Quick-fire Questions: 10 minutes with Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard
Tom Rees scurries around the Welsh woodland greased-up and naked of an evening. He has done for a while. It’s only recently that Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard decided to make an album about it. Their second record, Skinwalker, arrives two years after Backhand Deals, but the band’s inception actually stretches all the way back to 2017. This staggered upstart is implicit of nothing more than a desire to experiment.
Whether that’s late-night experimentation with woodland shenanigans or blending Beach Boys-like Mobeuis strip melody contours into Black Sabbath guitar tones, it takes time, and the Cardiff band have afforded themselves plenty of it. They have honed their craft on the road, shrugging off run-ins with Prince’s son (as you’ll soon learn), and developed a freaky psychedelic sound to call their own.
This sentiment is apparent in the new album – one that takes on a spiritual approach to the Navajo concept of a mythical creature – as it is in their funky live shows. Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard are a band that refuse to be banal but remain wise enough not to just be a berserk farce either, channeling the sensibilities of the almost covertly avant-garde John Lennon as much as anyone.
These are sentiments that frontman and producer Tom Rees lays bare in his answers to our quick-fire questions. Before the busy man set out on the band’s current tour, we asked him for his thoughts on The Beatles, the best album of 2023, and his strangest celebrity encounter. He answered with quirky aplomb below…
Quick-fire Questions with Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard:
1. What song would you want played at your funeral?
“I used to go for ‘Cosmic Dancer’ by T. Rex, but I think now I’m more of a ‘For The Damaged Coda’ by Blonde Redhead guy. My funeral vibe has changed from tearjerker to dreadbringer, I think. I’d like to be lowered into my casket on a burning cross too (if possible).”
2. What was your favourite album of 2023?
“Snake Sideways by Do Nothing.”
3. What is the weirdest gig you’ve ever played?
“As professional dorks, I think we have the good fortune of making every show we play pretty weird, but I would go for The Hug and Pint in Glasgow, not because of the city or the venue, but because there was a guy in the front row who was asking in between every song if he could get up and spit some bars over our music. In retrospect maybe I should have given him a chance, he could have been the next Tom Macdonald. He got increasingly annoyed and then accosted me outside after the show and told me he was Prince’s son, pretty cool.”
4. Have you ever had a weird celebrity encounter?
“I once walked past Simon Pegg and we were wearing the exact same outfit (double denim with dark amber Ray Ban aviators), and we just nodded at each other like we knew what was up (we did).”
5. What is one internet rabbit-hole you’ve fallen down?
“Not the deepest of rabbit holes because it literally is just one video but I’ve watched AC/DC Live at the Apollo Theatre, Glasgow about 400 times.”
6. If you had to get a lyric tattoo what would it say?
“Warm like pissed jeans.”
7. John Lennon or Bill Fay?
“John Lennon for sure, absolute tyrant and probably a bit politically misaligned considering he was stinking rich, but the songs are undeniable.”
8. What is your favourite podcast?
“The Rest Is History is an absolute banger and trust me I know bangers.”
9. What Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard song are you most proud of?
“‘In My Egg’ is my favourite song I’ve written mainly just for the verses, I’m really happy with how cyclical they are.”
10. What’s your most controversial cultural opinion?
“I think that the response ‘I was saving it for later’ when you tell someone they have some food on their face is simply the most deprived and pathetic feature of what we call modern human life.”
11. Who was your hero when you were nine?
“I cracked my head open on the exterior corner of the boys toilets around that age so I think I bonked most of my memory out, but if I had to guess I’d probably say Grimace from the McDonalds family The Fry Guys.”
12. What album have you probably listened to more than any other?
“Either Rhinestone Cowboy by Glen Campbell or Freedoms Goblin by Ty Segall.”
13. How often do you practice?
“Maybe once a week, we’ve been on tour for the past month and half though so we’re good for a while.”
14. Where is the best pub in the world?
“THE WORLD FAMOUS CITY ARMS, Cardiff.”
15. Are The Beatles overrated?
“If you asked me this five years ago, I would have said no, but as I get older I tend to think they are. I don’t think the context of how bands are broken has really changed that much since the ’60s and seeing bands like One Direction break through, I’m not sure if I was rocking about back then I would’ve just thought it was pop bullshit, especially when the Beach Boys were being way more experimental AND there was a load more interesting psych stuff happening. The songs are undeniable though, I just think I’m ageing out of them a bit.”
