REM. PETER BUCK Interview
Interview with Peter Buck (REM guitarist)
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Budapest, Hotel Bar
July 1999
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We lived in a small town and we all met pretty much at the record store where I worked. I sold used records in a small, small store.
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Peter Buck (P) gave short answers, to the point – calm, cool – wore sunglasses.
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CZB: You’re a musician; I’ve read that you just listen to the music and that you don’t know the names to all the songs.
P: I know them pretty well; when I write them, they don’t have names. Michael puts down the words.
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CZB: You play with tens of side projects. Music must take up all your time.
P: This is my hobby. It doesn’t take up all my time… I don’t go sightseeing or race cars in my free time, but as far as the music is concerned, it’s just something I’ve always done.
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CZB: How have you managed to avoid compromises in the music industry?
P: The only reason people compromise is because they feel that other people know better what to do than they do. I think that I know better than anyone else on earth what I should be doing and if I sell less records or sell less tickets for a show because I made a certain decision, that’s up to me – and that’s OK. I don’t worry about the consequences that much.
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CZB: I understand that you alternate songs for concerts while on the same tour. What will tonight’s show feature?
P: We don’t know yet. We decide right before we go on. Last night we played the Opera House in Vienna, so we played all very quiet songs, even a few songs we’ve never played before in concert. It just depends on how we feel.
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CZB: How did you meet the others in the band?
P: We lived in a small town and we all met pretty much at the record store where I worked. I sold used records in a small, small store.
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CZB: When did you play the guitar for the first time?
P: Oh gosh. When I was a very little, little child, my nextdoor neighbor had one and I’d go over to look at it but I didn’t really play until I was 15.
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CZB: Influences?
P: When I was a little kid, the Beatles were still around – it was hard not to be influenced by them, but I always listen around, I’ll pay a lot of attention to what’s going on: I listened to dEUS at Glastonbury a few days back and I’ll probably watch them again tonight.
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CZB: Favorite songs?
P: Right now, the material from the new record. We always like to play the newer stuff, but we’ll always play Man On The Moon and Losing My Religion because I love those two songs.
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CZB: What musicians are you playing with on tour now?
P: We have three extra people. Scott McCaughey was with us on the last tour. He plays keyboards and bass guitar. Joey Waronker is playing drums today. He’s been a friend for years and plays with Beck. His dad, Lenny signed us to Warner Brothers 12 years ago – so I’ve known him for quite a while – and Ken Stringfellow is playing keyboards, bass and guitar.
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CZB: How long have you been married?
P: 7 years.
CZB: And you have twins, Zoe and Zelda.
P: Yes. They’re 5 and they’re in the hotel somewhere. Probably at the pool.
CZB: And you travel frequently with the family?
P: Yeah. Always.
CZB: How do you deal with the relationship between the band and your family?
P: It’s not hard. The wife and kids always come along … Sometimes they see the shows, sometimes they’ll be in the swimming pool or go to sleep, it’s not a hard relationship to keep up.
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CZB: You’ve recently moved to Seattle. What kind of a town is Seattle?
P: The weather is a lot like it is here today (TODAY it rained in Budapest for the first time in weeks). It’s kind of rainy, but it’s a nice town, lots of hiking, the ocean’s nearby, lakes and rivers. It’s a nice moderately sized town.
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