Luke Buda, the Iron Eagle, speaks up on his superhero garb, volcanoes, and his upcoming show with Cassette at Bodega on December 6th.
tks: Hey! How did the first two shows of your tour go last week? No violent crowd invasions I hope?
lb: yep lots. especially the middle aged men. they just seem to get so worked up at our gigs.
tks: Important question: your capes. Where do you get them? How can I get one? Do they, as the rumours suggest, give you special powers? Do you have a favourite cape?
lb: capes you say. dissapointingly i don’t even own ONE. all the special powers are mine own. i sold my soul to the ancient pagan gods in return for them. still waiting for the promised fortunes.
tks: What was the inspiration for the title of your new album, Vesuvius? The album itself doesn’t really seem so much of a volcanic eruption, more one of those summer outings to Makara beach. The kind that are always awesome.
lb: hmmm. actually the lyrics are all a bit dark. no one has noticed but my friends it seems. it’s just about the feeling of impending doom i have anytime i bother thinking about any sort of “big picture”. also it’s just a nice looking/sounding word.
tks: How do you feel that Vesuvius has been a step onwards from your debut, Special Surprise?
lb: well i think that in all ways it’s better. better songs, better lyrics. less wasted space. better recorded.
tks: What do you feel you get to achieve in the solo project that you can’t do in your other band? Are you secretly harbouring any 80s hair metal daydreams that you hope to unleash on the world?
lb: in the phoenix there are 6 people and 6 peoples ideas to contend with and it takes a bit of effort to bring stuff to the band. not out of anyones purposeful (?) attempt to make it difficult, but i suppose there is a lot to contend with. we spent about 8 months making happy ending, almost full time. theres a lot of to-ing and fro-ing with the phoenix. it can be exhausting. with the solo stuff it’s easy for me to just have an idea and run with it to it’s ultimate conclusion. we spent about 3 and a half weeks in the SURGERY recording and mixing vesuvius. much much easier.
tks: I see in the liner notes of the album that you had collaboration with bandmate Samuel Flynn Scott and James Milne, amongst others. Was there much beef with regards to facial hair? Which is more important in a beard: quality or quantity?
lb: ha! well i have had a beard since i was 18. so no one can touch me really. as far as quality and quantinty… well actually having a really big beard sucks, when i let mine go occasionaly i have had much trouble eating. the beard gets in the way, looks disgusting afterwards. etc etc. forget pashing too. mostly i have a beard to hide my cleft chin and my widdle baby face.
tks: This is from a description of your shows on the internet: ‘Cassette will play Luke Buda songs and Luke Buda will play Cassette songs. Two sets in harmony. Ebony and ivory.’ Farce or fact?
lb: fact. except that we all play all the time. what it means is that they are my backing band and i am their keyboardist. dig?
tks: And finally: If there is one artist, alive or dead, that you would want to perform a duet of Ebony and Ivory with, who would it be? I call dibs on Diana Ross.
lb: prince tui teka.
tks: Thanks for your time, good luck for the show next week!
James Beavis
Luke Buda plays in all his caped glory at Bar Bodega, 6th December, with Cassette! Tickets are $20, meow.
