Terfry is also a host at CBC Radio 3, with hosting a program on the CBC Radio 3 website's web radio station during weekdays. In addition, he will be the host of the weekday 3-6pm CBC Radio 2 show beginning in the fall of 2008.
Early career and influences
Terfry was born in 1972 and raised in Mount Uniacke, a rural community outside of Halifax, Nova Scotia. He was first exposed to rap music in the mid-1980s while listening to CBC Radio's late night show Brave New Waves, and then by listening to Halifax campus community radio station CKDU. CKDU then broadcast at only 33 watts, and he had to climb a tree in his yard to hear the station's hip hop show on his cheap transistor radio. Fascinated by hip hop, the young Terfry taught himself how to rap, DJ, and, later, to produce records. His musical influences include MC Shan, David Lynch, Gitche Manitou, and Kool Keith.
Using the moniker DJ Critical, he later hosted a hip-hop show on CKDU called "The Bassment" (later renamed "The Treatment Program", when he assumed the stage name Jesus Murphy), which aired for several years. This period overlapped with many of his non-major-label releases.
Stage Names
Buck 65 has also used a number of other stage names including Johnny Rockwell, Stinkin' Rich, Haslam, and Uncle Climax. These pseudonyms typically represent different characters in his raps (as in Uncle Climax, Johnny Rockwell and Stinkin' Rich) or different aspects of Buck's creativity (as noted above, DJ Critical was his DJ name on CKDU.) Rumours abound that Buck 65's alias comes from his childhood nickname of Buck and his weight of 165 pounds; possibly the pseudonym comes from the weight of the first buck he shot or the $1.65 standard bus fare for Halifax Regional Municipality riders. He has been known to say on stage, "They call me Buck 65... I don't know why." Buck 65's website mentioned previously that he was named after his uncle's 1965 Buick automobile ("'65 Buick" is a track on the Synesthesia album); he performed a show under that name but the promoter mistakenly wrote the name as it is now spelled.
Recently Buck 65 has recorded an EP under the name of Dirk Thornton alongside Irishman DJ Flip, it was scheduled for release early 2007 but the date was not set.
The first release under Dirk Thornton will be a 7" single with the tracks "Yesterday's News" and "Catwalk".
He is also involved in an online collaboration with "Greetings From Tuskan" auteur Joëlle Phuong Minh Lê, as Bike For Three, though a release is yet unforthcoming.
Early releases
In 1993, he released his first cassette of rap tunes while performing under the alias Stinkin' Rich on the Halifax label No Records. The five song cassette was titled Chin Music, which was a reference to his past interest in baseball. The release brought Stinkin' Rich to the attention of members of Halifax alternative rock band Sloan. Sloan signed him to their independent record label Murderecords and released a 7" single and a full length cassette called Game Tight, again featuring a reference to baseball. (Terfry has often stated in interviews that in his teens he had been scouted to play for the New York Yankees but that the death of the talent scout coupled with an injury had caused the deal to fall through)
After a brief break, Terfry returned reconstituted as Buck 65, releasing Language Arts on cassette and the 12" single Wildlife Trilogy, followed by Vertex, which included his popular song "The Centaur." He recorded Sebutonedef (released in 1996 by Funtrip Records) as a collaboration with fellow Halifax artist Sixtoo. Other releases by the duo, known as the Sebutones, are Psoriasis and 50/50 Where It Counts. While still far from mainstream success, he received several odd jobs in Canada's entertainment industry, including making soundtrack music and providing narration for a TV commercial for NBA apparel, and song lyrics for the popular children's program Sesame Street. During a live performance Buck 65 told a story in which he attributed why he was chosen for Sesame Street to three things; his upstanding lifestyle of not drinking, smoking, or doing drugs, his intelligence that wasn't too intelligent for the kids, and Sesame Street's assumption that he was a virgin.
Man Overboard, originally released on the anticon. label, was a significant turning point in his career. The record, and the entire anticon. collective (of which Sixtoo was also a part), were considered hallmarks of a new avant-garde movement in underground hip hop. It was at this time that Buck met Cincinnati DJ Mr. Dibbs who inducted him into the 1200 Hobos, a loosely-knit hip-hop collective named for their proficiency in manipulating the Technics 1200 turntable.
Critical Acclaim
Many of his early projects attracted attention after they were re-released, first on the independent Metaforensics label and subsequently by Warner Music Canada. While Buck 65 has gained critical acclaim and worldwide exposure through his major label deal, commercial success has escaped him. Although Warner's worldwide affiliates distribute his records, Warner USA does not. After a deal was signed with V2 USA, This Right Here Is Buck 65 was released in the States, a sort of "Best of" that was marketed as an introduction to his work. However after V2 chose not to release his next effort, Secret House Against the World, the deal was amicably dissolved. Since then Buck 65 was signed onto Strange Famous Records where he's planning on taking over hip-hop with Sage Francis. His latest release is titled "Situation".
Buck's most recent albums have gradually moved away from his original 'pure' hip-hop sound into territory influenced by folk, blues and electronica, with some even comparing elements of his sound to Tom Waits. Some of Buck 65's music is used on the Canadian show Trailer Park Boys, frequently in the character Julian's car. He gained additional recognition in 2006 when he appeared at the national Juno Awards with Pamela Anderson.
Kerrang! “Controversy”
In August 2004, he sparked controversy in the underground hip-hop world over comments he made to an interviewer in Kerrang! magazine. Buck was quoted as saying:
“I now hate hip hop, the more I’ve educated myself about music, the more I’ve grown to hate it. I don’t use that word lightly, either.”
In response, former anticon. label-mate Sage Francis (in a post on his website) stated that
"Buck has had his head up his arse for many years now."
Buck later wrote in a letter to Exclaim!:
“I’m apologizing for all that. I lost my cool on tape which is never good. The journalist was provoking me, calling me a sell-out and a whore. I was trying to make a point by playing devil’s advocate, but I went way overboard. No hint of irony or role-playing or intelligence came across in the story. Now I just look like an idiot. I take it back. I don’t really believe any of that. I don’t think being able to read music is a concern. Most of my favourite music was made by non-educated musicians. It doesn’t matter. I still have heavy criticisms of most hip hop, but I really didn’t make them well on this particular day. I put my foot in my mouth and I’m apologizing for that."
Dirty Work
Buck 65 released a 5 song digital EP called "Dirty Work". It was released over a month long campaign, adding one song per week for free download via his MySpace page. All five tracks are still available for download on his official website. The EP comes with artwork drawn by Buck himself, and the tracks are all b-sides from the full length record 'Situation'.
Situation to present
Buck 65 released the album Situation on October 30th, 2007, on Strange Famous Records in the US and Warner Music worldwide. The album is a concept album based around the year 1957, and is a return to a more 'pure' hip-hop sound than the previous blues, country and avant-garde influences in Secret House Against the World. It was produced by fellow Halifax DJ Skratch Bastid, aimed at making a "classic hip-hop record that pulses with joy and clarity of purpose".
Buck 65 is currently working on a new album which, judging from live material, will feature much more prominent electronic beats than before. Additionally, Buck 65's collaboration project with "Greetings From Tuskan" auteur Joëlle Phuong Minh Lê, Bike for Three!, has its debut album completed for release in early 2009.
He has been a host of CBC Radio 3's web radio for the past year, and recently accepted daily hosting duties on CBC Radio 2's national radio beginning fall 2008.
Drunk WIthout Drinking
Buck 65 Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Along in the sun and the rain
What am I doing here? No-star hotel
Wasting my wealth
Telling myself to go to hell
Arm in a cast, heart like a corncob
Do noyt disturb sign hangin' on the door knob
My cruelty is dependable
And my ugliness is rugged
Smoke still slow dances out of my barrel
In the distance I can hear a kid
Singing a Christmas carol
And this is terrible, gorgeous and sinister
The pillow still smells like the secrets of my visitor
Nobody needs to know about this kind of thing
Blood on my back from the attack of her diamond ring
Me of all people, my mind's in a tail-spin
I'm just a door-to-door encyclopedia salesman
Part of me feels like dirt, the rest doesn't
She said I'm a way better lover than her husband
I've had a whole lot of fights
Along in the sun and the rain
Where am I going? Backwards to nowhere
In another man's shoes instead of my own pair
I promised discretion and to be at her beck and call
I look like a dandelion and feel like a wreckin' ball
I ran out of wishes and then she came to offer hers
Lookin' at myself in the mirror
I'm at a loss for words
I'm good at my job, goin' out of my mind kinda
Holding my face in my hands like fine China...
I've seen a whole of towns
Along in the sun and the rain
We met up again, went undercover literally
I told her about Cuba, I told her about Italy
Physics and photography, a little Russian history
Everything about her to me was such a mystery
I gave her the once over
She gave me the blood blister
She had no idea that I was fallin' in love with her
Call me mister
Crucial inspiration
All she wanted was my lust and useful information
What am I putting myself through this crap for?
Feels like I'm standing on top of a trap door
Lost at sea, tangled up in golden hair
Scavenger-hunter my life is a folding chair
My daily routine is down to a system
I give regular people truth and wisdom
That's what I do, it's my job, the prophet/profit
I can see the future and make money off it
I've kissed a whole lot of lips
Along in the sun and the rain
In Buck 65's “Drunk Without Drinking” the singer describes a desperate life on the road, feeling as if he's “going backwards to nowhere in another man's shoes instead of my own pair” and staying in a “no-star hotel, wasting my wealth, telling myself to go to hell.” The singer is in emotional and physical pain, with his arm in a cast and his heart feeling as dry as a corncob. He's also burdened by his memories, with “my whole life in my luggage” and a “pillow [that] still smells like the secrets of my visitor”. The singer is clearly in a dark place, feeling guilty, ashamed, and alone, and indulging in bad habits like smoking and drinking to dull his emotions.
Throughout the song, the singer seems to oscillate between moments of clarity and moments of confusion. He is acutely aware of his own flaws, acknowledging that his “cruelty is dependable / And [his] ugliness is rugged", but he is also able to see beauty and meaning even in the midst of his pain. The “terrible, gorgeous, and sinister” world around him is juxtaposed with a distant boy singing a Christmas carol - a moment of innocence and hope that stands in stark contrast to the singer's own feelings. Similarly, the singer seems to feel a sense of shame and self-disgust when he thinks of his illicit relationship with a married woman, but he also seems to feel a sense of genuine love for her. He describes her as a “mystery” and a source of “crucial inspiration,” even as he acknowledges that she only wants his “lust and useful information."
Ultimately, “Drunk Without Drinking” is a song that captures the complexity and messiness of human emotions. The singer is struggling with feelings of guilt, shame, and loneliness, but he is also capable of seeing moments of beauty and hope in the world around him, even as he tries to numb his pain with bad habits like drinking and smoking.
Line by Line Meaning
Hey boys, I've come a long way
I've been through a lot and I'm still here
Along in the sun and the rain
I've experienced good and bad times
What am I doing here? No-star hotel
I'm feeling lost and staying in a cheap motel
Wasting my wealth
I'm making bad financial decisions
Telling myself to go to hell
I'm struggling with negative self-talk
Arm in a cast, heart like a corncob
I'm physically and emotionally hurt
Do noyt disturb sign hangin' on the door knob
I don't want to be bothered
Brain unplugged, my whole life in my luggage
I'm mentally checked out and carrying my past with me
My cruelty is dependable
I can be mean and people expect that from me
And my ugliness is rugged
I have rough and unattractive qualities
Smoke still slow dances out of my barrel
I'm still smoking, even though I know I shouldn't
In the distance I can hear a kid
I can hear something faint in the background
Singing a Christmas carol
It's a festive time of year
And this is terrible, gorgeous and sinister
I'm experiencing conflicting emotions
The pillow still smells like the secrets of my visitor
I'm still thinking about a recent sexual encounter
Nobody needs to know about this kind of thing
I'm keeping this to myself
Blood on my back from the attack of her diamond ring
I got physically hurt during sex
Me of all people, my mind's in a tail-spin
I'm surprised that I'm feeling this way
I'm just a door-to-door encyclopedia salesman
I have a mundane job
Part of me feels like dirt, the rest doesn't
I have mixed feelings about myself
She said I'm a way better lover than her husband
I'm having an affair with a married woman
I've had a whole lot of fights
I've been in many arguments and conflicts
Where am I going? Backwards to nowhere
I feel directionless and stuck
In another man's shoes instead of my own pair
I'm pretending to be someone else
I promised discretion and to be at her beck and call
I'm keeping our relationship a secret and always available for her
I look like a dandelion and feel like a wreckin' ball
I look weak and vulnerable but feel powerful on the inside
I ran out of wishes and then she came to offer hers
I thought I had nothing left, but then she gave me hope
Lookin' at myself in the mirror
I'm reflecting on myself
I'm at a loss for words
I'm speechless
I'm good at my job, goin' out of my mind kinda
I'm skilled at what I do but not happy doing it
Holding my face in my hands like fine China...
I'm handling myself delicately
I've seen a whole lot of towns
I've traveled to many places
We met up again, went undercover literally
We met secretly
I told her about Cuba, I told her about Italy
We shared stories about our travels
Physics and photography, a little Russian history
We talked about various topics
Everything about her to me was such a mystery
I'm intrigued by her
I gave her the once over
I looked at her up and down
She gave me the blood blister
She presented me with an obstacle
She had no idea that I was fallin' in love with her
I'm developing feelings for her
Call me mister
I'm asserting myself
Crucial inspiration
She's motivating me
All she wanted was my lust and useful information
She's only interested in sex and my knowledge
What am I putting myself through this crap for?
I'm questioning why I'm continuing with this situation
Feels like I'm standing on top of a trap door
I'm in a dangerous position
Lost at sea, tangled up in golden hair
I'm lost and tied to this woman
Scavenger-hunter my life is a folding chair
I feel like a scavenger and my life is falling apart
My daily routine is down to a system
I have a set way of doing things
I give regular people truth and wisdom
I share my knowledge with others
That's what I do, it's my job, the prophet/profit
I make a living by being insightful
I can see the future and make money off it
I'm good at predicting things and profiting from it
I've kissed a whole lot of lips
I've been with many people
Along in the sun and the rain
Through all kinds of weather and situations
Lyrics © Red Brick Music Publishing, Peermusic Publishing
Written by: CHARLES WISHART AUSTIN, GRAEME ROSS CAMPBELL, RICHARD TERFRY
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind