Interview: Buddo, Last Crack

ART & SOUL

I'd heard that LAST CRACK's enigmatic singer, Buddo, was a bit intense and, as the press release states, psychotic, so I got the job of interviewing him after what proved to be a highly charged show at the Marquee. Having never experienced these guys live, I really didn't know what to expect, but the assault from start to finish was breathtaking. They pounded the air into a thick, humid mass of crackling energy, with Buddo throwing body and soul into his performance.

Finding somewhere quiet in order to attain my goal was the next problem, which was easily resolved when we got the keys to the world-famous Green Room and took in the night air through the open door of the patio.

You know, I thought, I was going to be interviewing Freddy Krueger only to find the complete opposite.

Hailing from Milwaukee, the line-up is completed with Phil Buersatte (drums), Paul Schluter (guitar), Todd Winger (bass), and Don Bakken (guitar). The definition of rock-art has been used to describe their particular style, which puts them alongside the likes of JANE'S ADDICTION and bands of that ilk.

Do you see yourself in that class? I ask them.

"It's really weird because I haven't taken any time to classify Last Crack. I haven't taken any time to invent a new name or genre. It's just not a question I can answer, y'know. I've got so much more to concern myself with rather than how I'm going to label the band and how we're going to be perceived in the marketplace. Fuck it."

His quiet, definite expletive cruises just over the top of the TV and the air conditioning, actively humming away in the background. As for being weird, or whatever people think he is, Buddo is an intensely spiritual person who sees his band as just more than rock n' roll.

"It's got to be more than rock n' roll. It's life. If you're not sure of that, you're a poser. You're a fucking fake. You're only giving it half [of] yourself. It can be so creatively rich. And then you've got the business side of it that more or less wants to 'Henry Ford' it, put it on the assembly line and pump it out. Make sure it's consistent. Make sure it's going to reap a profit. Art isn't like that. It's a constant struggle."

His sweat-soaked black hair frames his face as he looks thoughtfully down at the floor, and toys with the carton of fruit juice in his hand.

"If you compromise, certainly with art, you kind of kill part of the creative aspect of it. So you have to be an asshole to the business people sometimes. You have to do what you feel totally." 

Like I said earlier, the band are quite a spectacle to behold, and I guess it's up to the individual what they make of them.



Do you think, then, that people misinterpret what Last Crack are about?

"Well, I think that there's maybe a certain identity with the band that is, like, my doing. But when it comes down to it, I know that we live in a democratic system here with Last Crack. It's five guys. Y'know, I think that..."

He pauses to gather his thoughts, eyes taken in the surrounding area.

"I don't know," he sighs. "See, I always wondered this. I was having some real problems with this last time we were on tour in the States, and I was thinking, what are people perceiving? What do they expect to see? And what are they getting?"

The band formed when Paul, Todd, Don, and Phil joined together after playing in separate bands around the Madison area. They went through several vocalists for about a year until Buddo moved back to Madison and put up an ad at his school to which the other guys replied. They auditioned him and, well, this is the result.

So what is the mechanical side of the band, as in who takes care of lyrics etc.? 

"I write the lyrics, and they think more musically. They are very adept musicians and they're painstaking musicians. They do a great job. I mean, they live their instruments. And I think I live in a fucking dream world. And that's where a lot of the ideas come from. It's like two different realms."

Stressful situations are something that the majority of people try to avoid. But Buddo actually seeks them out in order to function creatively. Why is it so important to you?

"I don't know. It just needs to arise. And I do place a lot of stress on myself. I think it helps when you work on a different kind of awareness, whether it be a...," he digresses for a moment. "I have stupid little projects all the time, like running eight miles a day for a week, or fasting for three days or spending two days in a library without doing anything else."

He laughs at his own idiosyncrasies. 

"I don't know, for some reason I need those kind of little projects and that's stressful but it's like testing little facets of your personality and forcing yourself to focus. I think that's a big part of it. Discipline."

What if you found yourselves in the position of no longer having a record deal? Would Last Crack still exist as a band?

"Yeah, if Road Racer dropped last crack right now, we would stay together. For some reason, I think we're all thinking about giving five more years. That's more or less a little commitment."

Saying that, do you take the viewpoint of Jane's Addiction when they said they're splitting up because they've done everything that they set out to do as a band?

"Yeah, I think there is a threshold like that. In this industry, as you climb up the stairs, you have to go to war on every step. Either you compromise or the company or the industry compromises, or both of you find some kind of middle ground. Because every step, there's more and more people involved. There's more money involved. There's pressures that just keep piercing the situation and then it's like you get conditioned to compromise until you get to a certain point where you look at where you are and you say, all right, I've got everything I want out of this."

Their latest album release Burning Time isn't your average good time rock n' roll, verse-chorus kind of thing. It's a bit of a complex package that takes a while to come to terms with. The same could be said of them live.

Would you say that it's more a case that you are a live band

"That's pretty difficult. Emm, it takes a while to get into the live thing. I think because with the albums, especially this album, it's a very internal album. To get on stage some nights and just get lost in the introspection of it, it's hard to remember there's an audience there."

So, what of the future?

"I really believe that my life is in 'HIS' hands."

Peter Grant
Riff Raff
November 1991

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