People Noise

"There's so much lost time to cover," says former VHS or Beta member Zeke Buck in a recent interview with The Louisville Eccentric Observer's Mat Herron. "Basically, I'm trying to start anew." And that's exactly what Buck is doing. After a successful 10 year run in VHS or Beta – which included a national arena tour with Duran Duran – Buck now devotes his time and talent to People Noise, the band he started with good friend and ex-Boom Bip member Matt Johnson. With Johnson on drums and Buck on, well, everything else, these Louisville natives have produced a unique and psychedelic rock sound that cites influences in a vast range of musical styles including such odd bedfellows as Black Sabbath and Bjork.

Although we never heard him sing a lick during his years in VHS or Beta, Buck's resume would lead us to ask the question, "why the hell not?" From the ripe age of only four years old he was belting out opera all over the country until the inevitable struck -- puberty. Unfortunately for him, it struck in the middle of a performance. It wasn't until only recently that Buck began to sing again. For a number of months he studied under Turley Richards, a blind Louisville musician with a vocal range that would impress Whitney Houston, and eventually regained the confidence that was lost long ago. On People Noise's debut album Ordinary Ghosts, you can listen to Buck sing about everything from reincarnation to thoughts on his former band.

Johnson, a guitarist-turned-drummer with a background in experimental electronic music, boasts quite a resume himself. During his time in Boom Bip, he toured extensively throughout Europe and has shared the stage with notable acts like LCD Soundsystem, Yo La Tengo, Pinback and Matt Pond PA. Johnson has also performed at London BBC Peel Sessions, Centre Pompideu, Royal Festival Hall and The Renne Music Festival in Renne, France. Not to mention he studied the djembe under Yaya Diallo for a number of years. That's quite an accomplishment for a guy who wrote and performed all the drum parts on Ordinary Ghosts on a rural Kentucky farm with no Internet and no cell phone service!

People Noise is currently on tour through the month of April and into May. For its live shows, Johnson and Buck are joined by Rahman McGuinnis on guitar, Woody Woodmansee on keyboards and Mike DuFresne on bass. Stay alert for the highly anticipated release of Ordinary Ghosts due out later this June.