Buck‐O‐Nine (ska punk band)

Buck-O-Nine is an American ska punk band that was formed in San Diego in 1991. The band has toured internationally and released several albums and EPs, as well as appearing on compilations and film soundtracks. During the mid-to-late 1990s, they experienced mainstream success with the release of the album Twenty-Eight Teeth and its most successful single, "My Town". As the popularity of third-wave ska waned, Buck-O-Nine stopped touring full-time in 2000, but continues to perform regularly throughout California and much of the Southwestern United States. Since 2001, the band has also performed in Japan, the UK, Canada, Mexico and Hawaii. Buck-O-Nine released its sixth studio album, entitled FunDayMental, on April 19, 2019 on Cleopatra Records. Buck-O-Nine formed around the end of 1991, when the original member of the band, Scott Kennerly, placed a newspaper ad and Steve Bauer and Craig Yarnold answered and began playing with the earliest incarnation of the band. Previous to Buck-O-Nine, saxophone player, Craig Yarnold was in a Ska band called the Spy Kids, which also included Matt Hensley from the band Flogging Molly on guitar, and Scott Russo from the band Unwritten Law on keyboard. By very early 1992, Buck-O-Nine had played its first live club gig, opening for The Mighty Mighty Bosstones at the Spirit Club (now Brick By Brick) in San Diego, California. After the first few shows, the lead singer was replaced by Jon Pebsworth, and Dan Albert and Tony Curry joined the band to fill out the horn section. There are several stories about where Buck-O-Nine's name came from. One was that someone used the phrase in the context of a joke they were telling ("yo mamma don't weigh more than a buck-o-nine," or something to that effect). Another version was the band pooled their money for beer and all they had was a dollar and nine cents. Jon Pebsworth's entry to the band was solidified after the first rehearsal. Previous to Buck-O-Nine, he was in a hardcore punk band called Labeled Victims, which also included Pat Kim, former bass player of the band Unwritten Law. Pebsworth had a binder full of lyrics, many of which were written during his time in Labeled Victims, and as the band went through its material for him, he began flipping through pages and plugging in lyrics for each song, almost as if the lyrics had been written for the music without him ever hearing it. At the band's next rehearsal, Pebsworth showed up with his shoulder in a sling - he had broken it the previous weekend while stage-diving at a local punk show. Likewise, Dan Albert and Tony Curry had been playing together in reggae bands, including T. Irie Dread, for several years, and had developed a large repertoire of horn lines and riffs that had gone unused, yet somehow fit into many of the songs Buck-O-Nine would write over the next several years. Albert and Curry still occasionally perform with T. Irie Dread in and around San Diego. By the end of 1992, the band prepared to release a twelve song demo tape entitled Buck Naked, which featured a cartoon drawing by then drummer Steve Bauer, depicting a naked deer sheepishly covering its private parts. Steve was attending art school at the time, and used the album art as one of his class projects. During the recording process, Jonas Kleiner was recruited to play guitar. Kleiner's first rehearsal with the Buck-O-Nine was remarkable in that the band had spent the entire day auditioning guitar players, and Jonas was the last person scheduled to show up. None of the previous guitarists had come close to being able to play the ska style that the music demanded. When Jonas began jamming, his style fit in with the band immediately. Jonas' previous experience playing in various Arizona punk and ska bands became an asset to Buck-O-Nine, and over the years his guitar work would provide the musical foundation for many songs. Most of the guitar tracks on the demo were recorded by bass player Scott Kennerly, with Jonas recording guitar tracks on one song. The demo was released on cassette tape on the band's own pseudo record label, Working Class Records. Working Class Records would also be the pseudo home of the band The Mountain Men, which was composed of friends and roommates of some members of Buck-O-Nine. Shortly after the demo was released, a 7" record, known as the California 7", was released on Silver Girl Records. The front cover of the record sleeve features the license plate from Kennerly's truck, attached to the bumper of an old car at a junk-yard and photographed by Kennerly. It was during this early period that the band began establishing itself in the San Diego all-ages music scene by playing regularly at the well-known club, SOMA . Originally located in downtown San Diego, SOMA was a unique venue because it had a basement stage area (affectionately known as "The Dungeon") where new bands would perform with hopes of drawing enough fans to be promoted to the main stage located above on the main floor. Buck-O-Nine was able to move from the dungeon to the main stage within a short period of time, and thus began opening up for local favorites such as Sprung Monkey, as well as nationally touring acts like Skankin' Pickle. By the time Buck-O-Nine released its first album in 1994, they were regularly selling out the venue, with an estimated 900 - 1000 fans attending most shows. In 1994, the band released its first full-length album, Songs in the Key of Bree on San Diego label Immune Records. One week after the CD was released, the band embarked on its first US tour, in support of fellow ska bands Gangster Fun, from Detroit, and MU330 from St. Louis. Unfortunately, the tour was never completed due to a series of misfortunes. Buck-O-Nine had been told prior to leaving for the tour that all bands would be sharing one drum kit. Of course, when the band arrived at the first gig in Corona, California, they found that they were the only band without a drum kit. Fortunately, the other bands were gracious enough to share drums. Shortly after the halfway point, MU330 had to drop off the tour when their drummer fell ill. On the last leg of the tour, which had the remaining bands swinging through the deep south, Gangster Fun's tour bus (actually an old school bus) broke down and forced them to head home. This left Buck-O-Nine stranded in Mississippi (without a drum kit), where they shacked up at Tony's grandmother's house for several days, attempting to piece together the remainder of the tour. Of course, with the headliner and main support acts gone, promoters were unwilling to commit to hosting the remaining shows, so Buck-O-Nine packed up and headed straight home to San Diego. "Irish Drinking Song" from Songs in the Key of Bree is sometimes mistakenly titled as "Drink and Fight" and mistakenly credited to Flogging Molly, The Bouncing Souls or Dropkick Murphys. Although Flogging Molly and Dropkick Murphys are known for playing similar types of songs, that particular song was written and recorded by Buck-O-Nine. In 1995, Buck-O-Nine released its second full-length album, entitled Barfly on Taang! Records. The album title was inspired by the movie of the same name, starring Mickey Rourke and Faye Dunaway. The album featured a mixture of originals and cover tunes by bands which had inspired Buck-O-Nine's music since the band's inception. The track "Barfly" actually appears on two Buck-O-Nine albums, Songs in the Key of Bree (1994) and "Barfly" (1995). Songs in the Key of Bree was originally released on Immune Records, a tiny San Diego Label. Curtis Casella, owner of Taang! Records and a Bukowski fan, wanted to release a Buck-O-Nine EP on his label called Barfly that would consist of several cover tunes and the Buck-O-Nine original, Barfly. Taang! eventually re-released Key Of Bree as well. As sales of Barfly started to increase, the band was slapped with a cease and desist notice. The original cover of the album used images of both Mickey Rourke and Faye Dunaway. The