DOUG Talks to BUCK DHARMA of BLUE OYSTER CULT about the New Releases and the Upcoming Date in Detroit

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Yeah, either Detroits Wheels put out. Please. Oh hey, is this
Buck Buck Dharmuck? It is?It is Buck Buck? The heck are
you buddy? It's good to talkto you here at Detroit's Wheels. Good.
I'm good. How about you?Yeah? Yeah, things are going
well and we're excited to have youcoming into town February twenty fifth out at
the Royal Oak Music Theater. Man, that is a great place for you

(00:22):
guys to play, you know,Buck, I got to tell you I
am a huge fan of not onlythe band, but your guitar playing.
I see you whenever you come totown, and I love the fact that
you're playing the Royal Oak Music Theater. That's kind of a nice step up
here in Detroit. This is goingto be a great venue for you.
Yeah. I think you're gonna loveit there. Well that's good. Yeah,

(00:45):
I guess I haven't been there yet, but I'm looking forward to it.
So you just recently celebrated a fiftiethanniversary. Congratulations on that. Was
that twenty two or twenty three?Yeah, twenty two actually, And well
I know you celebrated that fiftieth withthree big nights in New York recorded them
all the first three albums. Tellme about that. Yeah, yeah,

(01:07):
we had a big tour year intwenty two for the fiftieth anniversary and then
yeah, so so technically the firstrecord came out in seventy two. So
to the map, Yeah, okay, releasing all three which is of course
the album's Questions one, two andthree, tarry I Mutation and Siga Treaties

(01:30):
and the self titled Royster Cult,plus the additional cuts that we played too.
So that I think each night isa two DVD set, two blue
ray set, so and audio ofcourse, and vinyl. But the first
one just came out, the secondone is in the can, and the

(01:52):
third one is being completed right now. I think that's going to be delivered
to the record company in March.You know, I have to tell you,
Buck, I love going on thewebsite because everything is laid out for
you right there, all the greatreleases, you know, the early stuff,
the uh, the newer stuff,the live stuff. It's really great.
Uh. You know, at thetime, people were listening to Joni

(02:15):
Mitchell and Sargent Pepper and Santana,and all of a sudden here comes Cities
on Flame with rock and roll whatwhat, Yeah, well so was I
I was listening to all those peopletoo, and and you decided I'm going
in a completely different direction, isthat right? Oh yeah, oh yeah,

(02:36):
yeah. We were unlike anybody else, you know, as were you
know, a lot of bands ofthat era that the stylistically the music is
all over the place, and youknow, to the listener's delight, I
think I think you're absolutely right.I mean, it was a diverse time
where you had the glam rock andthe punk rock and and I think the
closest thing to what you guys soundedlike maybe Black Sabbath, but they they

(03:00):
were hardly known either at the time, so you were really stepping out into
some rare air with the heavy soundsof Blue Weister Cult. Yeah. Yeah,
you know, it's funny. Afterthe Internet tilled the record business,
you know, streaming has resurrected hugely. So it's great. You know,

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it's great that anybody can hear justabout anything they want to. Now it's
all out there somewhere, you know, and it's a good time to a
good time for the listener if they'reat all curious, because the whole basically
the history of recorded music is availablewith a few exceptions. Well, yeah,

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so many great albums, so manybig hits. Don't Fear the Reaper
burning for you Godzilla, and yousing them all and play them all.
Buck, Can you take me backto when you and Eric, you know,
we were in the studio with therest of the guys and the band.
What was going on at the timeand what made that album just come
out so spectacular? What do youthink it was? It's well, it

(04:06):
had had great songs, including Dopithe Reaper also Uh at that time,
Uh. Previous to that time,artists signed to Columbia Records were obliged to
use Columbia Studios, which we haddone. The first record was not recorded

(04:26):
at the Columbia studio because it wasdone before we got signed. But Tyranny
and UH and u Ciga Treaties andthe Live LPs World done at Columbia Studios,
and that agreement was finally lifted,so we were able to use the

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record plant New York City, youknow, which John Lenne was recording at
Seat, Trick was recording at Narrowsmithwas recording at Blondie And you know,
all these big bands would come toNew York and if they weren't from New
York and they would all work there, so we did. We did Agency

(05:08):
of Fortune there and with Shelley Akisengineering and mixing, and it all worked
out really well for us. Sothat was that was a big departure.
Dan. Did you know when youcame out of the studio after all those
recordings that that album was going tojust be that big and in last decades?

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I mean, did you ever thinkof that? No, I don't
think. I don't think we hadany any any real foresight about it other
than we knew it was good,you know. We were very proud of
it. We knew we had somestrong material on it, and I figured
that The Reaper would get a lotof f M play, you know,

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But I had no idea that itwould be what it has become at the
time. Yeah, it really isa a rock and roll staple, there's
no question. And I think peopleare going to be pouring into the Royal
Music Theater to see you guys.You know, the last time I bumped
into you guys backstage, we talkeda little bit. It was at Andiamo's

(06:14):
and we were talking about, youknow, maybe getting back into you were
talking about at the time getting backinto the studio and maybe doing some new
stuff. Have you been writing andcontinuing to record and put some things out.
Yeah, Well, we did theSimple Remains, which came out at
the end of the COVID year.Luckily we had tracked the record before the

(06:35):
lockdown happened, but it was definitelyfinished in our home studios and we basically
use not something very similar to Zoomto sort of collaborate with each other,
but all the overdose parts and thefinished vocals and the finished guitar parts were

(07:00):
done at our home studios, andthen the digital sessions, the pro tool
sessions was mixed by Tom Ward Algaewho used to be in New York in
the eighties and he moved to Miamiand now he mixes out of his house.
He's got a big guesssl desk there. So so it was all sort

(07:21):
of done in the in the waya lot of production is done today,
which is all over the place,and a lot of it is done not
in person. So we were luckilyable to finish it, you know,
and that that record is that's afourteen cut record, so that's that's a

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that's still undiscovered by a lot ofpeople. But again you could stream it
and listen to it and it's it'sa really good record. Fact, there's
no bed cuts on. It's allgood. Yeah, fourteen brand new tracks.
Room BOC really kind of undiscovered atthis point. But we got to
invite people to go to your websitebecause there there's just so much there,
uh, you know for people togravitate to, whether it's your YouTube channel

(08:05):
or live releases or new releases orDVDs and CDs. I just love the
fact that you know you're you're keepingthe fans, you know, certainly happy,
they're appetite full of all this greatBOC music. Yeah. Absolutely,
yeah, you know, as goodas the classic recordings are, you know,
the current band is just phenomenal andyou know it's just waiting to be

(08:31):
discovered by the listener, you know, both live and on record now.
So that's one of the reasons whywe wanted to do the latest round of
recording, which we have done yousee, since we got signed to Frontier.
As we've done, the symbol remainsthat we'll have the three the Three
Nights of Sony Hall and uh,there's also a record of Rarities coming out

(08:56):
also. Oh I love that Yeah, those are Those are fantastic, you
know, to get your hands onsome of that demo stuff and live stuff
that hasn't been released before. Thoseare always great for collectors. So you
mentioned the band, Buck, Iknow Eric Bloom is still your great lead
singer. And who else is inthe band? Okay? Well, featured

(09:18):
on guitar and keys is Richie Castellano. Richie's been with the band for about
twenty years. He's also working withJohn Anderson of Yes and they're currently making
a new record and they're going todo a tour this year. Also on
bass, we have Danny Miranda whowas in the band in the nineties,

(09:41):
then he left us to play withQueen. He did the world tour of
Queen with Paul Rodgers when Paul Rodgerswas fronting the band, and then he
was with Meatball for about five yearsand now he's back with us again.
And on drums is Guels Ordino.Jules has been in the band for over
twenty years and the band is justtotally solid and in a way that the

(10:07):
original band wasn't actually, so it'sto be heard. Well, yeah,
there's no doubt about it. Buck, you guys would be around this long
playing these kinds of shows, ifyou weren't still that great man. I
also saw that it was a yearor so ago now, but you and
Eric were honored with a lifetime Achievementaward in Vegas from the Vegas Rocks magazine.

(10:33):
That's pretty heralded and they don't justpick anybody. So congratulations on that
lifetime chieap and a lot of fun, a lot of fun. We were
there with Rick Nilson and Billy Gibbonsand Kip Winger and a bunch of other
people too, you know, fromsome of the eighties metal bands too.

(10:56):
Yeah, so yeah, talking aboutVegas, have you ever thought about doing
residency there? I wouldn't mind,you know. And Danny Miranda did the
Queen Show and Clean had that theatricalshow, you know, he did that.
But no, I have never donea residency yet. I wouldn't say
I wouldn't, you know, justhasn't come up. God, I think

(11:18):
you guys would be absolutely perfect forthat. But well, we're just happy
to have you back here in theMotor City, especially at the Royal Oak
Music Theater. Bigger, better,and I think it's going to be louder.
Yeah, No, it's just goingto come and rock, you know,
so we do you know Edmonton,Alberta. It was just we were
just there last weekend, so wego all over the place. Well,

(11:43):
we'll definitely look for at least acouple of those live trilogy album releases in
the meantime from the first two albums, Third Third one on the way later
on, possibly this year. AndBuck, I got to tell you all
the songs everybody expects, and Ialso play some deep tracks, dude,

(12:03):
that you probably don't expect. Sothat's great, That is great. Yeah,
well, I got to tell youyou're one of my guitar heroes,
and uh, I'm excited about seeingyou guys there at the show. And
all I can say is, buckMan, just decades of success. Congratulations
on fifty what two years now ofgreat rock and roll all thank you for

(12:24):
all that, and we'll be thereand we will be rocking, all right,
Buck, Buck Dharma from Blueister Cult, incredible guitar player for the band,
Thank you so much for joining ushere and Detroit wheels. Okay,
okay, thank you all right,thank you. Buck