Buddy Nielsen Interview Transcript
Q: You’re well known for writing very personal songs. Was it hard at first to put so much of yourself into the lyrics?
Buddy: I don’t think so, no, I just think that at first I was young so there wasn’t that much to pull from or put into it. I don’t think it was ever hard, I just think that, what I liked about my favorite bands, I just tried to replicate that.
Q: What was the hardest personal Topic you’ve ever tackled in a song?
B: I don’t know, maybe my own addiction or addictive personality or admitting to that, I think that that was kind of hard.
Q: Does being so personal in your songs mean that you run into fans who think that they know everything about you?
B: Yeah, definitely, and they don’t know really anything about me. That’s the shitty thing with it. I think that people expect you to be a certain way, which is fine, but it’s not. Anytime I met someone that I thought I knew from lyrics, it’s part of them, but it’s not them, there whole thing you know. I don’t think that….sometime there’s a difference, cause I’ll joke around on stage and I’ll fuck around, the lyrics are very serious, but I also don’t take myself too seriously. So I think that people find that strange, that you can be have two sides to your personality maybe, I think that people expect you to be a certain way whether it’s good or bad, or whatever, you know, and I don’t think you ever live up to peoples expectations, just because, I don’t know what peoples expectations are, nor do I actually, honestly, really care other than just putting out good music, and staying true to what we do. That’s all that I want people to expect from us and that’s something that I think we can deliver without, you know going too far.
Q: Is there anything personal that you’ve written about that you regret sharing now?
B: No.
Q: What is the writing process like for you guys?
B: Garret comes up with a riff, and then he talks to Dan about it, and Dan comes up with a drum beat, and then Heath comes in and makes it better, and then I come up with a melody, and then we all sit together an d come up with a better melody, well not a better melody but just I guess build on top of it, and that’s pretty much how we always tend to do it.
Q: What are some of your influences that made you want to make the kind of music that you make?
B: Thursday, Saves the Day, Bad Religion, NOFX, Jimmy Eat World. I think that those pretty main influences, the big ones,that made me want to start making music.
Q: Do you still stand behind the comments you recently made about Brokencyde?
B: Always, 100%.
Q: Are you looking forward to being on Warped Tour with them as well?
B: No. I’m looking forward to being on warped tour, cause a lot of our friends are gonna be on it, like Alexisonfire is on it, so it will be a lot of fun but I won’t have to deal with them as much. They’ll be off on some corner stage really with their own kinda…it’s all like those kind of bands. It will be interesting to see what all the older bands think about it cause I don’t think they know about it yet, but they will, so it will be interesting.
Q: What do you look forward to most about Warped Tour?
B: I like the thirty minute set. Because, while it is fun to play a lot of music, it’s also fun to get up there and play like nine songs and just have all your energy and not worry about, I get tired here, or I get tired there. Cause when you play for like an hour, or an hour plus, you can’t just go all out the whole time, it’s hard, but on Warped tour, you play thirty minutes and you’re done, and….you’re a part of something and it’s not like it’s your own tour, so it’s different in that way, and it’s also fun cause there isn’t as much pressure.
Q: Are there any bands you’re looking forward to seeing perform?
B: Bad Religion, NOFX. I’m very excited about seeing those bands.
Q: Are there any young bands that people may not have heard of that you think are really good?
B: There’s a band called The Fear, their on Bridge Nine their really good, there’s a band called The Mongoloids. Yeah those two are pretty new bands, there’s a band called Static Radio NJ, really good too. Polar Bear Club are awesome as well.
Q: You’ve had a lot of lyrics that deal with drinking. What is your drink of choice?
B: Goww, Beer, Beer straight up. Good beer, not bad beer…actually I don’t care, as long as it’s not Bud Ice, or Molson Ice, or anything sort of Ice, it’s pretty okay. But I’d probably drink that anyways.
Q: What’s the best live show you’ve seen recently?
B: The Get Up Kids, that was, we played Bamboozle with them, and that was pretty awesome, cause I haven’t seen them in a long long time, and that was cool. I hadn’t seen a really awesome show like that in a long time.
Q: Who is you’re favorite band to tour with?
B: I don’t know? I think every tour is different. We had a lot of fun with New Found, we’ve had a lot of fun with Alexis. We’ve had a lot of fun with Saves the Day, Thursday, just anybody that likes to hang out and have a good time, and isn’t too wild, but also isn’t stand offish.
Q: You mentioned before that you’d Idolized Bands like Saves The Day and Thursday, what is like to be out on tour with them?
B: I try not to, like, mix the two. Just because, like I said, if you have expectations of someone, not that you’ll be let down, but it’s a totally different thing to be friends with someone than it is to like their music. It’s two separate things and I think you have to separate them or else, for one, you’ll weird the person out, cause all you want tot talk about is their band and you’re just like a super fan. It’s hard to have that relationship with someone too, to meet someone that puts you on a pedestal, it’s hard for you to feel normal about that you know what I man. I just treat them as friends, and peers.
Q: Were their any albums that have come out recently that you were looking forward too, that either let you down, or didn’t?
B: That let me down? It’s hard to think of any that let me down. One record that came out that I was really really looking forward too that came out was Have heart, Scream at the sun, that record was fucking awesome and I was excited about that. The Propaghandi record that came out was amazing, really amazing and I was looking forward to that and it didn’t really let me down, I was definitely really surprised with how progressive it is and how pissed of they were, I’m really stoked on that record, I think we all are. It’s really angry and it’s cool for them to be. The whole message of the album is really awesome.
Q: Did you pick up on any of what they were writing about when you were in Winnipeg?
B: Winnipeg is really interesting, it kind of reminds me of Detroit. In a strange way. Grey way. It just seems…..I’ve only been their twice, I’ve met a lot of people from there that are really nice and cool. Western Canada is a very different vibe from Eastern Canada. I’m more used to Eastern Canada Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and even Quebec City, and the whole London Area, and the western Canada thing is just very different.
Q: Do you notice a big difference between Canadian Fans and American Fans?
B: Everybody is a lot nicer. That’s the biggest difference, everyone is way way nicer, and they buy more stuff. I don’t know what it is, they come to the show and they buy a shirt. In America, people don’t, it’s like ehh. It’s different. People in America are willing to tell you that they didn’t have a good time. If it wasn’t a good sow, they’d be like, I’ll keep that to myself. Where as in Germany they would straight up tell you, and in America they’ll be like, it was alright, and Canada is just like I’m not gonna tell you.
Q: What are some of your favorite Cities or Venues to play in?
B: I really like to play in Austin even though the shows suck, I just really like the city. I like playing in Seattle when it’s not raining. I like to play in New Jersey, cause ‘m fro their. So, that’d probably be my favorite place to play, New Jersey. That’s where we started, and that’s where we get to go home so we play the show and then we go home. And the show’s are always….they mean the most to me.
Q: Is that still where you have the biggest fanbase?
B: Yeah. Jersey, Philly, New York, the north east, just cause that’s where we’ve been around the longest, and you have built the fanbase up.
Q: Is there anywhere that you want to play, but haven’t had the chance to yet?
B: Brazil, South America, Argentina, Peru, Chile. I’d like to go to Mexico too, but not right now, it’s a little sketchy, with the border bullshit going on now. I’d like to go there. I’d like to go to Alaska too, ad the Philippines.
Q: A lot of people see the lyrics on Waiting Room as being from a more positive place than they were before –
B: Yeah I think so.
Q: Was there anything specific that lead to that happening?
B: I’m just trying to get a grip on my life and move forward instead of staying stagnant. And so a lot of it was the looking forward from where I was is where the positive message came from. It was more of just telling myself that, than I was trying to be positive. I think I was just telling myself to be positive more than I was telling anyone else to be positive. I mean, be positive PMA. I’m the only one that’s positive in the Band right now.
Q: Does that make it harder?
B: When People are trying to destroy your soul because we’re going to Europe. Get me to admit defeat, which I did yesterday, but it doesn’t count, cause we were in Wawa Ontario and there was a bear walking down the street, and I don’t know how you’re supposed to accept that. And I was really hung over, and I was thinking this is fucked up, I need to get out of here.
Q: Is there anyone album that you think everyone should listen too at least once?
B: Jets Tor Brazil Orange Rhyming Dictionary, that’s my favorite record of all time.
Q: Choice Track?
B: Sea Anemone
Q: Do you know what your IQ is?
B: I have no idea. Probably terrible. I can answer legitimate normal questions like how to get places, and I always know where north is, but I don’t know shit about triangles and logic questions, that shit bothers me, I don’t care about that. I think Math is interesting, but I suck at it.
Q: What do you think you’d be doing if the band hadn’t worked out?
B: Working at my step fathers law office. Which I do when I’m at home. I’d be in the UFC.
Q: Really?
B: No, I’m not tough enough, or strong enough, or angry enough for that. I don’t know what I’d do.
Q: What’s your favorite Senses Fail Song?
B: My favorite songs, are the songs that other people in the band don’t like, cause I like to get them to play them. No, I think my favorite song is Sean’s least favorite song, Free Fall Without A Parachute, cause it’s really, really long, it’s pretty long, it’s like probably like 5 minutes long and there’s no reason for it to be 5 minutes long, we just were 18 and were like, meh, here’s a song.
Q: What’s the set list look like on this tour?
B: It’s a little heavy to the new songs, just because you know you want to put out a record and try to support it. We try to play everything we play about 15 16 songs and we play a little bit from every record, not so much the EP, cause depending on the song, most kids don’t necessarily know the EP. I think most kids know Let it Enfold you and still searching and the new one, in various order, but the EP….we’ll play 187 and every so often we’ll lay Steven, but mostly we stick to Let it enfold you, and still searching and the new stuff.
