For those of you who
don't already know much about Buck-O-Nine or are
interested in some background info. about the band,
you will find it here. 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.
