N.Y. (WIVB) — With a concert at Buffalo’s Outer Harbor the evening of the Buffalo Bills preseason game against the Carolina Panthers, Canadian rock band Arkells are running a promotion with fellow Bills fans in mind
This past weekend, they selected one lucky fan to win tickets to both the game and the concert, with a VIP meet-and-greet experience included as well.
“We’re all Bills fans,” Kerman said. “We’ve had a great relationship with the team over the last number of years, and our drummer Tim, he lives in Fort Erie and he goes to as many games as he can, and of course there’s the new stadium that’s being built this season.”
He said that whenever Arkells goes through any town, particularly the ones they’ve built a relationship with, they always want to make their shows a festive celebration for fans.
“‘How do we feel a part of the community, how do we feel a fabric of the culture of the place that we’re going?'” Kerman said. “And I know in Buffalo, the Bills are such a huge part of that, and when we realized that our show was the same night as an afternoon preseason game, we were like, ‘Oh, we should do something fun with them.'”
This weekend’s show will mark the band’s third in Buffalo this year, following a massive record release weekend in April, during which they played shows on back-to-back nights at Town Ballroom.
Since then, they have played in North American and European venues, circling back to Buffalo with openers The Maine this weekend.
Kerman said he and his band are pumped to take the Outer Harbor stage, and that getting reps in on their new material has helped them feel great about taking it to larger stages.
“Summertime, the weather’s good; I know people in Buffalo suffer through a long winter, so we’ve got to make the most of it,” Kerman said. “We played in 2023 at the harbor, before the stage had been fully built, so I haven’t seen the new digs, but I’ve been really excited because people have said great things about it.”
He said Arkells last toured with The Maine in 2012, and have kept in touch. He said they are an example of a band that produces consistently good work, showing up for their fans, showing they care for the community, touring a lot, and pushing themselves in tehir music.
“We’re always chatting with each other about how you keep this thing as vibrant as possible,” he said. “So we’re so excited to play with them in Buffalo; it’s going to be a great reunion.”
Kerman also confirmed the band also returned to the studio recently — not for a major project, and not even necessarily for something that will come to fruition — but said it might.
“We were just recording a little one-off thing, we’re not in new music mode quite yet,” he said. “It’s a little left of center, but it’ll be fun if it ever sees the light of day.”
Tickets to Arkells’ show at the Outer Harbor are available at this link. The full interview with Max Kerman can be watched at the top of this page or streamed on Spotify, on Apple Podcasts, and in the story above.
Adam Duke joined the WIVBdigital staff in November 2021. He is the creator and host of the weekly arts & entertainment series and podcast ‘Buffalo Jukebox.’ See more of his work here.
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