Buck 65

Buck 65

Richard Terfry (born March 4, 1972), better known as Buck 65, is a Canadian hip hop artist, MC and turntablist. Underpinned by an extensive background in abstract hip hop, his more recent music has extensively incorporated blues, country, rock, folk and avant garde influences into a style commonly compared to Tom Waits and Beck.

Terfry is also a radio host, having hosted a weekday program on CBC Radio 3's web radio station. In addition, he is the host of the weekday Radio 2 Drive show on CBC Radio 2 since September 2, 2008.

Biography

Early career and influences

Terfry was born in 1972 and raised in Mount Uniacke, Nova Scotia, a rural community outside of Halifax. He was first exposed to rap music in the mid-1980s while listening to CBC Stereo's late night show Brave New Waves, and then by listening to Halifax campus community radio station CKDU. CKDU then broadcast at only 33 watts, and he had to climb a tree in his yard to hear the station's hip hop show on his cheap transistor radio. Fascinated by hip hop, the young Terfry taught himself how to rap, DJ, and, later, to produce records. His musical influences include MC Shan, David Lynch, Gitche Manitou and Kool Keith.

Using the moniker DJ Critical, he later hosted a hip-hop show on CKDU called The Bassment (later renamed The Treatment Program when he assumed the stage name Jesus Murphy), which aired for several years. This period overlapped with many of his non-major-label releases.

Stage names

Buck 65 in concert, July 2006. Photo by Louise MacDonald.

Buck 65 has also used a number of other stage names including Johnny Rockwell, DJ Critical, Stinkin' Rich, Haslam, and Uncle Climax. These pseudonyms typically represent different characters in his raps (as in Uncle Climax, Johnny Rockwell and Stinkin' Rich) or different aspects of Buck's creativity (as noted above, DJ Critical was his DJ name on CKDU.) Rumours abound that Buck 65's alias comes from his childhood nickname of Buck and his weight of 165 pounds; possibly the pseudonym comes from the weight of the first buck he shot or the $1.65 standard bus fare for Halifax Regional Municipality riders. He has been known to say on stage, "They call me Buck 65... I don't know why." Buck 65's website mentioned previously that he was named after his uncle's 1965 Buick automobile ("'65 Buick" is a track on the Synesthesia album); he performed a show under that name but the promoter mistakenly wrote the name as it is now spelled.

Recently Buck 65 has recorded an EP under the name of Dirk Thornton alongside Irishman DJ Flip, it was scheduled for release early 2007 but the date was not set.

The first release under Dirk Thornton will be a 7" single with the tracks "Yesterday's News" and "Catwalk".

He is also involved in an online collaboration with Greetings From Tuskan producer Joëlle Phuong Minh Lê, as Bike for Three!. Their album, More Heart Than Brains, is to be released on Anticon Records May 26, 2009.

Early releases

In 1993, he released his first cassette of rap tunes while performing under the alias Stinkin' Rich on the Halifax label No Records. The five song cassette was titled Chin Music, which was a reference to his past interest in baseball. The release brought Stinkin' Rich to the attention of members of Halifax alternative rock band Sloan. Sloan signed him to their independent record label Murderecords and released a 7" single and a full length cassette called Game Tight, again featuring a reference to baseball.

After a brief break, Terfry returned reconstituted as Buck 65, releasing Language Arts on cassette and the 12" single Wildlife Trilogy, followed by Vertex, which included his popular song "The Centaur." He recorded Sebutonedef (released in 1996 by Funtrip Records) as a collaboration with fellow Halifax artist Sixtoo. Other releases by the duo, known as Sebutones, are Psoriasis and 50/50 Where It Counts. While still far from mainstream success, he received several odd jobs in Canada's entertainment industry, including making soundtrack music and providing narration for a TV commercial for NBA apparel, and song lyrics for the popular children's program Sesame Street. During a live performance Buck 65 told a story in which he attributed why he was chosen for Sesame Street to three things; his upstanding lifestyle of not drinking, smoking, or doing drugs, his intelligence that wasn't too intelligent for the kids, and Sesame Street's assumption that he was a virgin.

Man Overboard, originally released on the anticon. label, was a significant turning point in his career. The record, and the entire anticon. collective (of which Sixtoo was also a part), were considered hallmarks of a new avant-garde movement in underground hip hop. It was at this time that Buck met Cincinnati DJ Mr. Dibbs who inducted him into the 1200 Hobos, a loosely-knit hip-hop collective named for their proficiency in manipulating the Technics 1200 turntable.

Critical acclaim

Many of his early projects attracted attention after they were re-released, first on the independent Metaforensics label and subsequently by Warner Music Canada. While Buck 65 has gained critical acclaim and worldwide exposure through his major label deal, commercial success has escaped him. Although Warner's worldwide affiliates distribute his records, Warner USA does not. After a deal was signed with V2 USA, This Right Here Is Buck 65 was released in the States, a sort of "Best of" that was marketed as an introduction to his work. However after V2 chose not to release his next effort, Secret House Against the World, the deal was amicably dissolved. Since then Buck 65 was signed onto Sage Francis' Strange Famous Records, from which he has most recently released Situation.

Buck's most recent albums have gradually moved away from his original 'pure' hip-hop sound into territory influenced by folk, blues and electronica, with some even comparing elements of his sound to Tom Waits. Some of Buck 65's music is used on the Canadian show Trailer Park Boys, frequently in the character Julian's car. He gained additional recognition in 2006 when he appeared at the national Juno Awards with Pamela Anderson.

Kerrang! controversy

In August 2004, he sparked controversy in the underground hip-hop world over comments he made to an interviewer in Kerrang! magazine. Buck was quoted as saying:

I now hate hip hop, the more I’ve educated myself about music, the more I’ve grown to hate it. I don’t use that word lightly, either.

In response, former anticon. label-mate Sage Francis (in a post on his website) stated that "Buck has had his head up his arse for many years now." Buck later wrote in a letter to Exclaim!:

I’m apologizing for all that. I lost my cool on tape which is never good. The journalist was provoking me, calling me a sell-out and a whore. I was trying to make a point by playing devil’s advocate, but I went way overboard. No hint of irony or role-playing or intelligence came across in the story. Now I just look like an idiot. I take it back. I don’t really believe any of that. I don’t think being able to read music is a concern. Most of my favourite music was made by non-educated musicians. It doesn’t matter. I still have heavy criticisms of most hip hop, but I really didn’t make them well on this particular day. I put my foot in my mouth and I’m apologizing for that.

Dirty Work

Buck 65 released a 5 song digital EP called "Dirty Work". It was released over a month long campaign, adding one song per week for free download via his MySpace page. All five tracks are still available for download on his official website. The EP comes with artwork drawn by Buck himself, and the tracks are all b-sides from the full length record 'Situation'.

Situation to present

Buck 65 released the album Situation on October 30, 2007, on Strange Famous Records in the US and Warner Music worldwide. The album is a concept album based around the year 1957, and is a return to a more 'pure' hip-hop sound than the previous blues, country and avant-garde influences in Secret House Against the World. It was produced by fellow Halifax DJ Skratch Bastid, aimed at making a "classic hip-hop record that pulses with joy and clarity of purpose".

He has been a host of CBC Radio 3's web radio for the past year, and recently accepted daily hosting duties on CBC Radio 2's national radio beginning fall 2008.

In late August 2008, Buck 65 released a one-track, 66-minute album for free download. Dirtbike 1/3, part one of three in the forthcoming "Dirtbike" series, featured guest production and verses by, among others, Buddy Peace, Emily Wells, Tom Inhaler, D-Styles, Skratch Bastid, Andrew Glencross, Serafina Steer, Jorun, Moka Only, and Doseone. It signifies a return to Buck 65's pre-Talkin' Honky Blues hip-hop roots that was expected in Situation; in Buck's own words "it's a lot like the original versions of [1997's] Vertex and [1999's] Man Overboard".

Buck 65 formed Bike for Three! with Belgian producer Joëlle Phuong Minh Lê (of Greetings from Tuskan), releasing their debut album, More Heart Than Brains, on May 26, 2009. The album features "sharp lyrical details and storytelling" by Buck 65, combined with Phuong Minh Lê's production creating a "exquisite, shimmering landscape that rarely plays by the rules."

Partial discography

Albums

• Game Tight (1995), Murderecords
  • Track listing: 1. Three Up Three Down (3:27); 2. Easy to Be Hard (3:35); 3. Kick Up a Stink (3:55); 4. Caught Lookin' (1:35); 5. You're Pissin' Me Off (3:29); 6. Jackie Robinson (0:36); 7. Work to Do (3:13); 8. Maintenance (2:04); 9. Pennies From 87 (0:48); 10. Fully Equipped (3:09); 11. I Just Laugh (0:57); 12. Get Lost (2:53); 13. Ten Miles (3:36); 14. Thought So (3:40); 15. Killy Nem See (3:58)

• Year Zero (1996)
  • Track listing: 1. Here Is (1:08); 2. Style 386 (2:17); 3. In a Bad Way (Remix) (3:03); 4. Urine Trouble (2:22); 5. Hit the Breaks (2:00); 6. Porno Groove (0:58); 7. Keep Your Hand Off My Girl (3:39); 8. The Bassment Show (3:44); 9. Year Zero (1:58); 10. You Know the Science (3:39); 11. Who You Frontin' For (Remix) (4:02); 12. Speak of the Devil (0:36); 13. Chiliwack (3:19); 14. Cat Piss (2:53); 15. A Mic in a Fist (2:14); 16. State of the Art (1:28)

• Weirdo Magnet (1996), independent/Metaforensics
• Language Arts (1996), (Language Arts Part 1), independent/Metaforensics
• Psoriasis (1996), Metaforensics
  • Track listing: 1. Preview/Sebutonedeaf/Flux Cpacity (9:05); 2. Interview/Peach RMX/Goin' Splits (8:34); 3. Review (1:15); 4. Osteriophysio/Multiple Organisims (9:46); 5. Security Screws/Transmission (7:14)

• Vertex (1997), (Language Arts Part 2), independent/Four Ways to Rock/Metaforensics
• Boy/Girl Fight (1998), unreleased - elements became part of Man Overboard
• Man Overboard (1999), (Language Arts Part 3), anticon./Metaforensics

• 50/50 Where It Counts (2000), Metaforensics
  • Track listing: 1.Intro (1:00); 2. We Three Kings (3:54); 3. Trust No One (5:14); 4. Interlude (:27); 5. The Masked Man (3:07); 6. 05 Professionals (5:17); 7. Dead Men Don't Walk (4:02); 8. Newport (4:04); 9. Apocalypse Party (3:00); 10. 01/29/2020 (3:27); 11. Intellegent Freaks (1:11); 12. Dazed and Confused (3:27); 13. Whiteys on the Moon (1:08); 14. Go Back (4:15); 15. Nibiru (3:07); 16. Ballistics Testing (:43); 17. Outlawed Truths (4:29); 18. Tranquilized Tones (3:01); 19. Viral Pneumonia (2:52); 20. Simba Ain't Shit (1:21); 21. Chalk (3:15); 22. Punk Song (3:11)

• Synesthesia (2001), (Language Arts Part 5), Endemik
• Square (2002), (Language Arts Part 4), Warner - recorded first but released after Lang Arts 5
• Talkin' Honky Blues (2003), Warner
• This Right Here Is Buck 65 (2004), Warner
• Secret House Against the World (2005), Warner
• Pole-axed (2006), self-released rarities compilation
• Strong Arm (2006), (Language Arts Part 7), self-released digital "mixtape"
  • Track listing: 1. Intro (samples "Horizontal Hold" by This Heat) (1:19); 2. Dang! (samples "Let There Be Drums" by The Incedible Bongo Band) (2:40); 3. Hole in the Road (samples "Dub Specialist (Rastaman version)" by Coxone Dodd) (3:30); 4. "What Grace Means" (samples "Sunflower River Blues" by John Fahey) (3:22); 5. Don't Belong (samples "Firepoker" by Trans Am) (3:27); 6. Suspect (samples "Trilogie Femme" by Sabastien Telleir) fet. Clarie Barest (4:29); 7. Brace Yourself (samples Sister Mary Nelson's "Judgement") (1:03); 8. F.O.S. (samples "Snapshots of Nairobi" by The Homosexuals) (2:43) note: F.O.S. stands of "Fuck off, Satan!"; 9. Old-Time Stuff (samples classical music) (2:35); 10. B&W and Read All-Over (samples "Passage of the Red Sea" by David Wescott) (3:59); 11. Full Blown (samples "Pulling a Train" by Six Finger Satellite) (3:03); 12. Cutthroat (samples "Microtronics 02" by Broadcast) (1:33); 13. The Olde 1-2 (samples "Activity 3" by Flowers/Morgan) (1:31)

• Situation (2007), Warner/Strange Famous Records
• Dirtbike series (2008), self-released free digital downloads - home recordings
  • Dirtbike 1/3 (August 2008)
  • Dirtbike 2/3 (Oct 2008)
  • Dirtbike 3/3 (Oct 2008)
• More Heart Than Brains (2009), with Bike For Three!, anticon.

Note: All "Language Arts" records prior to his major label signing were remastered and re-released with new artwork in 2002 by Warner Music.

EPs and other recordings

• Chin Music (1992), 12" EP, No Records, performing as Stinkin' Rich
  • Track listing: 1. Intro (1:12); 2. All About Me (4:03); 3. You Can't See Me (4:47); 4. Daisy (1:24); 5. Killy Nem See (4:03)

• CBC Live Studio Session (2002-03-11), radio broadcast on CBC Radio 3
  • Track listing: 1. The Anthem (3:39); 2. Trees (02:52); 3. Shoes (3:02); 4. The Light (3:41); 5. Dad (3:03)

• Dirty Work (2006), self-released digital EP

Singles

• "Stolen Bass" (1994), 7" single, Murderecords, performing as Stinkin' Rich
• "Sebutone Def" (1996) 12" single, Four Ways to Rock
• "The Wildlife" (1998) 12" single from Weirdo Magnet, Hand'Solo Records
• "The Centaur" (1999) 12" single from Vertex, anticon.
• "Wicked & Weird" (2003-10-06), CD/12" single from Talkin' Honky Blues, Warner
• "463" (2004-04-05), CD/10" single from Talkin' Honky Blues, Warner
• "Sore" (2004-10-04), 7" single from Talkin' Honky Blues, Warner
• "Devil's Eyes" (Autumn 2005), 10" single from Secret House Against the World, Warner
• "Way Back When" (Fall 2007), 7" single from Situation, Warner
• "Dang" (Spring 2008), 7" single from Situation, Warner

Videos

• "To Mock a Killingbird" (1998), from Sebutone Def 12"
• "Pants on Fire" (2001), from Man Overboard
• "Phil" (2003), from Square
• "Wicked & Weird" (2003-10-06), from Talkin' Honky Blues
• "463" (2004-04-05), from Talkin' Honky Blues
• "One Evening" (2004), from Leslie Feist's album Let it Die
• "Kennedy Killed The Hat" (Summer 2005), from Secret House Against the World
• "Devil's Eyes" (Autumn 2005), from Secret House Against the World
• "Dang" (Spring 2008), from Situation
• "Shutter Buggin'" (Autumn 2008), from Situation

Awards

2006

• Devil's Eyes, Winner of the Juno Award for Video of the Year.

2005

• Nomination for the Juno Award for Songwriter of the Year.

2004

• Talkin' Honky Blues, Winner of the Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year.

2003

• Square, Nomination for the Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year.

Collaboration

• In 2005, he contributed to the UNICEF benefit song, "Do They Know It's Hallowe'en?" along with Feist.
• Appeared in the music video for Feist's "One Evening".
• Raps in the song "The Unthinkable" by Boom Bip, on the album Seed to Sun.
• Raps in the song "When the Angels Make Contact", by Matt Mays, on the album When the Angels Make Contact.
• Appeared in the music video and produced "Got Up This Morning" by Sage Francis.
• Buck also appears on the album Atlantis: Hymns for Disco by Canadian artist k-os, rapping on the track "Ballad for Noah".
• A sample of the track "Jaws of Life" appeared in a 2007 NBA Commercial featuring Seattle Supersonics player Kevin Durant.
• In 2008, he appeared on the tracks "Gentle" and "Want", by Tanya Tagaq, on the album Auk~Blood.
• DJs on Al Tuck's record The New High Road of Song.
• On April 18, 2008, he played with Symphony Nova Scotia in the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium.
• Raps in the song "Loonie" by Classified, on the album Self Explanatory

External links

• Buck 65
• Buck 65 at AllMusic