THE INTERVIEW: REVISITING BUD BUCKLEY (CONCLUSION)!

To acquire your own copy (I have mine!) go to: http://www.budbuckley.com/blog/
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MM: You do address a serious problem that concerns many of us, and that is how we have yet to become responsible stewards of the environment—one of the most serious themes in this CD. Of course I picked up on it quickly having worked with a Rainforest group for 7 years. How did this concern find a place on your CD and in your passion?

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BB: I actually have a much stronger song called "Swim Away" that deals with environment. But Helen and I ran out of time to get that one finished."Underground" deals with a lot of issues that were dogging me. They were upsetting to the point that I gave up hope that they'd ever be fixed. And maybe they won't. It's just enough to make you want to Go To The Underground, isn't it? Funny story about how we came to the chorus refrain. Helen and I worked on cleaning this song up for an entire day. She was near passing out and got up to go to the bathroom. I heard her voice from the other side of the door but couldn't get a sense of what she was saying or singing. She's always singing. I heard her yell, "I've got it!" and then the familiar flushing sound. She came out with the Un-der-ground, Un-der-ground Un-der-ground riff. Now whenever we get stuck in an arranging or rewrite conundrum, I tell her to please go take a piss.

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MM: (laughing) Ah, an inspiring moment! How funny. Your wife Cathy is clearly solidly behind your career, and yet I noted with some amusement in the liner notes that you give "special recognition" to your family "though they can't believe I'm doing this". Is this your feeling also—that you can't believe you have created and finished this CD?

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BB: No, I'm delighted it came out this great but it was always my intention to keep getting better. I live by setting goals for myself. Everything I've ever accomplished came from very specific and repetitive goal setting. It's my only religion. The only prayer I ever utter is an affirmation that states my goals. Works for me and I don't have to cast judgement on anybody or blow myself up. My siblings, cousins and I always lived far apart as adults so they had no idea what I was into, hence their amazement.

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MM: I wanted to close, Bud, by asking you how you see 2008 unfolding and what are some of the objectives you hope to accomplish with your music?

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BB: James Braha, my co-writer on "Meltdown", has written six books, five of which are on Hindu Astrology. At least one of them is considered a classic in it's field. James says this is going to be my best period. Peaking around the fall of this year. It's unsure to him because we are estimating my birth time. Another long story-- I'll spare you. But even if it wasn't astrologically a good time for me to flourish, it's my goal to just be better than I've been. I have a much better album, I have more guitar students, I'm getting more recognition. And I keep that ball rolling every day. An Indie musician has to do a lot of self promotion. I'm not crazy about that task because it keeps me from the actual music. But I'll do it because I need to make enough money to make more better music. I haven't decided what to do about radio yet. You have to pay big for that. I may look for ways to sneak in through the back door by getting sync deals in TV or Film first. I already have "Let Me Go" placed on four compilation CD's that include web radio. I have "Crowded Memory" in a closed circuit public service ad in California. I have reviews coming out from a local music paper and nationally with Target Audience.com in March.. Also MusesMuse.com is doing a review. Many of my listeners are writing reviews for CDBaby, iTunes and others. It's early yet but I believe good things are going to happen. I work every day at finding placements for my songs. Stay tuned.

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MM: "Let Me Go" has many implications for me. There's a certain freedom with the concept of letting something go free. What was your feeling as you were writing this song?

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BB: People assume this is a breakup song. If it works for them on that level, fine. I like lyrics that mean different things to different people. But it was actually inspired by the well publicized drawn out death of a person I won't mention. Somebody asked me recently if I lead a tragic life. I didn't realize they were referring to "Let Me Go". So it's fair to say that I was able to channel an emotion that I've never dealt with. Maybe I should consider acting, huh? An actor friend of mine is touched by this song the most, actually.

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MM: Describe what it was like working with our mutual friend Deni Bonet. Her violin flourishes are so mischievous and well placed with such a nice touch on "Elevator". I sat in my car and snickered with fun! Then on "Meltdown," which tackles loyalty of old friends-- she steps out front which is quite nice. Do tell!

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BB: Deni is the most fun to work with than anybody I can think of. She creates on the fly too. She did multiple tracks on six songs in one day. She'd finish a take and yell, "Give me another track!" At the end we had so many perfect tracks from her we had a hard time deciding which to use. She kept us laughing all day. Our dinner party was a hoot that night too. I put her in a hotel and picked her up for breakfast before the train. The baristo did a spontaneous classical guitar set while we were caffeinating. She just lit up. Music is clearly her soul. It was sad to watch her disappear up the steps of the train. But a big Deni hug and smile eased it a bit. Can't wait to work with her again.I hope I can be that lucky twice. She clearly took my songs to another level.

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MM: I relate. She is special, I completely agree! Before I forget to ask this, I know you prefer to play your acoustic guitar clean through a Bose P.A. with little or no reverb or looping. Will this CD challenge your live gigs as a solo player? Also, do you foresee an event where you will use the full band set up?

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BB: I actually put just a tiny amount of chorus on the acoustic. I tune the Bose to take out some mids and goose up the low end too. You need to do that with most Taylor's and I own a fleet of them. I recently got my backing tracks from Scott for the CD. So I can now play and sing just my parts at gigs and have the band backing me. I wouldn't do that on every song every time. It'd just be a sample of what the CD sounds like to interest people in buying it. Playing the stuff solo is always going to be a different feel. And I frequently mess with the tempo or even a few lyrics when live. Except "Tattoo". I prefer using the tracks for that one because it's hard to capture that groove without the band. The coolest thing in the world would be for me to do a gig up north and pull the band together but the logistics make that impossible. It's have to be a big payday because it'd be very expensive just to rehearse. The music school I teach in down here might give me an opportunity to pull a band together for a one-nighter. I'll have to explore that. But bands, really are a huge pain in the ass. The rehearsal scheduling alone is enough to create a nervous breakdown. I think more bands break up over stuff that happens around that than anything else. Except for the division of spoils that is. Time and money--how ironic that it's about time and money. Maybe the next CD will be called, "It's About Money." I could do a Pink Floyd cover.

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My sincere thanks to Bud Buckley for taking time out of his hectic schedule to share the past few days with us!

---Michael