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Interview with Tom Clawson of Buck69 – an Ohio based Contemporary Blues Rock Band

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Buck69

Toledo, Ohio based blues rock outfit Buck69 have released their new album No Medicine Like The Blues.

These 16 original songs have been earning the band some rave reviews as well as holding spots on the Blues Rock Roots Music Charts.

I had the honor of grabbing a few minutes of Tom Clawson’s time for this interview about the band, gigging, and the new record.

Who is “Buck69”?

Tom Clawson: My oldest son Alex and I formed “Buck69” back in 2004. In 2002 Alex suggested that I get back into music and the two of us play out and around Toledo doing some acoustic stuff. I was only too happy to try it out, if not mainly just to spend time with my son.

After a couple years he says dad let’s start a band. I was a little hesitant knowing the baggage that comes with forming and maintaining a band, but I told him fine as long as I picked the crew and that it wasn’t going to be a regular cover – bar band. I did plenty of that as a kid. So we went around Toledo and handpicked some of the best blues rock musicians in town to play original music.

Who are the band members?

Tom Clawson: My son Alex Clawson plays rhythm and lead guitar as well as helps with the songwriting and backup vocals. John (Sevilla) Almaguer plays lead guitar and bass guitar as well as helps with songwriting and backup vocals. Candice Coleman Lange does lead and backup vocals. David Alan plays drums and backup vocals. B J Love plays keyboards. Randy Paredes plays lead, rhythm and slide guitar. And I play rhythm guitar, write the songs and lead vocals.

Where do you play around Toledo?

Tom Clawson: Due to our size, a seven piece band makes it hard to play the local bars/venues so we mainly just play fairs, festivals, openers and fund raisers.

We’ve played at the Ohio State Fair, the Speedway Jam, the MS Jam, Fort Wayne Blues Festival and several of the local festivals through the years. Plus I’ve found that doing the every week bar thing burns out the fans and the musicians. Besides I like the energy that the band brings to a show and I know some of that would be lost playing cover songs over and over again at the bars. It’s just not what the band is about anyways.

We’re a DIY original band and by concentrating on releasing our own material via the internet we’ve become known around the world compared to being confined to just locally.

You’ve been ranked number one on the local blues charts (Reverb Nation) for more than 5 years and voted best blues band in Toledo a couple times among other awards. How do you feel about this?

Tom Clawson: It’s pretty cool but I’ve got mixed emotions about it.

Buck69 plays blues but we’re not per say a blues band. It’s confusing to people when a band gets labeled like that. We are a contemporary blues and roots rock band. In more detail I would say its modern electric blues mixed with a 70’s style of rock and roll.

If you want to listen to a straight up blues band, then the best ones in Toledo that I would recommend to go see are The Jeff Williams Band, Johnny Reed and the House Rockers, Buzz Anderson and the Frostbite Band and last but not least Aayan Naim of The Good The Bad & The Blues. These bands are the real deal for blues in this area.

Thus I would say you could compare Buck69 more to the local blues rock bands like Josh Boyd and the VIP Band, John Sevilla and Severe Weather and Chris Shutters, don’t misunderstand me, one thing Toledo is not lacking is a numerous selection of good bands and musicians but the afore nine mentioned bands are seasoned professionals in their genre of music and are actively playing on a regular basis. You might not be paying $20.00 a ticket to see them but I’d say they could stand toe to toe with any of the national acts in our genre. These bands are awesome and you should try to see them whenever you can.

You could also compare Buck69’s sound to national acts like Eric Clapton, Kenny Wayne Sheppard and Jonny Lang. We’re more on the rock side than blues. Our first CD “When She Whispers Your Name” was a 2008 Contemporary Blues Grammy finalist and so I think that’s the big reason for the number one slot. Due to the internet it has been sold all over the world and has done very well on the blues rock/roots rock charts. Here’s a recent e-mail I received from a radio station in Tampa Florida after I emailed them to let them know about our new CD:

Hi Tom,

After 10 years, my enthusiasm as a hobbyist blues promoter was in serious decline about the time I received your 2007 release (I also run the Electric Blues Radio station at Live365.com). I keep this site and EB Radio going, but only as a token effort these days…. I’ve moved on to other passions (like trying to learn to play guitar for myself – at 60 years old, no less).

I rarely take the time to email those who register with the site these days, but I wanted to say I remember feeling “When She Whispers Your Name” was one of the most enjoyable blues-rock CDs I’d heard in a while back when I received a promotional copy for EB Radio. Cuts from that CD still play in rotation. It’s my perception there’s been a noticeable decline in the quality of recorded regional blues-rock since the mid 2000’s. Buck69 was a refreshing exception from that trend.

You guys are still together? It’s pretty commendable you’ve persisted all this time, surviving in a small niche corner of a brutal industry.

Congratulations.

Regards,
Herm

How long did it take to make the new CD and how do you feel about it now that it’s done?

Tom Clawson: I started writing new material even before we finished the first CD. So you could say this one took about six years. We really took our time with this CD compared to the first one. We wanted the first CD to be good but we rushed it a little due to the excitement.

I’m really pleased with the outcome of this CD, I feel it’s the best songwriting I’ve done and the band did a great job of putting down the music. John Sevilla from the band who’s also the producer from New Realm Studios did an awesome job in his recording studio. And I think all the guys in the band can be really proud that they were a part of it.

If you only play gigs several times a year what do you do to keep in tune?

Tom Clawson: As I mentioned in the beginning of the interview, Buck69 is made up of some of the best musicians in the Toledo area. We all have side projects that we work on a regular basis.

For example: Alex Clawson: plays lead and rhythm guitar in the local speed metal band “Bath House Betty”, plus the two of us still do occasional acoustic gigs. The two of us have even played at the Kings Palace on Beale Street down in Memphis.

Candice Coleman Lange: besides being an American Idol contestant is a vocal coach does solo gigs and plays in a duo with Chris Brown.
John (Sevilla) Almaguer: is the front man for the band John Sevilla and Severe Weather, a session musician and the owner of New Realm Recording Studios.

David Alan: is a session drummer and fills in with other bands around town as needed.

B J Love: is a session keyboard player and fills in for bands around town as needed, plus does solo work.

Randy Paredes: is a guitar player in the Madison Avenue Band and was voted best blues guitar player in 2011 by Toledo Guitar Center for N W Ohio.

I spend a lot of time writing/co-writing, playing in an acoustic due with my son, and working with musicians on how to market and produce their music. So as you can see besides our day jobs we all stay very busy with our music. It’s truly more than just an expensive hobby.

What was the hardest part in making the CD?

Tom Clawson: Well of course raising the money is always the hardest part. There are so many awesome musicians here in northwest Ohio and they’ll all tell you the same thing, “I just need the money to record”. Fortunately I have a decent enough job that allows me to save enough to record. It cost about ten to fifth teen thousand dollars to make a professional CD from start to finish and that’s just recording the CD. That’s not counting the time and money needed to market the product.

The next hardest thing this time was writing some of the songs. I wanted to have Candice be lead singer on a couple of the songs so I had to write accordingly. And she does a great job on “Without My Baby” which I knew she would. And John Sevilla wrote the music for four songs and said here write some lyrics. That was a totally new experience and challenge, since I usually write the lyrics and music myself. Then of course it’s not as hard as it is complicated but just working around seven people’s schedules to get them into the studio.

Which songs do you like the best on the CD?

Tom Clawson: Of course I like them all because they’re all originals but if I had to choose, I’m going to have to say the title track “No Medicine like the Blues”. It’s not the best radio friendly song on the CD because its eight minutes long, but it really shows the professionalism of the guys in the band. David Alan’s drum work, B J Loves melody on piano and John Sevilla’s lead guitar work, all of it is just awesome.

I’m so proud of these guys for their patience and in working with me to bring this song of mine to life the way that they did. Then Candice took “Without My Baby” and made it her own. I could see this song being a really hot video. And it was a real treat to have Johnny Neal from Nashville (keyboard player for the Allman Brothers Band) play keyboards on “Dead End Road”.

What do you hope people come away with after hearing the CD?

Tom Clawson: At my age now, I’ve listened to a lot of music and my biggest gripe has always been that you put a CD in while cruising down the road and it really sucks when all the songs start sounding alike. After about the 4th song you’re thinking to yourself didn’t I just hear that song?That’s why people listen to the radio and why mixed CD’s are so popular, the diversity.

So our number one rule of thumb is to be eclectic and diverse. I want you to be able to put our CD in your car or stereo and just cruse with nothing sounding the same so you don’t get board. A little rock, blues, acoustic and alternative mixed just right. And most of all that it just makes you feel good. Like medicine!

So what makes Buck69 different compared to all the other bands out there?

Tom Clawson: The two key words are “Team” and “Band”.

We are a team of professional musicians and singer songwriters, each of us bringing a diverse mixed bag of talent to the band. That’s why you’ll never see us listed as Tom & Buck69 or Candice & Buck69 or any of the other guy’s names. When you come to see us play or listen to our CD’s you’re not getting one person with some musicians backing him up, you’re getting seven multi talented people coming together as a team who all could be the front man/woman of their own band.

What advice would you give to the younger bands just starting out?

Tom Clawson: Get a job, and short of sounding like a parent I would say if you’re serious and committed then accept the fact that the odds of being discovered in Toledo, Ohio are zero to none and you should move to a music town like Nashville, Los Angeles, Chicago, Portland or New York.

If you take the DIY approach like Buck69 I would recommend you refrain from using drugs, alcohol or cigarettes. Not just because they’re addictive, expensive and bad for you, hell I like a good scotch just as much as the next guy but because the money you save from not buying those three things will pay for your professional recordings and video’s.

That discipline alone will put you miles and miles ahead of the competition and help increase your odds of getting discovered.

So where can you buy the CD?

Tom Clawson: You can buy the CD at Amazon.com, CD Baby.com, I-Tunes, Culture Clash Records and directly from me, 16 songs $15.00 per CD or $12.00 to just download the CD. TRC@prodigy.net

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