An Interview With
B U Z Z B O M B
Buzzbomb is a crossover Punk-Pop band from Scotland that has just released a DIY CD called "Down".
This interview was conducted via E Mail with Buzzbomb Bassist Billy Ross.
TX = Theory X (Tom Undermine) and BB = Buzzbomb (Billy Ross)

TX: Who's in the band and how long have you been together? Where are you guys from originally? Give me some background history on the band.
BB: The guy who played guitar on the CD left as it was going to press. Leaving us with the Bill!!!!! But we got in a new guitarist, Stu who gave us a whole new enthusiasm for what we were doing. And being a big fan of the American Punk Scene (Screeching Weasel, MTX) sorta brought back the bite we were maybe lacking for a while. I play the bass and shout and grunt in the background every now and then, I'm well into the earlier kind of punk (Ramones, Dead Boys, Johnny Thunders) and The Who as well (I think thats mostly just a live visual thing though), James (Drums) He likes a lot more mellow stuff like the Waterboys, Crowded House and U2 but was recently seen bouncing along to a Screeching Weasel CD. Frazer who does the vocals is well into the Doors but listens to almost every type of music except Rave (Yes that includes Country, he is a big fan of Iris De Ment) He also says he's into the Spice Girls but again I think that is just a visual thing. As you can see there's a great deal of variety, possibly not what you'd think would make a good punk band but it all helps us get the sound that everyones happy with and is a bit more melodic than a lot of the bands today.

TX: Is the Down CD your first CD?
BB: Yeah it's our first CD release. We've got another couple of demos kicking about as well and a whole lot of stuff we've not recorded yet.

TX: Your sound is reminiscent of The Jam meets Stiff Little Fingers. Is that the kind of approach you took to this CD? Old style Punk, or did you just kind of write songs?
BB: That's actually quite a cool comparison. Both are bands I respect a lot. The approach to the CD was a little strange cos at the time we were getting pretty good reviews of our demo tape 'Here We Go Again' People were saying it sounded pretty much like Old Style New York punk like the Ramones and more often The Stooges. Being a great fan of that kinda music myself I was quite into getting compared with that scene but we tried to expand it slightly cos were taking a bit of stick for the production. Unfortunately I think we went just a little too far, taking a lot of the edge off the songs on the CD. I find it quite funny that you now think it sounds like bands which most definately have a British punk sound. I just hope that people like the songs for being good songs and realised that live we've certainly got the rawness that's maybe missing on the CD.

TX: How do you usually approach your songwriting?
BB: We are actually pretty fortunate that everyone actually writes songs which makes things easier but also gives the songs that bit of variety which is very important as people don't want to hear the same old riffs over and over. We normally just turn up with a song more or less complete and everyone slags it off, tears it to pieces and then we put it back together again.

TX: Have you had the chance to tour or play shows abroad?
BB: We haven't had the chance to do much in the way of touring although we have supported most of the 'alternative' bands which bother to come to Scotland (NY Loose, Gas Huffer, Psychlone Rangers, Cecil, Jocasta, Sultans Of Ping FC, Tiny Monroe, Gold Blade etc.). We hopefully will be doing our first European tour by the end of the year and We are hoping to come to the States around April next year so if anyone can help with shows..........

TX: Is there much of a Punk or DIY music scene in your city?
BB: We actually come from a small town right between Glasgow & Edinburgh and there's no live music scene at all. It's all Rave & Dance clubs. Drug Culture I suppose. The Scene in Edinburgh isn't too healthy either with a lack of venues putting bands on and even when they do people are just not interested in going to shows. Glasgow is even worse with a few "pay to play venues" I remember Blanks 77 coming here earlier in the year. They played in Edinburgh where I saw them and I thought they were excellent. Then they went to Glasgow and got paid #15.00 (Dunno whats that? around $25?) and that just doesn't seem right to me. There's no wonder no touring bands come near if that's the reception they get. I would've paid them #20.00 to play in my front room!!!!!.... and gave them some where to crash!

TX: How do you feel about the way the "Down" Cd turned out?
BB: Fairly mixed and to be honest thats no more than we expected. While we still think the songs are OK we really didn't do ourselves j justice when it came to the production and we only really realised that when we got the CD's back. Instead of beefing up the guitar sound we just overdid it so I guess it sounds fairly bland. Sounds Ok if you have it EXTREMELY loud with a lot of bass on it, but then again I would say that wouldn't I !!!! Yeah we're not 100% happy with it but the next one will be better..........

TX: Do you consider yourself a Live band or more studio orientated?
BB: Definately a live band. Personally I don't think there's a better feeling than seeing a crowd getting into a show as much as we are. One things for sure we always try to put on a good show where there's always something happening on stage. I hate it when bands just stand around gazing at the floor. Let's face it when you're in a band people come along to the shows to be entertained they dont want to see four, five or however many people standing there playing their album note perfect. You can sit at home with the CD in the player if you want that and save the ticket money. I don't particularly like being in the studio there's too much time spent sitting around doing nothing & wasting time waiting on other people setting stuff up and that. Yep I guess we're much more at home live.

TX: What is the most memorable moment you've had playing live?
BB: Yeah Frazer breakdancing at a local festival. We were playing with a load of rave bands as that is all there is round here and they were doing their little dance routines along to their backing tapes then Frazer did it too during one of the guitar breaks in our set. He was very good at it too and the Rave kids loved it. One of the funniest things I've ever seen I think.

TX: Can we expect anything from you guys in the near future? A tour, a new CD?
BB: As I mentioned earlier we hope to come across around next April if we get of our butts and organise it. At the moment we've got enough material for a couple of albums and are writing constantly, but as we released the CD ourselves we sorta cleaned the bank out. Hopefully we can persuade somone to come up with the finance for an album and then maybe we can do ourselves a bit of justice with our recorded stuff as well as our live shows.

TX: Are there any bands you feel are underated or that you'd really like to play a show with?
BB: Yeah we'd really like to do something with NY Loose again. We supported them in Glasgow but the crowd wasn't too great (Surprise Surprise) and they just blew us away. They were one of the very few bands that everyone has remained well into. We'd like to do something in New York with them cos they said we'd go down well there. But my ultimate ambition would have been to open for The Ramones. Pity that'll never happen but I'd still like to meet them some day.

You can contact Buzzbomb via Email at:
BillyRoss@aol.com
or write:
244 Elizabeth Drive
Bathgate, West Lothian
Scotland, EH48 1HU


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