Buck 65 Interview
Presenting an eclectic mix of hip-hop, blues and folk music, Buck 65 has come far since the start of his career. First introduced to hip-hop during his university days in the 1980s, he started his own work with a series of mix-tapes back in the early 90s. Super-articulate and somewhat elusive, when reading about him you tend to be left with the impression that there is more to his story than just what you are being let on to. He is a self-confessed ‘hermit’ however, preferring to write, produce and record alone, only fairly recently coming out of his shell.
Buck has spent most of his life in the small Nova Scotia town of Mount Euniacke. Much of his current work is emblazoned with references to his life in his home town; “Sometimes when you are really up close to something you kind of have to back away to really see it. I have heard an expression, the mouse and the elephant, the mouse is so small that it doesn’t even know it is standing in front of the elephant until it backs up. I was standing in front of an elephant.”
Buck continues to talk about his home town with both a sense of nostalgia and a thankful relief that he has somehow managed to escape; “I’m kind of one of the first people to have really come out of that town. I think I am actually one of the first to have ever left! Most small town people just tend to stay there!” Reflecting for a minute though, he then says; “When I was there, the town was just normality. When I moved away though and had other things to compare it to, I ended up getting really home sick. So what has ended up, is this small town where I came from became more of an influence after I left then when I actually lived there. It is very deep inside of me and it just has almost everything to do with who I am.”
More recently, the municipal government of Mount Euniacke has started to recognise his achievements as a musician; “They have set up, like, a scholarship in my name! For a local community college, a trade school, where kids will go to learn practical skills, and I just thought ‘that’s great!’ I don’t know what all this means but they are giving me the keys to the town and putting my name on the sign! Of all the great and rewarding experiences that have happened to me in my life, I have to say, that is probably the one that makes me the most proud.”
Much of Buck’s early career was based around the underground hip-hop scene. His first collection to be released to critical acclaim was the Man Overboard album, on the Anticon label. Before that he had released many collaborative hip-hop tapes, however he doesn’t look back too fondly now on much of his early work. In a 2004 interview with Kerrang! Magazine he said he had “grown to hate” hip-hop music and that “people behind hip hop music don’t know anything about music theory.” Buck was then slammed by former Anticon label mates and later retracted his comments.
The last two albums especially however have shown exactly how much he has moved on from his early work; “I think of myself as more of a music fan than a musician in my own right. I am obsessed with it. I buy music every single day. I have the biggest record collection I have ever seen, and due to the fact that I am really hungry when I listen, I learn from the new music I am hearing and am continually inspired.”
Progression in his music also reflects on how he has grown up since he first started recording; “When I wrote my first songs I was a teenager and now I have grey hair on my face! My music is all personal though, and that being the case it is a reflection of who I am, and how I am a changing person, for better or for worse.”
Where Buck really comes into his own however, is of course his live shows. He doesn’t just play his songs; he’s a real entertainer; “I always try and keep it new and different. With people who have seen me before, I want to give them a reason to keep on coming again, and I don’t want anyone to walk away thinking ‘well, I could have just stayed at home and listened to the record,’ so I like to mix things up, put on a show and try to interact.”
What is really obvious is just how much Buck 65 just loves making music; “I’m trying to be super-prolific at the moment. Trying to write a new song every day, and I’m going to try and put a lot of new material out, use my website and my myspace page, just constantly throw new stuff out there. Not stuff I am going to sell, just like, here’s more music, more music! I just want to go on, learn more and more instruments, try and learn more and more theory. I have a close friend living near me who went to music school and I am always asking about ten questions a day! Recently, I have also rekindled a relationship with my school music teacher from when I was a kid!”
While he is on stage, Buck 65 comes across as quite the extravert. However when he is not performing, he really just prefers to work alone, listen to music and, it appears, return to being elusive; “I hopefully want to go back one day to just being a complete hermit. I am really anti-social, and it tends to be the way I am most comfortable.” His more recent music has seen him collaborating with some big-name producers; “When I did the last record, with Tortoise and other people, I was terrified! I suppose it was good for me, to put myself in an uncomfortable position and work from it. Almost as an experiment, like ‘lets see what happens if I work from an area of complete discomfort’”
“Doing collaborative things here and there is fun, but I work best alone I think.”
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