My name is Rich and I guess you could say I'm the "brains" behind the musical outfit called Buck 65. Here's the story...

My earliest music memories are of Woody Guthrie (even though I didn't know it was Woody), Elvis, Johnny Cash, Charlie Daniels, Rickie Lee Jones, Creedence Clearwater Revival and church. Then I remember my cousin Bert locking me in a dark room with Sabbath playing full blast. This happened a lot. Then I discovered Kiss through my friend Shawn and we became members of the Kiss Army. My bedroom was a shrine to them. Next, I remember studying music in school in Mr. Purdy's class. I played tuba. Mr. Purdy was a good teacher and I think I was a good student. He made it fun. Then, I heard hip hop music at the roller skating rink that was about ten miles from my house and I freaked out. Bruce and I would get together at his house to make rap songs. He'd play drums and I'd rap into a tape recorder about people on my street, like Ray Mumford.

I grew up in a really small town in Nova Scotia called Mt. Uniacke . I had a nice, humble childhood, but it was scary at times. Lots of people I knew when I was young either killed other people or themselves. I figure I'm lucky to have gotten out with my head still attached (even if it wasn't screwed on straight). Perhaps I owe it to being a good student and having a strong interest in baseball to keep me occupied...

I moved to Halifax for university (I studied biology) at a time when the music scene was getting kinda big. A handful of bands based there got signed to Sub Pop (which was king in those days) and a band called Sloan got signed to DGC around the same time Kurt Cobain died. They started their own label and were nice enough to offer to put out some of my stuff. My first record came out on their label (murderecords) in '92, as I recall. I had a few cassette only releases I put out myself before that. Now I found myself up to my neck in the indie rock scene and it was a very exciting time.

I made a record called Vertex in '96. This record was the first to be heard outside Canada by anyone, really. It had a Roxy Music cover on it and a song called the Centaur that got people talking a little. I sold almost all the copies from the first "pressing" to an independent distributor in Australia . Shortly after this time, I remember beginning to feel like a bum. I was beyond broke and I found I didn't like much of what was going on in music at this time, hip hop or otherwise. I was disenchanted, I guess you could say. Then my mother died. I was ready to give up. I got a minimum wage job at a store that sold porn, cigarettes and ice cream. Aimless, depressed and bored, I made a record that no one was meant to hear. It was called Man Overboard.

A small label based in San Francisco called Anticon was starting up. They offered to put it out. I was desperate for cash, so I said ok, even though in the end, the record never made a cent. But what did happen, was that Vincent Gallo heard it and told me he liked it. And Radiohead heard it and told other people they liked it. This got people interested in my music, including me. I was lit on fire by these incredible endorsements. I'm sure I would have quit if it wasn't for these miracles.

"Buzz" started up and the labels came knocking. It didn't take long for me to sign on with Warner because I felt like the best people were there and people all the way to the top were real music fans. I remember talking to the man who is the president of Warner Canada now about the Flesh Eaters! I'll never forget that.

A few years previous, I started working with my friend from Halifax, Charles Austin. He was part of the indie Halifax scene in the glory days. We got along real well and I felt that with his involvement, my renewed inspiration and growing interest in old records, my "sound" was beginning to evolve. I hit the road. I left Halifax which was hard and sad. I've never really had a home since. I just stay on the road full time. I've made a lot of friends and Buck 65 has evolved into something that's so much more than just me. I write the lyrics. Charles and I write the music together. Charles, my old friend Graeme and I produce the records. And all kinds of people are involved now in what's more like a family of writers, musicians, brains, artists, organizers, you name it. I really can't take full credit for much these days.

Something I must take full credit for is putting my foot in my mouth at times. I've had the tendency to lose patience, to get hot under the collar, to get upset, to get too excited, to get ahead of myself. I talk too much maybe. I'm working on that... I found myself in hot water not long ago when a magazine article came out saying that I hated hip hop music and hip hop people and that everyone was stupid and I was a jerk and on and on... It was total nonsense. I wish I could say I was drunk or on drugs during the interview, but I can't. I've never done those things. I made the rookie mistake of letting a journalist get the best of me. It was like a fight with your girlfriend where you say all this crazy stuff that you don't even mean and then after you cry and have incredible sex. Unfortunately, all that came out in print was the, "I hate you, I never loved you, you're a shitty lover - retard stuff.

Shit hit the fan and my publicist went scrambling trying to rescue me. I thought my career was over. I couldn't sleep for a couple of months for the worry. I feel like I did everything I could to straighten things out. Now the damage is done and we move on past it as best we can. Fact is, I love hip hop music. I have over 15,000 hip hop records in my collection. You should see it. Your eyes would bug out of your skull. Hip hop and I just misunderstand each other sometimes these days. But we're getting help and learning to get along.

Problems seem to stem from the fact that no one knows what to call my music, including me. Some call it hip hop and that makes other people furious. I know that from my perspective, it doesn't resemble what somewhat like Jay-Z does, whatsoever. Hip hop is a really diverse world if you include everything from QBert to Anticon stuff to Beyonce to Linkin Park . In that regard, there could arguably be a place for me in there somewhere, but most people don't define it so broadly. That's ok by me. I know I'm different, and that's ok by me. I never expect to sell ten million records (my success so far shocks me, to be honest). I don't really care about fame. I just want to do this for the rest of my life. To me the greatest success is just to be remembered.

I put everything into the songs I make. All the music I hear, all the books I read, all the films I see, all the people I meet, and all of my own guts and muscles. I don't know if there's a name for that. I don't care to put a name on it. Some people talk about the importance of "focus" which might be a nice way to say "narrow mindedness". I can't focus on anything for more than a few minutes. I still need my Woody and my Ozzy and all my Johnny's and my Flash. It might not be for everyone, and that's fine by me.

The newest record tells the same story. There's songs about the people from my home town - just like the first songs I made almost 20 years ago (Gulp!). There's lots of different sounds. There's a lot of help from my friends. It's junk I picked up on my travels. It's alligator heads and broken hearts and busses and pretty accidents. I hope you like it, but it's ok if you don't.

That's pretty much it up to now. I'm sure there's more ups and downs to come and I look forward to both...

Take care,
Rich

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