Peter Buck
For the New Zealand Maori leader and academic, see Te Rangi Hiroa (Peter Buck)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..
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.
[ "Bertis Downs . . . in his own words", Georgia Magazine, December 2002: Vol. 82, No. 1][New Georgia Encyclopedia entry for Peter Buck]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 guys from R.E.M. have used performing around the Athens area.
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 musician's 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."
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.
[BBC News: REM star cleared of air rage attack. 5 April 2002. URL accessed 1 August 2006.][The Guardian: REM guitarist cleared of air rage. Jeevan Vasagar, 6 April 2002. URL accessed 1 August 2006]
