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Monday, March 16, 2009
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Current mood:bad motherfucker
Tin Whisker interview with Joe Buck
by Cindy Johnson
http://www.thetinwhisker.com/viewtopic.php?t=197&sid=bc19992053b1d9a8fd892ab2633889bc
Joe Buck, or Jim to his friends, has a plan. He
plans to stay pissed off and sing about it until there is no need to
anymore. In a way Joe Buck is an activist, but not by protesting or
props, which he finds redundant, but by translating and transferring
emotion and energy to his audience. During my phone interview with him,
tape recorder by the phone, praying it was working, Joe was somewhere
in Florida, on tour as always. Joe Buck is a humble man who doesn’t
think he is anything special. He plays for us and he will always play
for us, whether it’s a crowd of 2 or 2000. Joe Buck and I found common
ground on many topics and shared some personal stories that showed me
the roller coaster that has been Joe Buck’s life. I am now not just a
fan of Joe Buck Yourself, I’m a fan and I hope a friend of Jim.
Cindy: You just returned from Europe. How did that part of the tour
go? Is playing Europe any different than playing the U.S.?
Joe Buck: Well, it was exactly the same. It was weird, it is weird.
I mean this first show in Rotterdam I was singing “Evil MF from
Tennessee” and I usually let the crowd say “Tennessee”, and I’m in
Rotterdam and I was like, okay, and just stopped, boom, and sure enough
I heard “Tennessee”!
Cindy: So your fan base is strong in Europe?
Joe Buck: Well I’m not trying to be different, it’s just the way it
comes out. I mean, obviously they’re looking for something different
and you know there’s not too many places for them to get something like
that I guess. It was amazing. I’m going back over there in the fall for
about two months.
Cindy: I’ve noticed so many bands booking Europe dates on their
tour schedules. It seems like a popular thing to do, I guess it always
has been.
Joe Buck: Well, I don’t book the shows, I just let people know
where I am, so it’s good because I just deal with people. We’re not
getting in touch with clubs, it’s not like that. I just want to go
where the people want me to come. I’m just excited about having a show.
The best shows are when you get your local bands together and there’s
people and you have a party. I only care about the people who are
there.
Cindy: We may not have had a huge crowd for you last year when you
played here, but everyone was there for you. And what I thought was so
special was you telling everyone to come stand by you as close as they
could, and they did for the whole show, and that was a very different
experience. It made me feel like I was part of your performance. It was
very memorable for me.
Joe Buck: Well, I mean, it’s all about the people. I mean, I’m
playing for them, you know, so yeah, the whole getting up close thing
is like it takes all of us to make that show happen. The energy has to
come from all of us and yeah, that’s not like most shows.
In most shows the band comes on and the people stare at them, and they
go through the show, and they go off stage, you know? That’s not what
I’m doing.
Cindy: You are well known in The Legendary Shack Shakers. Were
there bands before that? What was the beginning for you as a performer?
Joe Buck: I’ve been in bands my whole life. There have been a
zillion other bands. I had success with this band named Gringo back in
the early 90’s. I mean, you know, drinkin’ and druggin’ ruined it, but
I was doing shit then, in rock bands from late ’79 on and I was in all
these punk bands in the beginning. I mean, I was from a farm in
Missouri, so when I was a kid growing up there was Bocephus, Van Halen,
The Cars, but when I left the farm it was like I immediately found
punk. You know, it was like 3 years after the fact, but it was late
1979, it wasn’t 1977, but it was still new enough to where I said,
okay, and played in punk bands.
When I was 21, I think I heard Hank Williams on a commercial or
something and it was usually someone else doing his songs, really
badly. Then I met a great friend of mine, Jerry Bender, who I owe a
debt of gratitude to. He was the produce guy at the Piggly Wiggly and
lived around the corner from me. I’d have my little punk rock parties
and he was my neighbor, just lived right around the corner, and one day
he said “your music sucks, I’m bringing my own music”. So he brought
over Hank Williams 40 Greatest Hits and you know, it changed my life.
Jerry Bender! And that was in the early 80’s. I still played in punk
bands until 1994 just because I knew that playing country takes skill
and time so I worked on it all those years, but I still played in punk
bands to get by.
But my band Gringo got a bunch of great reviews. I thought I was
trying to be Hank Williams. I was just so strung out and drunk that I
was just kind of lost in that, but those were great records, I was in
great bands, but I just ruined it, just played too hard.
Cindy: How do you describe the type of music you play and especially the way you play in your solo act?
Joe Buck: I have to play every song as hard as I can. I mean,
that’s the first thing people always come up to me and hug me after a
show and say “Oh my God” because I’m soaking wet. Not just a little
wet, I mean like somebody just dumped a bunch of water on me. And
that’s because, yeah, I play every song as hard as I can. It’s all
rooted in old hillbilly music and blues. I’m not doing anything new, I
mean, maybe the approach is about something different.
Cindy: Where does all the aggression come from?
Joe Buck: Because I’m pissed off, man. I’m pissed at the way people
treat each other, I’m pissed at all the cold blooded greed. I’m so sick
of all the bullshit in the world. There’s so much to go around, man.
I’m pissed off at mass communication. I’m pissed off at Nashville, you
know, as a kid growing up on a farm, instead of having somebody from my
area on the radio singing to me, for me, like Hank Williams would’ve
been, no, I got fu#@ing Barbara Mandrell. The worst bullshit in the
world. So that music didn’t speak to me. I hated that music. I mean,
openly as a kid I said I hated country music, so it made me hate where
I was from. I had issues and I had to get them out.
I left Nashville and moved to Western Kentucky, just over the
border. The people in Nashville were great, it’s the music industry
that polluted a whole generation of good country kids. That’s why
they’re listening to Fifty Cent right now. They’re adopting a culture
that has nothing to do with them. You have to know where you’re from to
know where you’re going.
Cindy: I heard you had a show here about a year ago with the
infamous Cuz’n Wildweed and the Vapor Rhinos. Something happened at the
club, Poes Pub, can you fill us in?
Joe Buck: The Vapor Rhinos had a fog machine that you could’ve put in
an arena. So we saw smoke coming out of the club from our RV. Kathy and
I looked and there was all this smoke billowing out from the club. You
couldn’t see inside the club. The club was completely filled with smoke
and it was billowing out the doors. It was like the place was burning
down. So we’re running out of the RV to see what’s going on and the
Vapor Rhinos were still playing on stage. You couldn’t even see them.
It was the funniest thing I’ve ever seen in my life. It ran everybody
out of the bar, which was even more genius. I was like, yeah, they’ll
remember that show forever.
Cindy: What was it like performing with Cuz’n Wildweed?
Joe Buck: Well, I’m glad that Cuz’n Wildweed is here on this
planet. What can I say, you rarely meet somebody that has a giving
soul, because the majority of us are cancerous, lecherous thieves. So
to find somebody like Cuz’n shows me that good people are out there and
it gives me hope, otherwise I’d blow my brains out! We’re in this thing
for the long haul, and that’s what we need, are people that give a
shit.
I promise I will always show up to play as hard as I possibly can. I
don’t care if it’s the 20th show of 20 shows in a row, you’re gonna get
the same show. You have to give if you’re an artist. It’s the truest
thing. And I only learned that from losing everything and being
pummeled by everything. Then I realized I didn’t need anything. The
only things I need are the things I can carry inside of me.
Cindy: Have there been any spiritual influences or experiences that have helped guide you to where you are now?
Joe Buck: All I need is to not feel worthless, because I was. So,
by working so much and playing, those things make me feel good. If I
feel something or smile or rock out, whatever it is, then I did
something that made somebody feel something, so being able to give them
whatever that is and by them feeling something, then I don’t feel
worthless. So it’s really as simple as that.
What changed, I have no idea man. It’s like one day, I just can’t
explain it. I was almost dead, so I really don’t know. It’s weird too
because the dope, I’m around it all the time. It’s so funny. It’s like,
here’s the funniest part about your addiction, here’s your job and
you’re gonna be surrounded by it and that’s the best way to have it.
Keep your enemies close, man. But I never wanted it, and it’s like I
said, twenty years of full on crazy and then one day just like, I can’t
explain it. I did think I had a dream kind of thing that was like, I
gave up all the drugs and pills, it doesn’t matter what it is, it’s all
the same thing, so it’s like, if you give up one thing, all the rest of
the things that you need in your life will bear themselves.
I was like, man, I’m not stupid, this sounds like a pretty good
deal. And that’s pretty much how it worked out. I don’t judge anybody
by what they do or what road they’re going down. Everybody’s got to
live their own life. And as awful as it was, because there is no
glamour in it, you know, it’s just pathetic. I don’t look back on any
of this stuff fondly, but I wouldn’t change a thing. I’m fighting fire
with fire, filth with filth, decease with decease.
Cindy: You played with Hank III for years. To anyone that would
seem like a perpetual party. How long did the party last before you had
enough?
Joe Buck: Well I never had enough of it. That thing was a pro gig
man. Yeah, we had fun but we rocked every night, I mean everybody was
f@#ked up, you know, you can’t do that shit, you have to almost be an
athlete. Yeah, it’s fun, but I mean….there were several things like,
this thing now is steady work, and that gives me peace of mind.
Cindy: Your fans now know about the split with you and Hank III. Do you mind telling us what happened?
Joe Buck: First of all, he (Hank III) is a solo artist. I was just
a side guy. I mean, he’s had a zillion guys in his band. I mean, it’s
about the songs. I loved every minute of that, but I started working
(solo) after we played Nashville on Thanksgiving of 2007 and when I
started doing this no tours (with Hank III) were booked, so I kept
working. You know, and he went on. So that’s what happened, there was
no “split”. There was no big decision made, I just never heard from
him. So he got another bass player and I was like, okay, I’ll keep
touring.
Cindy: Are you happier as a solo artist?
Joe Buck: I’ve always written and played, besides Hank III, I
always wrote and sang the songs, so I mean, because I played with him
for so long, sure I miss that, but not for the reasons you think. It’s
like, I miss my friend. But this thing that I’m doing, you said it,
it’s really important and it’s growing like crazy, and yes, when you’re
a side guy, you don’t know what’s going on, you know? This way works
for me. It gives me huge peace of mind. And then, I love my girlfriend.
We’re getting married as soon as I can pull off the road long enough!
Cindy: What’s next for Joe Buck? Are there any new releases we can get excited about?
Joe Buck: I’m recording and I’ll have a new release out by July.
I’ll have it ready for the tour with Wayne (Hancock). Oh yeah, Wayne
Hancock and Joe Buck are gonna f@#ck up the West Coast man!!!
Cindy: What more really needs to said?
Joe Buck will be playing The Triple on May 12, 2009
You can visit Joe Buck online at: www.joebuckyourself.com
http://www.myspace.com/joebuckyourselfmotherfucker
 | Currently listening:
Rodentia : The Best of Dark Roots Music
By Reverend Glasseye;Those Poor Bastards;O'death;Tarantella;Antic Clay;Botanica;Sons of Perdition;Strawfoot;Joe Buck Yourself;Creech Holler;Walter Sickert & the Army of Broken Toys;Pinebox Serenade;The Scarring Party;Lonesome Wyatt & the Holy Spooks
Release date: 2008-10-28 |
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10:54 PM
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