About
John Buckingham

John
Edward Buckingham sometimes calls himself John Buck, he was born
in Bedfordshire in the late 1950's.
John
was first introduced to music was when he sang in Willesborough
Church Choir, Ashford, Kent from when he was 7 to 15. He became
head choirboy and was responsible for singing all the solos especially
“The Lord’s My Shepherd” at weddings. The highlight
of this time was when church choirs from around Kent gathered
at Canterbury Cathedral for a festival. John says that the sound
of everyone singing in that wonderful building was awesome and
will always be with him. He also sang in the school choir and
played percussion instruments in the orchestra.
At
the ages of 12 to 16 he learned to play the piano and was taught
by Ted Solly, his school and church choirmaster. Ted taught John
classical music which he really didn't like much at the time and
his mother would literally bully him into practicing. But John
thanks her now because without her input none of his music would
have been written.
John
had become a musician but he needed that spark to ignite his enthusiasm.
At
the age of 14 John saw Marc
Bolan and T. Rex playing "Jeepster" on Top of the
Pops and that did it, he bought the album “T.
Rex”. John says that this is still is favourite T. Rex
album. Marc Bolan had totally inspired John to write his own songs.
|
The
Time of Love is Now by
Marc Bolan and T. Rex
Light up your face
With all the love within you
Say your word
Make it heard
Light up the world
With poems from within you
Shout it out
Have no doubts
For the time of love is now |
John
managed to get a cheap acoustic guitar in a jumble sale for £5.
But he really wanted an electric guitar and a friend of the family
did a special deal for him on a Hofner
electric guitar with a tremolo arm and tape wound strings.
John taught himself to play the guitar using the “Play in
a Day” book by Bert
Weedon . . . but it would be much, much longer than just one
day. When he was teaching himself the guitar he swore that he
would never play the blues so that his style would be different
to other guitarists. He also never played along to records afraid
of developing someone else’s style. He admitted later that
this was a mistake because it took longer to learn the instrument.
John
started
to play music with his sister Julia Buckingham (now known as Jules).
They performed as a duet
at first just playing Beatles songs and other covers. Even then
the harmonies they constructed were very unique, John says that
their rendition of “She’s Leaving Home” was
probably their best song. The duo then teamed up with a drummer
and friend, Mick Kennedy, and called themselves Morning
Mist. They played wherever they could get a gig and it didn't
matter about money, money never mattered to them, it was the music
that counted.
John
joined his first full band “Orpheus”
around about 1974 and they played their own material plus covers
such as “One of These Nights” by the Eagles and “Caroline”
by Status Quo.
At
the age of 16 John started a 5 year apprenticeship as a compositor
(typesetter) which is where he really started to play around
with words, writing poems and songs. John says it was a grueling
but rewarding apprenticeship where he learned everything about
the print trade. John was earning peanuts compared to his friends
but he reckoned that it shaped him as a person and taught him
to never give up.
Pipe
Dream was formed about 1977 with Alan Cork the guitarist from
Orpheus. John still
thinks that this was the high point of his musical life, the band
were so fresh and young with lots of new ideas. At that time Pipe
Dream were listening to the likes of Steve Hillage, Jimmy Hendrix
and Camel and their music seemed to reflect that.
When
John had finished his apprenticeship, he started to take piano
lessons again, this time with a female Welsh teacher. John got
up to grade 5 but his teacher went back to live in Wales and he
was mortified because she was a great teacher. John hasn't had
any piano lessons since, although he says that at some time he
would like to gain higher grades so that he could teach.
Since
then there have been a string of bands:
1979: SPG - 1988:
Tall Man Thin - 1990:
Desk Top Muzak - 1991:
Sinfear and the Love - 2005:
Lusyd
2008: Animalian - 2004-2010:
Jamjar - 2009-2010:
Looney Ginger Boys Ltd - 2010-2011:
The Hereafter
John
thinks that he plays guitar and piano "very averagely"
and that his singing is much the same. But he really classes himself
as a song writer using whatever medium he can lay his hands on
at the time, from a battered acoustic to a full on computer multi
track recording system.
John's
major influences are:
The Beatles, Deep Purple, T. Rex, Pink Floyd, Man, Nektar, Steve
Hillage, Led Zeppelin, Caravan, Camel, The Stranglers and a relatively
unknown band Cressida. He has always liked a bit of dance and
ambience and he respects the likes of The Prodigy and Boards of
Canada.
The
songs listed in Buck
Music are his diary, the quality isn't that great sometimes
but his soul seems to always be there in the recordings. John
hopes that you can give these songs a chance because he thinks
that there is something for everyone, a different song to match
all your moods.
.
. . . ooh and have a look at Early
Bands and Buck
Memorabilia for a laugh too!
Just
to mention that John has created all these songs, organized all
these bands and done loads of gigs while mostly holding down full
time jobs.
In
2009 John tried something very different, he was playing guitar
and backing vocals with an outstanding blues guitarist, Dave Carson.
They were an "acoustic act" that went under the band
name of Sugar
Mama UK. They did quite a few gigs in the Hampshire/Dorset
area and also in St. Ives, Cornwall, particularly the St. Ives
Music Festival. John also played guitar in an offshoot jazz band, Dave
Carson's 4am but he left both bands in October 2009 stating
that it was just not his kind of music.
John's most recent expedition was playing keyboards and backing vocals under the name of "Noteslinger" in the band
The
Hereafter . . . he joined on 21/7/2010 and left on 7/9/2011.
Oh
yea, John would love to hear from you, he loves constructive criticism!
To contact him click here: John
Buck
Jane
-
Riki