Today we’d like to introduce you to Hayden Locke.
Hi Hayden, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
We originally formed in the summer of 2018 as a completely different project. Our sound then was closer to pop-rock, but it developed into a mix of indie rock and psych rock. The lineup consisted of Hayden Locke on bass and vocals, Russel Houk on guitar, and Ian Valdès on drums. Our formational years from 2018 through 2020 were spent trying to figure ourselves out as musicians and as a band. We played mostly basement shows with 10 people in attendance, and when we played bigger shows our music never really stood out enough to build momentum. We were just a band of teenagers making music for fun and hoping that one day it would work. During this period of time, we released 2 EPs, “The Walrus” (2018) and “Little Dudes” (2019), along with a single, “7 Pages,” to close out 2019. Personal tragedy combined with a deteriorating relationship between Russell and Hayden would ultimately break up the two founding members in the middle of 2020. This and our drummer Ian leaving for college effectively led to the project being dead for some time.
Hayden would soon reconnect with Jack Pace, a guitarist whom he had met previously at a house show. The match was perfect, and the new trio of Ian Valdès, Hayden Locke, and Jack Pace got to work on creating the very first Buice album. We put together a combination of old unfinished tracks, songs written by Jack before he joined the band, and some new songs, and we released it as “Buice” (2021), our first official studio album. During the time between Rus leaving and Jack joining, we began to evolve our sound, with Jack pushing us through this evolution. At this point, Buice was incorporating influences from noise rock, no wave, post-hardcore, and post-punk. The debut album would immediately propel us into the local Atlanta scene where we would work to establish ourselves. Shortly after the debut album finished recording, Ian had to leave for college again. However, this time he would not be coming back, and we had to find a new drummer. We would replace Ian and end 2021 strong as we began to work on our second album, “One Day You’ll See the Sun”. 2022 would prove difficult, as Hayden was put into a difficult situation in his own personal life, and the band was focusing its attention that year towards playing shows. The result was a year with only a handful of demo single releases for songs off of the next album (“Grifter,” “ADHD,” and “Windy,” respectively).
That year also marked the end of the era of Buice being a trio when guitarist Josh Rubin joined the band as the second guitarist in August, pushing the band’s sound to a place where it could be even more identifiably unique. We would take a break late in 2022 to finally focus on finishing the writing and recording of our second album. 2023 is already an eventful year, and we’re only halfway through. The beginning of the year started with a lineup change for the drumming role, putting the band in a place of needing to regroup and finally record the entire album. With the band in the most fragile spot since Russel’s departure, finding the right drummer became crucial. We would add Robert Lloyd to the band in March of 2023. Robert not only saved the band; he also pushed us to a place of what we would consider the optimization of our sound. We played a few shows with him and knew we had something good on our hands. Finally, after almost 2 years of concocting the album, in May of 2023 we recorded “One Day You’ll See the Sun”. We are finishing up the production on this album after years of work, and we are planning to release a single very soon.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
There have undoubtedly been plenty of struggles throughout our existence. I know I have dealt with serious personal issues throughout this project’s existence. From dealing with a traumatic death close in my life in 2019 to losing housing at one point in 2022, my journey throughout this process has been anything but easy and straightforward. On top of it all, we have been trying at this for 5+ years now, and that has been largely through trial and error. By this point with how far we have come and with what I at least have dealt with, these experiences almost make me feel invincible, like I, along with us can keep getting up and pushing forward no matter what happens cause I know at the very least someone needs to hear what is in our heads.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I have been working towards a music career as early in my life as 12 years old, I began recording songs at 14 and releasing those tracks at 16 all the way back in 2017. I released these tracks under the name Warsaw Pact, which I still use from time to time just to upload random idm tracks I make in my free time. I have primarily spent my musical career focused on songwriting and production, the most important part of a song to me is that the song itself is well composed, listenable and enjoyable, that comes first to me before any details regarding instrumentation, complexity, etc. My most proud work is undoubtedly Buice, and if you want to be specific, it is also undoubtedly our upcoming album One Day You’ll See The Sun. What was originally something I did for fun with friends to help reach a goal I had set early in my life has suddenly become something legitimate that I can see being the project I dedicate my life to, and finally see out my goal of having a career in music that I had set all the way back at 12 years old. What makes me and Buice unique is in my opinion, how raw and honest we are lyrically and instrumentally, I go out of my way to try to leave everything I can of myself on that stage and on that recording, I want the listener to be captivated by what they are listening to; and the way I believe to draw people in best is to be unrelentingly honest.
Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
To be honest I don’t, the only real role model I have in my life is my dad, who got me into music in the first place. I tend to try to live for myself and live on my own values. When it comes to Buice and my career, I’ve operated through trial and error and funny enough, wound up where I am now. You could honestly call it dumb luck.
Some bands you could credit as influential to us as a band though would be acts such as Black Midi, At the Drive-in, Don Caballero, Slint, King Crimson, Death Grips, Polvo, Modest Mouse, Unwound, Primus, Drive Like Jehu, Black Country New Road, and Chat Pile.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/buicemusic?igshid=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA==
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/buice_music?s=21&t=0U8U1V50JTMDY-INjbx9NA
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@buicemusic
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5Je7P98rMII6Qp1qmQoknx?si=W2vf29omRMqvT0yKpHOTmg
Image Credits
Alex Valverde Sam Kapoor
