Slowly Going the Way of the Buffalo is the fourth studio album

Studio album

A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...

 released by the American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Skate punk

Skate punk

Skate punk is a sub genre of punk rock, originally a derivative of the West Coast hardcore punk scene, that is named after its popularity among skateboarders and association with skateboarding culture. Skate punk most commonly describes the sound of melodic hardcore bands from the 1990s with an...

/punk rock

Punk rock

Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

 band MxPx

MxPx

MxPx is a pop punk band from Bremerton, Washington with connections to the Christian punk scene. The band has recorded eight studio albums, four EPs, four compilation albums, a live album, a VHS tape, a DVD and released 20 singles....

 in 1998. The album title was taken from a letter that a fan had written to the band, complaining that the band was changing, and, "Slowly Going the Way of the Buffalo." The band addresses this on their DVD, B-Movie

B-Movie (DVD)

B-Movie is a DVD released by MxPx in 2004. It is a combination of live concert footage and a documentary of the band. The concert footage is culled from a 3-night stint in late 2003 at El Corazon in Seattle...

. It ranked at #99 on the Billboard 200

Billboard 200

The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

 and went gold on January 27, 2000.

Track listing

All songs written by Mike Herrera

Mike Herrera

Michael Arthur Herrera is an American musician most widely known as the vocalist and bass guitarist for the pop punk band MxPx, as well as being the front-man of his new band Tumbledown.-Early life:...

. Arranged by MxPx

MxPx

MxPx is a pop punk band from Bremerton, Washington with connections to the Christian punk scene. The band has recorded eight studio albums, four EPs, four compilation albums, a live album, a VHS tape, a DVD and released 20 singles....

.

1. "Under Lock and Key" — 2:32
2. "Tomorrow's Another Day" — 2:47
3. "The Final Slowdance" — 1:59
4. "I'm OK, You're OK" — 2:39
5. "Cold and All Alone" — 2:07
6. "Party, My House, Be There" — 2:16
7. "The Downfall of Western Civilization" — 2:42
8. "Invitation to Understanding" — 2:33
9. "Fist vs. Tact" — 1:11
10. "What's Mine Is Yours" — 3:44
11. "Self Serving with a Purpose" — 2:48
12. "For Always" — 3:12
13. "Set the Record Straight" — 2:57
14. "Get with It!" — 1:44
15. "Inches from Life" — 1:51
16. "The Theme Fiasco" — 3:10

Track information

• "I'm OK, You're OK" previously appeared on The Cootees
  The Cootees
  The Cootees were an American pop punk band. MxPx members Mike Herrera and Tom Wisniewski joined with Dale Yob and a mutual friend, Jiles O'Neal. They only created one album, entitled Let's Play House, which was released in 1997...
  
  ' album Let's Play House
  Let's Play House
  Let's Play House is the only album released by pop punk band The Cootees. The song "I'm Ok, You're Ok" was later "covered" by MxPx, it is on their album Slowly Going the Way of the Buffalo...
  
  , which featured Mike on guitar and vocals and Tom on drums.
• Perhaps the most historically significant song on the record is the song "What's Mine Is Yours", which originated from the MxPx vs. Tooth & Nail controversy. In particular, the line "Money doesn't mean to me what it obviously means to you, 'cause I would never steal from kids that don't have a clue" is a direct reference to the fact that Tooth & Nail weaseled the band into a very poor contract when they were 15. The title of the song refers to the fact that their contract with Tooth & Nail took ownership of Mike's songs. A&M bought the band out of their contract with Tooth & Nail, but for legal purposes, the Tooth & Nail logo remained on the band's first two albums with the new record label (Slowly Going the Way of the Buffalo and The Ever Passing Moment). Mike later named his publishing company "What's Mine Is Mine" in reference to the song.

Credits

• Mike Herrera
  Mike Herrera
  Michael Arthur Herrera is an American musician most widely known as the vocalist and bass guitarist for the pop punk band MxPx, as well as being the front-man of his new band Tumbledown.-Early life:...
  
   — bass
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  , vocals
  Singing
  Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
  
  
• Tom Wisniewski — guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  , background vocals
  Backing vocalist
  A backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...
  
  
• Yuri Ruley
  Yuri Ruley
  Yuri Zane Ruley is an American drummer who plays in the pop punk band MxPx. In 1992, while still in high school, Ruley started MxPx with Mike Herrera and Andy Husted; Husted was replaced by Tom Wisniewski two years later...
  
   — drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  
• Ronnie King — keys
  Keyboard instrument
  A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
  
  
• Greg Hetson
  Greg Hetson
  Greg Hetson is an American guitarist. He was born in Brooklyn, New York and has lived in Los Angeles, California since he was 2 years old...
  
   — lead guitar on "The Downfall of the Western Civilization"
• Dale Yob — vocals on "I'm Ok, You're OK"
• Jeff Bettger — screams on "Fist vs. Tact" and "The Theme Fiasco"
• Steve Kravac — producer
  Record producer
  A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
  
  , mixing
  Audio mixing (recorded music)
  In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...
  
  
• Aaron Warner — production assistant
• Al Lay — mixing assistant
• Brian "Big Bass" Gardner — mastering
• Marina Chavez — photography
• Mitch Tobias — photography
• John Nissen — illustrations
• Luke W. Midkiff — illustrations/ Video direction