Peter Buck
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- For the New Zealand Maori leader and academic, see Te Rangi Hiroa (Peter Buck)
| Peter Buck | ||
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| Background information | ||
| Birth name | Peter Lawrence Buck | |
| Born | December 6, 1956 (age 50) | |
| Origin | Berkeley, California | |
| Genre(s) | Rock and Roll Pop Alternative Rock |
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| Occupation(s) | Guitarist Songwriter Producer |
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| Instrument(s) | Electric guitar Acoustic guitar Mandolin Banjo Keyboard Bass |
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| Years active | 1980 - date | |
| Associated acts |
R.E.M. Hindu Love Gods The Minus 5 Tuatara |
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Peter Lawrence Buck (born December 6, 1956 in Berkeley, California) is the guitarist and co-founder, along with Bill Berry, Mike Mills, and Michael Stipe of the seminal 1980s alternative rock band R.E.M..
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[edit] Biography
After spending time in Los Angeles and San Francisco, the Buck family moved to Atlanta, Georgia. After high school, Peter attended Emory University in Atlanta; however, he eventually dropped out. He later moved to Athens, Georgia and attended the University of Georgia as well. While in Athens, he worked at the Wuxtry Records store through which he met regular customer Michael Stipe as well as R.E.M.'s future legal and managerial representative, Bertis Downs.[1][2]
Buck currently lives in Seattle, Washington with his wife Stephanie Dorgan. This is notable considering the remainder of R.E.M. (Mike Mills and Michael Stipe) still live in Athens, Georgia. The Bucks have twin girls, Zelda and Zoe, born in 1994.
Peter, Mike Mills, Bill Berry and Warren Zevon recorded an album under the band name Hindu Love Gods, while the R.E.M. bandmates and Zevon were recording tracks for Zevon's 1987 album "Sentimental Hygiene." Hindu Love Gods is one of many names the members of R.E.M. have used performing around the Athens area.
[edit] Music
Buck's style of guitar playing is simple and yet distinctive. He makes wide use of open strings while chording to create chiming and memorable pop melodies. However, on more recent R.E.M. releases, the guitar has been noticeably less prominent, often turned down lower in the mix in deference to the band's increasing use of synthesizers and other atmospherics.
Buck has produced many bands, helming the boards for albums by Uncle Tupelo, The Fleshtones, and The Feelies, among others. Buck also has made contributions on many other musicians' albums, including The Replacements, Robyn Hitchcock, and several Eels albums. Buck also coproduced the 1992 Vigilantes of Love album, Killing Floor, with songwriter Mark Heard. Along with R.E.M. sideman Scott McCaughey, he has been a partner in The Minus 5, for which he plays bass, and has been a member of the instrumental band Tuatara. Additionally, In October 2005, he joined R.E.M. studio drummer Bill Rieflin and four others in forming an improvisational performance band called Slow Music. His voice can be heard on one R.E.M. song: "I Walked With a Zombie" from the Roky Erickson tribute album "Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye."
[edit] Disturbance on a flight
On April 21, 2001, Buck was aboard a transatlantic flight from Seattle to London to play a concert at Trafalgar Square. Witnesses alleged that Buck exhibited various bizarre behaviours on the flight, including shoving a CD into a drinks trolley thinking it was a CD player, tearing up the "yellow card" warning notice handed to him by the flight crew, claiming "I am R.E.M." and being involved in a struggle over a yoghurt pot with two stewards, which resulted in the exploding of the pot. Buck's actions led to two charges of common assault on the stewards, one charge of being drunk whilst on a plane, and one charge of damaging British Airways cutlery.
At the ensuing trial in London, Buck's defence claimed that the small amount of wine he had drunk had reacted adversely with the brand of sleeping pill he was taking and rendered him unable to control his actions. The prosecution, on the other hand, argued that he was simply intoxicated from supposedly consuming fifteen refills of wine. After the trial, which included testimony from Bono of the rock band U2, Buck was cleared on the grounds of non-insane automatism.[3][4]
[edit] References
- ^ "Bertis Downs . . . in his own words", Georgia Magazine, December 2002: Vol. 82, No. 1
- ^ New Georgia Encyclopedia entry for Peter Buck
- ^ BBC News: R.E.M. star cleared of air rage attack. 5 April 2002. URL accessed 1 August 2006.
- ^ The Guardian: R.E.M. guitarist cleared of air rage. Jeevan Vasagar, 6 April 2002. URL accessed 1 August 2006
