Jordan Buckley of Better Lovers

Photo Credit:: Gabe Becerra

We recently caught up with legendary Buffalo-born guitarist Jordan Buckley to talk about Better Lover‘s new album Highly Irresponsible; making hundreds of pounds of chicken wings at Warped Tour; what Blissmas means to Buffalo; and buying a bar on Chippewa.

 

Tickets for Blissmas ’24 can be purchased here.

 

Highly Irresponsible is out now via Sharptone records. Check out our review here.

 

*This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.


 

buffaBLOG: Better Lovers has just released their debut album Highly Irresponsible. What was the influence behind the name of the album and how do you think the songs play into the overall concept?

 

Jordan Buckley: Greg came up with the name – it’s one of those things that felt like “it has a nice ring to it” and looks good on a t-shirt *laughs*. But I like when names are open to interpretation – not just necessarily that there’s a guy blowing up fireworks in his face on the cover, that’s a more literal interpretation… I kind of felt that way about starting a band when you’re 40 in general. I’ve got a kid and it’s not considered a very “responsible” thing to do. I guess it’s just looked at as a young man’s game, or at least that’s how I saw it since I’ve been in a band since I was 14 years old. Is doing this all over again the right thing to do? Am I really signing up for that? But you know what… We all kind of got that “itch,” it’s a part of us and it’s going to be a part of our lives forever I guess. Is that irresponsible? Is it not? Who knows?

 

You’re on tour supporting the new album right now – how has the reception to the new songs been? Do you have a song you look forward to playing each night?

 

JB: We made the mistake of making our songs very difficult to play *laughs*. There’s so much focus and concentration that goes into playing the new ones. The old ones, you get that muscle memory going, but with the new songs, it’s a lot of staring at the guitar still… It’s a nice mix of – you have the perfection of trying to play like your recording, but you still want to mix in that dangerous live energy that people expect and that we expect when you hit the stage. Having said that, the response has been amazing… And what’s amazing is that what’s old to you might be brand new to someone in the crowd. I’m on stage playing a riff I wrote on my couch two years ago. So there’s no one answer – there’s a lot of transposing time and space where we’re all meeting in one spot and maybe I’m playing a song for the 100th time and maybe someone in the crowd is hearing it for the first time. We’re just trying to live in that experience.

 

In our review of Highly Irresponsible, we referred to your iconic riffs as “Buckleyisms.” What’s your inspiration for riff writing and how do you keep the creative juices flowing 20+ years into your guitar-playing career?

 

JB: You know, I am lucky in the fact that Will is just a musical genius and he knows scales, and notes, and can just point at a fret on a guitar and say “this will sound good.” It just blows my mind with his mastery of music theory. I am… The opposite. I don’t know notes, I don’t know scales, I don’t know chords. I can get as spiritual and wacky as you want and tap into some sort of frequency where these ideas are out in the universe waiting for me to find them. But really, stuff comes into my head, and then I sing it into my phone, and then I try to make my guitar sound like the thing I recorded on my phone. Some of my ideas are just called “Lowe’s Riff” or “Home Depot Riff.” The one song, track two, is just called “Halloween” and it’s got three riffs and it’s because I recorded them all on Halloween last year.

 

 

Photo credit: Gabe Becerra

For all the gear nerds out there, is there an iconic piece of gear that means the most to you?

 

JB: This is for all the Buffalo people – I have a Marshall 800 that I bought from Scott Sprigg of Buried Alive; who got it from one of the guys in Snapcase, I think Salemi; who got it from Sick of It All, and it’s literally on stage with me today. That’ll be on stage with me the last time I’m ever on stage.

 

3/5 of Better Lovers are Buffalonians – as someone who grew up in Buffalo, how do you think the city has influenced your music and style over the years?

 

JB: Quite literally, I got my start going to Buffalo hardcore shows at 13 and 14 years old. I was going to Mercury Theatre, Showplace Theatre, VFW halls – I mean, I look back now and I can’t believe my parents were letting me go. Basically, you’d find an older friend that your parents trust and you’d be set. Despair, Snapcase, Buried Alive, No Reason… Everybody… Plagued With Rage, Half Mast, I would go to a show – it wouldn’t even matter who was playing. Mercury Theatre every Sunday. Kenzie’s in Lockport. You just went. It didn’t even matter who was playing, you just went. The next thing you know, your parents were letting you go to Syracuse or Erie, PA. All of a sudden you had Brother’s Keeper and Earth Crisis. This was pre-internet, so you had to go get the music… If you wanted hardcore from Erie, PA, you had to hop on the 90 and go. I think locationally, Buffalo helped – Slugfest… I mean I could go on and on. I just got lucky man, Buffalo just had a great hardcore scene when I was a teenager.

 

Blissmas has become an iconic Buffalo tradition – what’s your favorite part about hosting such a one-of-a-kind festival?

 

JB: We’re trying to do some charity stuff, that’s a big thing. At this point in my life, I’m all about giving back, even if that doesn’t necessarily mean “money.” We do what we can… But as an “experience” too. We want to make people happy. We want people to come into town and have a great time on Thursday night, and on Friday night, and on Saturday night. And we want not just the people, but the bands too, saying “I’m coming back next year.” It’s an opportunity to put good into the world. I’m okay with the fact that I can do that with music. You kind of go through that “impostor syndrome” – you want to help the world out but not everybody is a nurse, or a doctor or a first responder. I kind of downplayed my role as a human for too long, and now I’m really owning it. As silly as it sounds, I make riffs and I’m in bands that make songs that make people happy. It’s weird considering it’s loud and it’s angry sounding… But once you’re ok with that contrast, you realize “I want people to be able to come to Buffalo and have a great time…” It’s a trickle effect – I gotta be careful, I don’t want to pat myself on the back too much, but there’s a lot of people who make lifelong friends, get married, find their soulmates. That’s fucking awesome to me.

 

Photo credit: Gabe Becerra

You’re an accomplished artist beyond your musical endeavors – where do you find inspiration as a visual artist and what keeps you motivated to keep making different kinds of art?

 

JB: This one’s a little tougher for me. Art has always been my solo project, music has always been a group project where the other guys I write with make it better. Art is just me, so it’s a little more terrifying to be honest. I don’t want to say it’s more rewarding, but it is a lot more challenging. I tend to get so excited about the final result – somedays I’m a patient person and somedays I need to work on my patience. When I get a big idea, I know how obsessed I get. I know how focused I get. I know I tend to shut off everything around me, so I know when I’m about to start a big project I need to get everything done – pay every bill, get everything clean, because I know I’m going to shut down for 3 to 4 weeks. I don’t do anything small, so even a merch design will take me very fucking long *laughs.* I wish I was quicker and could approach it with less thought and more spontaneity.

 

It’s funny, the current poster I did for Better Lovers, the first time we had it for sale was at Furnace Fest. We’re set up next to that band Coalesce. My poster is on the table, and I’m very proud of it, it’s this gnarly fuckin’ dragon on a leash and it took me like 100 hours, drawing every scale… And I’m looking at this Coalesce shirt and it’s just this apple on a skateboard giving the double middle finger and smoking a cigarette. And it must have taken like 20 minutes and it’s 1000x cooler than my poster. And I’m just having an existential crisis, Will is next to me saying “dude you’re having a crisis right now,” and I was like “This makes me want to quit! This is why I need to figure my shit out! I’m sick of blocking off three weeks, I wanna sit down for 20 minutes and I want to draw an apple on a skateboard!”

 

You recently purchased a bar in Buffalo (The Buffalo Tap House) – how did that come to fruition and do you have any exciting future plans in store?

 

JB: I’ve just been kind of open to opportunities, and when something just falls into my lap, especially post-pandemic, I’ve just been saying “everything happens for a reason” and going all-in on it. When that came across our lap, the owner just wanted to retire. That was it. She didn’t wanna make a billion dollars on a sale, she just wanted to retire and move to Hawaii. Our mutual friend Chris Ring heard about it and next thing I know… She didn’t want us to change the name or the staff, it was really a turnkey kinda thing. I just couldn’t say no to that. I’m just bummed I can’t be there more often, living in Arizona and being on tour.

It’s gonna be a good time this December. We just got my dad’s chicken wing sauce added to the menu. Go get the warped wings. It’s so cool, I’m so glad that we got to do that, too. Quick story – whenever we’d play the Warped Tour in Buffalo, he’d make chicken wings for the entire tour. I’m talking hundreds of pounds. He’s got this secret sauce he’s been making for all my life, it’s so good, and we put it on the menu – Mr. Buckley’s Warped Wings.

 

As an artist you’ve watched yourself evolve across different projects – what’s one piece of advice you’d give to your younger self that you think would surprise him?

 

JB: Just learn more. You kinda get stuck in certain ways of doing things… I didn’t really realize that my tastes were going to change as I grew up. 20 year old me is like “I know how to watercolor, I don’t want to use acrylics.” Well guess what, 40 year old you wants to use acrylics, so pay attention! I would just go back and tell myself “the point of it all is just to learn.” You’re proud when you’re young and you strike gold and you’re like “I love my style, I’m set for life, I’m gonna draw comic books, so get out of my way.” I wish I would have been open to needing to know as much as possible down the line. Luckily, now there’s YouTube, so anytime I need to know anything I just watch that.

 

Thanks so much for your time Jordan! Anything else you’d like to say before we let you go?

 

JB: No man, this has been great! Just check out the record, check us out on tour. Go to Blissmas, do the whole thing. Go Bills.

 

 

Categorised in: Columns, Interviews

This post was written by Nick Sessanna

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