Interview with Buck 65
I was fortunate enough to get Buck 65 to answer a few questions pertaining to his experience as an artist and his craftsmanship. I feel it’s important to note his remarks about striving for fame vs making art and the legalities towards the use of samples in the creation process of his music. Last but not least, i wish to highlight what i would like to call “the 65 jig” of his stage performance… watch Buck 65 dance!
So how’d you meet Skratch Bastid?
Paul and I are from the same small town where everyone knows each other. Throw in a shared interest and it was pretty much inevitable.
Who is responsible for the stage setup with the city scape, projector/screen, etc.? Is that your design? Where does the video play back come from? How is it selected and synced to the performance?
My friend Chris Mills who directed the Dang video is travelling with us on this tour. Most of the visuals came from his wonderful brain. But he and I certainly sat down together and hashed out some ideas – especially where making it sync up is concerned.
What equipment do you use in your home studio? Is the home studio the final stage of the production process or is there more?
I have all kinds of toys, but it all ends up going into Ableton Live. I love it! But I pretty much always mix and master at an outside facility.
How did your craftsmanship evolve? Did you always make beats? Were you always self-reliant?
I’ve been making beats since I was a kid. Since then I’ve just tried to learn as much about music as humanly possible and feed what I’m learning back into my work. That will take the form of knowledge gained from listening to lots of music, theory and even my own level of and broadening musicianship (learning new instruments and stuff).
What are your views in regards to copyright infringement and how it affects the art of sampling to make music? Do you clear everything that you sample? Do you morph your samples into something that can’t be recognized?
I resent the laws pertaining to all that. But I have no choice but to respect them. I’m always looking for ways around them. Now I pretty much always have to pay for what I use, but sometimes I chop sound up to oblivion where no one would ever recognize them…
What should an independent artist focus on to get settled in? Touring? Management? Something else?
I don’t even know what to tell people these days. Set up a MySpace page?! It’s a bottomless pit! I guess it just depends on what your motivations and goals are. If you’re motivated by making great art, then practice hard and learn as much art as you can. That’s all that should really matter. Learn history. But if your goal is to be famous or make a lot of money, I’d recommend getting a stylist. People just want pretty these days.
How long would you say before you felt you settled into what you do now? What was the pinnacle turning point in your career?
It definitely took a while. For me I think it had to do more with time, age and life experience than anything else. When I was young I was stupid and insecure. I certainly don’t have it all figured out now, but time and experience has given me a lot of confidence.
