery Series. We bring in a local original artist, a film crew, and a crowd that is held to only 20 people to keep it very intimate. The artists play a 45 min all original set and get to tell stories about each song. We edit the film and release it on youtube for everyone to enjoy. This also gives the artist and additional items to add to their resume and press kit. This idea started during covid when we were not allowed to have people in the taproom and has grown into what it is now. Be sure to check it out on the Core4 YouTube page.
What does being locally owned mean to you and why do you think supporting a local business is important?
Locally owned is a bigger deal than anyone realizes. One pint could make or break whether we pay rent this month. Supporting your hyper local business is supporting families that live in your neighborhood. It keeps your hard earned money and tax dollars in you community and not going to some billionaire who doesn’t care about you.
What’s next for Core Four?
There is so much on the horizon. We are getting ready to celebrate our 6 Year Anniversary on Saturday March 14th. This absolutely blows my mind. The group of friends we have collected, the community we have created, and the things we have been able to do because of Core4 are absolutely unbelievable and humbling. Stay tuned and follow us @core4brewing on all the social media to find out what is next for us. Core4 is always celebrating community One Pint at a Time!
Next, I want to announce some shows that are coming up this month in the area. As I mentioned, I didn’t get a lot of feedback and not a whole lot of folks submitted their upcoming show lists to me so what I have is what I have. Hopefully, I can get more venues to send me their schedules. In any case, here’s what I was able to find for the month of March:
Friday, March 6 - Riott Rockette, Droida, and Chainsaw Review Club at the Grand Royale in Oklahoma City
Saturday, March 7 - DEBRIS DOCUMENTARY FUNDRAISER with The Other Things, Psychotic Reaction, and The Rumble at the Grand Royale in Oklahoma City
Thursday, March 12 - Sex Mex, Havana Affair, Low Down Weasel, and Belle Riots at the Grand Royale in Oklahoma City
Friday, March 13 - Costanzas, King Witch Mother, Dion Warlocke, and Planet Size Ego at 51st Street Speakeasy in Oklahoma City
Thursday, March 19 - Fair Weather Enemies, Placeholders, and Space Cowboys at Opolis in Norman
Lastly, I’m going to share a few tunes from the local area. My plan is to throw up five songs on each issue of the newsletter. Again, we’ll see how this all works out.
Starting us off is “Blacklist” by John Moreland. This comes from the Tulsa-based troubadour off his 2013 album In The Throes.
Next is “Girl Talk” from Edmond-based indie/punk band Euclid Crash. Unfortunately, this band isn’t around anymore but they were great so check them out. This one comes from their 2011 self-titled album.
The third song is a bit of shameless self promotion but what the hell, this is MY newsletter right? So why not? Anyway, it’s “Mail Order Bride” by Get Fired. This one was from our 2016 debut EP Things That Are Not Rocket Science.
Next, is the title track to Sympathy for the She Devil by Sedona Crystal Bitch. SCB are (were?) a sludge rock/desert rock band based out of Oklahoma City. The album was released in 2013.
Finally, is a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “No Surrender” from OKC’s Roustabouts. This one was released on a 2004 compilation album called Midwest Rules: You’re Weak, We’re Strong that was put out by Haunted Town Records. Really great version of this song.
So that’s it for the first ever issue of Red Dirt Reverb! Hope you like what I’m doing here and listen, if you are a band, venue, artist, booking company, promoter, whatever (as long as it has something to do with music)…..get in touch with me at otter272@gmail.com and talk to me about putting something on here. Spread the word! Document the scene and amplify the artists!