When Guitar World rings rising blues-rock talent Chris Buck, the 26-year-old South Wales native has just returned from London’s Stone Free Festival, where Buck & Evans...
When Guitar World rings rising blues-rock talent Chris Buck, the 26-year-old South Wales native has just returned from London’s Stone Free Festival, where Buck & Evans played alongside such rock heavyweights as Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow and Blue Oyster Cult. In fact, Buck & Evans, a four-piece unit led by Buck’s searing, stinging licks and vocalist/keyboardist Sally Ann Evan’s heavens-shaking howl, have been lighting up stages across the U.K. for several years now, both at their own incendiary gigs and at major British events like the Download Festival, where they performed in 2016.
With any luck, American audiences will soon know what U.K. music fans—not to mention bona fide guitar heroes like Slash, who has called Buck a “fucking awesome guitar player”—already do: Chris Buck is a six-string star.
Furthermore, Buck & Evans are the real blues-rock deal, with a fresh—not to mention deep and diverse—sound that recalls classic acts from Cream, Free and John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers to Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac, Janis Joplin and Led Zeppelin. Meaning, essentially, that while Buck & Evans are a crack unit of top-notch musicians, they also are conscious of always placing melody, groove and soul above shred and other show-off moves.
The result is that B&E are plying some of the most vibrant and powerful blues-rock going, as can be heard on efforts like their self-titled 2013 EP and 2014’s Live at Rockfield.
Buck & Evans, which also includes bassist Dominic Hill and drummer Bob Richards (who filled in for AC/DC in 2014), are getting set to record their debut full-length. In the meantime, the incredibly affable Buck took a few moments to chat with Guitar World about his influences, his gear and what it was like to share the stage with