EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH THE BUFFET

The Buffet is a punk rock/garage rock band from Burton upon Awesome in the UK’s Midlands that tells stories through their music. The band was formed when Dave House (vocals and guitars) and Bez Berry (bass) met in college. The band’s songs are fast, loud, and memorable with heavy riffs and celebrations ensued. The Buffet began as a collection of Midlands musicians performing in bars and having fun. The band became a fixture on the local scene and performed at the Silverstone F1 race. In 2019, Rich Enion (drums) and Andi Jepson (vocals and lead guitars) joined to complete the band.

Snow White is a tale of secrets and deception surrounding one of the most lucrative sports in the world. The rotten apples who steal whatever they can, whose dreams transcend their means and motivation to survive when those dreams become nightmares.

Snow White is the fifth track from the ‘Anxiety Project’ EP, which was recorded at Giant Wafer studios in Wales and mastered in Australia by Christ De Kesel. Previous tracks from the Anxiety Project EP have been broadcast on BBC Introducing in the United Kingdom, Amazing Radio in the United Kingdom and the United States, and Radio X in the United Kingdom. The Buffet have been invited to perform Snow White on BBC Radio in session in January and will tour the United Kingdom in March 2023. Check out the song and the exclusive interview below:

1. Can you tell us a bit about where you come from and how it all got started?

THE BUFFET: Hi, this is Andi from the Buffet – I’m the 4th member to join the band, I’ll try and tell you the story. The Buffet was born when Dave House (vox and guitars) and Bez Berry (bass) met at University. Heavy riffs and partying followed. After Uni, The Buffet developed as a collective of Midlands musicians playing bars and having fun. The band became a regular on the local scene and played the Silverstone F1 event in 2017, 2018 and 2019. The lineup formalised late in 2019 with Rich Enion (drums) and Andi Jepson (vox and lead guitars) joining. The Buffet, the best damn punk rock band from Burton Upon Trent, came to life.

2. Did you have any formal training or are you self-taught?

THE BUFFET: I did not go to punk rock school. Dave and Bez did something to do with performance at uni. Rich was born drumming.

3. Do you think is it important for fans of your music to understand the real story and message driving each of your songs, or do you think everyone should be free to interpret your songs in their own personal way?

THE BUFFET: We absolutely want fans to be able to interpret the songs in their own way. A lot of thought goes into the packaging of the songs, the titles, the artwork, to give the audience the best opportunity to make it their own. Dave sings about characters – real or made up, that doesn’t matter – in the songs they come to life. They are gritty, sexy, funny, dirty. Some are heroes, some villains. Some are lost. Some talk about hope. Some want beans on toast for dinner. We want fans to find Dave’s characters in their own lives. Another Dave, Dave from Beyond the Bridge Radio summed it up well – ‘Gritty northern vocal and lyrics and guitars that just feel like home’

4. Who were your first and strongest musical influences and why the name ‘THE BUFFET’?

THE BUFFET: I went to see Mudhoney at Wolverhampton Civic and that did it for me. Bez’s influences are wide and eclectic, Rich loves Blink182 and the Chili Peppers. Dave has very varied musical influences – but he started singing and playing guitar to show off to people at parties. Why the name The Buffet? It comes from Buffet Anxiety. It’s a condition that Dave fights with at every formal event. Knowing that when a buffet opens, there is only a small window of opportunity to score an egg sandwich before the edges go a bit crispy. It’s a struggle we all live with, in our own unique way. Or something.

5. What do you feel are the key elements in your music that should resonate with listeners, and how would you personally describe your sound?

THE BUFFET: We’re fast, we’re loud and we’re fun. We love to make an audience smile, and we write tunes you can sing along with straight away, first time you hear them. And Dave loves a story. And a real life character. For example, Dave’s Used Cars is a true story, inspired by an overheard conversation. On a grey Midlands morning, Dave’s sat on a train just outside Birmingham. A guy gets on with a leather briefcase, a gold chain and a sheepskin coat and sits opposite him. He gets out his mobile and makes a loud call buying a car from a guy called Steve for next to nothing, then makes a second call and sells it to another guy called Steve for a thousand pounds. The song was written in about 10 minutes that afternoon.

6. For most artists, originality is first preceded by a phase of learning and, often, emulating others. What was this like for you? How would you describe your own development as an artist and music maker, and the transition towards your own style, which is known as STORYTELLING PUNK ROCK?

THE BUFFET:

I’ve been in a privileged position with The Buffet – all the tunes on this EP were there already when I joined. They were there but stuck In Dave’s head. Some songs from when he was 12, others more recent. We hit the rehearsal room when we could through lockdown and then the studio in early 2022 and the whole process was to get these tunes out of Dave’s head and on to ‘tape’. In the process, the group halved the tunes in length and doubled them in speed, and made them tight battered balls of punk rock. It’s never felt like we needed to borrow ideas from another band or a genre, there was plenty already there, and we’ve always sounded like The Buffet. Dave, Bez and Rich have a very strong idea of their individual sound, and I dig in and add my own aggression and lots of wah. This is probably a good time to introduce the fifth ‘Buffet’ Mr Christ De Kesel, who has been our producer on the EP. Dave takes the credit for the songwriting, but Christ knows how much he has added to the size of the sound.

7. What’s your view on the role and function of music as political, cultural, spiritual, and/or social vehicles – and do you try and affront any of these themes in your work, or are you purely interested in music as an expression of technical artistry, personal narrative, and entertainment?

THE BUFFET:

There is definitely a lot to say about the world as it is right now, and where it is heading. But we’re firmly in the entertainment camp. Sometimes personal, always narrative. We make music to be enjoyed. I think it is underestimated how much you can protest by having a shed load of fun.

8. Do you feel that your music is giving you back just as much fulfillment as the amount of work you are putting into it or are you expecting something more, or different in the future?

THE BUFFET:

Is making music hard work? Of course. Is it rewarding? Yep. Is it fulfilling enough? Sometimes yes, but we have bigger expectations for the new EP, and we want to take it as far as we can go. Its been a ride so far, with Radio X and BBC Introducing playing the songs, Amazing Radio playlisting us and BBC Radio Derby inviting us in for a live session – we’re massively grateful for the support and interest, but we’re just getting started.

9. Could you describe your creative processes? How do usually start, and go about shaping ideas into a completed song? Do you usually start with a tune, a beat, or a narrative in your head? And do you collaborate with others in this process?

THE BUFFET:

We’re back in the studio to record another EP in a few weeks and we’re writing and collecting ideas as fast as we can. Everything starts off with a riff. Then Dave finds the tune, the hook. Then I’ll find a line. Then Bez will probably pull a bit of a face and fix the riff. Then the result is a song. It’s always surprising how quickly we write. It doesn’t always work, but when it does it’s quick. The Upside Down was a completely different song when we went to the studio with it. After a few lemonades Dave decided that all of the lyrics needed to change and within an hour Rich was recording the spoken word parts and we’d written a new chorus around. I’m very pleased with the lyric, ‘Your Mums in charge, your pants are down’

10. What has been the most difficult thing you’ve had to endure in your life or music career so far?

THE BUFFET:

That’s a big question, I’ll keep it professional. I’m impatient. I want to get on stage now and play the tunes to people. I think we’ve got something unique, something with energy and honesty. As I’m pretty new to the band and the scene, I’m still working on making relationships with venues and local promoters. Everyone who I’ve managed to talk to so far has been helpful, but it’s a lot of sending emails into the abyss to get gigs and get heard. I already feel like I could write a how not to book for unsigned bands from all the mistakes I’ve made. We wont stop moving forward though. Like a band of sharks, with guitars.

11. On the contrary, what would you consider a successful, proud or significant point in your life or music career so far?

THE BUFFET: We got offered a slot at a festival today. Without pitching. Just like that. Someone found us, liked us and offered us a stage. How good is that? The songs only started coming out a few months ago, so that felt like some amazing progress. I’m very proud of the radio play we’ve had too. Huge shout out to Emma at Pluggin’ Baby who has been my most helpful person in music without us being officially on her books (yet). We’ve got on Radio X and BBC and over 60 other radio shows across the world. There’s a DJ in Canada who plays every song, and one in Austria who gives us a slot on the show most weeks. It’s great support and it makes me very proud of the songs.