Buck O' Nine Bio
The Early Days
First of all, the seven of us got together 5 years ago, (November, 1992) and played our first gig with the current line-up on the night before Thanksgiving at a club in San Diego called the Belly-Up Tavern, opening for No Doubt.
By December of '92, we had an 8-song demo tape out that we began selling as our first release. We ended up selling close to 1,000 copies of that first tape, entitled "Buck Naked." Many of the songs off that demo tape were re-recorded and made it onto our first album, "Songs in the Key of Bree" which is now available on Taang! Records.
In 1993 we recorded a 7" record, known as the California 7", for Silver Girl Records. It has been re-pressed several times and copies are still floating around out there. We have even seen it in record stores in Japan! A couple of the tracks off the 7" were re-mixed and also went onto our first album. During this time period, say the first two years, Buck-O-Nine concentrated on building its fan base locally as well as branching out to other cities such as Los Angeles and the Inland Empire, as well as places like Arizona, Utah, and Nevada. We even made a trip down to the world-famous Cabo Wabo Cantina in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. During this time, we were fortunate enough to open up locally for many cool bands, such as Skankin' Pickle, Green Day, Hepcat, Face to Face, Voodoo Glowskulls, Sublime, and Bad Manners. We also played with many killer local bands such as Unwritten Law, Sprung Monkey, Ghoulspoon, Unsteady, and many others that I can't think of right now.
Songs in the Key of Bree
With the band itching to do some real roadwork and no labels taking interest in releasing an album, we proceeded to record and produce our own full-length release. During the recording process, a local label, Immune Records, offered to pay for the completion of the project and release the album. Needless to say we were stoked because we knew we needed a CD out in order to start touring around the country. Well, low-and-behold, the day after our CD release party in San Diego, we embarked upon our first national tour in August of 1994, in support of Gangster Fun and MU330. The tour was called the Skamageddon Tour, but we affectionately re-named it the Skamaloser Tour. Needless to say, the first tour was not easy. However, we learned a lot from it and grew as a band from it.
It would be the summer of 1995 before we embarked on our next US tour, in support of Agent Orange. During this time, however, we continued playing gigs around southern California and building a following at home. We also decided not to put out our next record on Immune; leaving us virtually without any label support. Although we knew it was a risky decision, we felt compelled to pursue something bigger. Then, in February of 1995, we started work on our second record, "Barfly"...
The Taang! Days
With the album doing well at home, we had the confidence to keep touring, knowing that if people in San Diego like our shit, then other people around the country probably would too; it was just a matter of getting out there and spreading the word. Support tours with Agent Orange, Blue Meanies and a tour with the Suicide Machines followed in 1995, coming on the heels of our next record, Barfly, which we recorded for Taang! Records.
We had been in contact with Taang! since our start, but until '95 they had been too busy with other releases to work with us. Well, the time was right in 1995, and Taang! had just moved to San Diego and seen us play a few times. So in February of '95, we started laying down tracks for Barfly. Basically, we recorded all the material we had, including several cover tunes, many of which we had learned for a winter formal dance we were asked to play at for Point Loma High School.
Throughout 1995 and 1996, things continued to grow, slowly but surely. More followed, including a support tour with The Specials, and a trip to Japan with the Voodoo Glowskulls. The "Water in my Head" e.p. was released in early '96 and includes a version of "Miserlou" that we recorded with Agent Orange after having performed it live on the last night of our tour together in Dallas.
During this time we also shot a couple videos; one for "On a Mission" and one for "Water in my Head." Both were done mostly for fun and for a bit of promotion. The "On a Mission" video was shot in Boston during the Agent Orange tour and the "Water in My Head" video was shot in San Diego at various locations including the practice room we shared with Sprung Monkey, and a local club downtown San Diego called Bodie's, which is now defunct.
On to TVT and today...
As the middle of 1996 rolled around, things were starting to pick up steam. We now had bigger labels showing interest in the band, and it was starting to look like ska would continue its upward swing in popularity. About this time Buck-O-Nine signed with TVT Records. The label had the perfect feel to us: down-to-earth people who did not blow smoke up our asses, real motivation for hard work, and the ability to help us record a quality album. In addition, we retained the same type of creative control that we had always enjoyed in the past. The result is the album, "28 Teeth" which was released on April 15, 1997.
With the latest release, our touring schedule has been even more intense than in years past. In 1997 we toured almost constantly, and by year's end, had been out on the road for about 10 out of 12 months. It was an exciting year to say the least. We toured with bands such as Primus, Mephiskapheles, Smashmouth, and did six shows on the Vans Warped Tour. We toured across Canada in April and May in support of Face to Face. We returned to Japan in October for a more extensive tour than last time, this time with our friends The Blue Meanies, and we went to Alaska for the first time in December. We filmed a video for the single, "My Town" and saw it played on the M2 network and on 120 Minutes on MTV (some of you will grumble at this). We have also seen our album sales top the 100,000 mark for the first time ever.
Hopefully this write-up will fill you in a some of the band's history. We intend to expand upon it further in the future, as well as update it as well, so check back to it once in a while, as we will attempt to build a comprehensive history of Buck-O-Nine. We may even get into the early days; the year or so before the current line-up, before what we today consider the essential Buck-O-Nine.
For all the above, the tours, the records, the fun and adventure we've had thus far, we would like to thank you, the fans, the supporters, whatever you choose to call yourselves, for making this all possible. It may seem obvious, but a lot of bands forget that without people out there buying records, going to shows, buying t-shirts, writing letters and expressing their support and commitment to the band, the band would not exist except in the damn garage! This is something that we certainly appreciate and will never forget. We hope that 1998 will bring continued excitement and we know that on our end it will mean a continued dedication to doing our best. Bye for now...
This Biography curtosy of Buck O' Nine's Saxaphone Player. Thank you!!
< BACK