If you know about BUFU Records, pharmacy doctor you know about Ben Katzman. The guitar shredding 23 year old is somewhat of a cornerstone to Boston music; both in his work and the ceaseless energy he brings to it.

Ben Katzman is a character of sorts. From the get-go he’s delivered BUFU Records as the personification of himself, rx releasing his work alongside friends like The Lemons, drug Tall Juan and former Boston punks, Free Pizza. Ben Katzman is a character, sure, mixing his preference for lowbrow slang with an expertise on a range of delightfully niche topics. Ask him about Scientology and he’ll tell you all about L. Ron Hubbard’s Dianetics, as his eyes light up and he shoots words at you without taking a breath. Not that he wants to hit you over the head with knowledge. These things just come out in casual conversation, like that the compatibility of an Aries and a Pisces is entirely determined by their ability to grow independently and understand each other. That together, an Aries and Pisces can make a beautiful or devastating relationship. Ben Katzman is a character, and a hopelessly romantic one at that.

You may have seen Ben around town, playing shows with his solo project, DeGreaser, or maybe just kicking back in JP. Or maybe you’ve seen him on the Internet. Follow the BUFU Instagram and you’ll know it’s nearly impossible to spot Ben without his sunglasses and skinny jeans, flashing peace signs to an iPhone while posed in a record store, his tour van or with pals of a local—and much larger scene.

The buzz behind BUFU is no joke. Wanna feel it for yourself? Look no farther than Rok Stok, a day next month where, in BUFU speak, “the founding fathers and mothers of shred come together to chill mad hard.” Translation? Catch everything from gritty Mannequin Pussy to Littlefoot’s psychedelic psyche. IAN’s made their way back for this jam sesh, and—of course—DeGreaser will be there, too. Ben will be something like a ringmaster to this fest, throwing out dzeams with his peace signs and proving that, really, he isn’t a character at all. There’s no schtick with Ben Katzman. He chills hard and shreds hard, and he wants to keep the rock and roll dream alive.

AP: So you’ve been extremely busy the past few months. You’ve been touring?

BK: Yeah. I’ve toured once, every other month for the last six or seven months. I’ve been on tour six times in the last year.

AP: And that’s been pretty wide scoping, yeah?

BK: Yeah! They’ve all been ten days or two weeks, or I’ll be traveling and stay somewhere for a while… but the next tour is for a whole month. And the tour after that will probably be a month, too.

A month is pretty brutal. Especially in a place I’ve never been to. We fly out to Seattle and tour all the way down to Mexico, and then go up to the western part of the midwest.

AP: Do you have anything you’re really excited to see?

BK: Everything! California’s always been really mythical to me. We’ll get to see where Van Halen’s from, we get to see the Church of Scientology, and the rest of the country should be ill too! We get to chill at the Grand Canyon, we get to go camping… It’s going to be nuts.

AP: Since DeGreaser’s a solo-project, what will the lineup be like?

BK: We’re touring with Howardian, which is Ian from Japanther’s new band. The Degreaser lineup will pretty much be Ian on drums and then Mario—who used to be in my high school metal band, Acidosis—on guitar. He’s toured the world with bands like Anthrax, Overkill… He was in this band called Diamond Plate. They’ve opened for Megadeth and other cool bands.

AP: Are you touring with another band or playing with others along the way?

BK: It’s mainly DeGreaser and Howardian, but we’re gonna be meeting up with a bunch along the way. We’re gonna be playing with Scott Yoder from The Pharmacy and The Memories in LA… there’s plenty of sick bands throughout. We’re playing a few festivals, like Volume Fest. I’m pretty excited. It’s a whole month! It’s my first time out there, and I just turned 23, so… (laughs)

AP: Do you mean all of the West Coast?

BK: Yeah, the farthest I’ve ever toured is… Texas? Chicago? This was my chance, you know? Leaving Boston, for the most part. I have to come back and graduate next spring.

AP: So you’re not coming back!

BK: No. The plan is to go to Miami this summer and work on the new DeGreaser record, Venus In Pisces, which is about going from sad boy to bad boy. It’s like the ultimate breakup record (laughs).

AP: Is it from personal experience?

BK: Yeah. It’s like the typical crap where you’re twentysomething. You have friends that you bond with real hard and you leave high school, and you make all these connections with people that aren’t going to be as strong as your hometown connections. And it’s hard to see those break, too. The record is about losing your innocence and not feeling like a kid anymore. It’s not as sad as it sounds, there is still a lot of shredding (laughs).

Venus and Pisces is like when Degrassi stops being the next generation (laughs).

AP: What you said makes it seem like you’re staying sad. That doesn’t really seem fit with the “sad boy to bad boy” mentality.

BK: Alright, I’m a hopeless romantic. And I’m really into astrology. And my Venus, which is the house that dominates your love life, is in Pisces. Pisces are the most emotional and the oldest of the zodiac. The name of the record is Venus in Pisces, but it’s all about being trapped in your feelings and usinging them for good. I was really depressed this summer, so when I started writing it was the best outlet for it. And all the songs have been rocking! We’ve been playing them on tour and people have known the words, which is pretty cool.

AP: That is pretty cool. It’s unfortunate that sometimes your lowest points put out your most creative work.

BK: Yeah. You know when you see everybody having a fun time on social media and stuff, and you feel like you’re comparing your low moments to other people’s highlight reels? The record’s kind of about that, but the songs are still positive and fun.

AP: I think that if you wrap up heavy lyrics with a hooky pop song, it’s super powerful, you know?

Ben then played me a track from the new album, a rocky tune packed with the catchy heartsick feeling he spoke of minutes before. I sat with headphones on as he sipped his boba tea with a relaxed attitude that said, “you can take this music or leave it, but it’s here whether you want it or not.”

(I really liked it.)

Ben gets a call from his friend, Pete. He tells him that he can’t jam till around 9 or so. I hold back laughter as Ben asks Pete if there’ll be a “shred stick” and a “rock box” for him to use. He tells Pete he’ll hit him up when he’s done with our interview, and then—they’ll rock.  

AP: Is a shred stick a guitar?

BK: (laughs) Yeah.

AP: A rock box, that’s an amp?

BK: (laughs) Yeah!

AP: You should put out a book of slang.

BK: I have an idea for this comic book called “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off II,” where Ferris Bueller has, like, a mid-life crisis. Here’s the thing. Ferris works in a cubicle, and he can’t manipulate his boss like he did his teachers and everyone at school. He’s one of those dudes that lives in yesteryear. So he thinks about Sloane, and one day he gets an invitation to his high school reunion. He starts to get excited and think about Cameron, and gets really excited—but then realizes he can’t take work off. And Cameron, meanwhile, is a big shot. He’s a corporate exec who flies all over the world, and he comes to bust Ferris out of work. Therefore it’s “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off II.” It’s like a role reversal.

AP: Cameron would probably pretty nice though, right?

BK: Oh yeah, it’d be sick. He could be the executive of something like TOMS, or something hip. (laughs) Yeah! So the plan is to go to Miami and work on the new record. And we’re going on tour with The Lemons. And later in the summer we’re going to tour with Tall Juan, too.

AP: The Lemons rock.

BK: Yeah, The Lemons rock real hard. And then New York after that.

AP: What about The Jellyfish Brothers?

BK: Yeah! I just try to put out all my favorite bands and all my good friends. The Jellyfish Brothers are a Miami band, and I grew up in Miami. After I left they were one of the bands where I was like, “holy shit! This is a sick band.” So I offered to help them out with their next album too. Guerilla Toss will be in Miami for their release show. Free Pizza’s playing too!

The plan’s to tour and have fun and make an experience out of it. And go home and do the new record. The record is a product of this last year, when I knew I was leaving Boston, and being heartbroken and all this stuff. And realizing that love doesn’t last forever. It’s a bummer, but it’s also a beautiful thing because that’s life, you know? I want to put that out in the fall, tour with The Lemons for a minute in July, and then move to New York. That’s what I’m doing! Putting out bands on BUFU and playing shows. I want to just keep going hard, you know?

Now we’re working on getting our stuff in record stores all over the country. You can be in Chicago, you can be in Texas, there are places to pick up stuff. The plans just to expand—meanwhile, Chris Collins (also of BUFU) will be here. He’s going to be holding down New England.

I came here without BUFU and DeGreaser, so I kind of feel like Boston is more of my home than Miami, you know? But we’ll be here, and I still want to put out Boston bands. I think Boston is one of the best scenes. It’s a college town. Every four years there’s gonna be somebody new to knock you off the block. It’s time for some new kids to start something sick, to start a label or for some new band to take over. When I first got here Krill was playing basements. So was Guerilla Toss—and now, these bands, you can’t book them at a house show! Too many people show up!

Even now, it’s like the whole reason I’m getting out of here was to go on to the next thing. And that’s the kind of person I am, too. I always want to be going somewhere new and meeting new people. I’m not one to get comfortable in my home life. I like having experiences, that’s why I love touring so much. You get to hang out and see all these new places, and we’re playing with so many of my favorite bands on the West Coast. Pookie & The Poodlez and Cumstain! and stuff. Sick band names (laughs).

AP: It seems like you’re at the perfect place for it too, you know? The opportunity to grow is there.

BK: I don’t know, I’m gonna miss it. I don’t think about it like outgrowing a scene or outgrowing a city. You have to look at it…like, I was listening to (KISS guitarist) Paul Stanley talk and he’s got all this money and all this fame—and he was still lonely and miserable after KISS got huge. And I was thinking, man, when I was a kid, all I wanted to do was play sick shows and put out tapes and records. And then I got to do that and stuff. Acidosis got to play with Negative Approach and The Casualties and Misfits and stuff… and like, I was 17! I was still the same kid, it wasn’t satisfying. I just like working on stuff.

AP: That’s the thing! You’re synonymous with BUFU but when people see you it’s like, “Ben, he’s ready to party! He’s ready to rock!” But you also seem somewhat of a workaholic.

BK: Yeah, you have to chill hard to work hard. I might be a workaholic, but I don’t go out to network or meet people for the sake of networking. There’s no point in doing that if you can’t have a bond with somebody or chill hard you know?

I think some of my friends think I’m a party animal, which I am (laughs), but I’m definitely a workaholic, too. I’m not one to bask in my own accomplishments. The second I start thinking about the things I’ve done, I’m not like, “that was it.” I do it because it’s what I like doing and it fulfills me.

AP: What about bands that want a mean reputation?

BK: I view it like this. You got emo bands, metal bands, punk bands, whatever. And I think the one thing about, at least with my music, it’s just me. It’s gonna sound like KISS and The Ramones, and it’ll have my lingo in it because that’s just who I am. It’s what I listen to and what I like. There are plenty of other bands that are . Genuine bad boys. It’s like the same thing with trying to be a party band.Then there’s White Fang, and all they sing about is partying and rocking out. And if you chill with them, those dudes are exactly what their songs are. They’re living it up!

People think that the music industry’s dead and all this shit, and in a way it’s true. But I think it’s where it should be. Bands are doing it purely based on passion because the industry isn’t the same.. So when you see something like that, it’s like they’re being true to themselves and their artistic self as opposed to someone who’s in it for the reputation, or the money. You get your tour paid for sometimes and sometimes you can pay rent, but it’s not super profitable unless you’re like the next Van Halen. Those one in a million indie superstars, you know?

Now we think of people who are famous… look at bands of the 90’s and 2000’s, like Neutral Milk Hotel and The Pixies. Those bands didn’t make money till their reunion tours. To me, “famous” has nothing to do with money. So these reputations… you can’t put a front on to make money, it’s dumb.

AP: How’s Free Pizza doing?

BK: They’re rockin’. They’re still trying to move to Berlin, saving up money, playing lots of shows. I think they’re going on a tour of Florida soon with the Gun Hoes, like a mini tour. They’re recording a split with Nice Guys that’ll come out on BUFU this summer. They’re hustling. It’s kind of a bummer, I think they’re a band that should just tour all the time so everyone sees how great they are. But they’re in a place like Miami, which is only now just starting to connect to the rest of the country. For a long time it was very disconnected.

AP: I feel like many of us know about the Miami scene because of BUFU.

BK: We do love to rep Miami. There are people like us and Couples Counseling, who grew up in Miami. It’s like we leave Miami and we rep Miami. think in a few years, Miami will be a happening city in the sense that people will put Miami on their tour routes. Only now bands are starting to go there. Five years ago, someone like King Tuff or Juan Wauters wouldn’t go there.

AP: What else does BUFU have planned?

BK: A Tall Juan 7”. Juan Wauters plays drums on the 7” and Mac DeMarco recorded it. And then we’re doing a Lemons 7”, and the new DeGreaser record… and the rest I can’t talk about. But Gracie Jackson, who used to be in Fat Creeps, we’re gonna do her solo album, and Nick Morris—a friend of mine—he’s in a band called Flower Girl from Brooklyn, we’re putting them out, too. I think the plan with BUFU is just to expand and put out our favorite bands from other cities. But defend the Northeast, mostly, you know what I’m saying?

The Northeast has a vibe you don’t get anywhere else in the country. Everybody’s a hard worker—I mean, there’s hard workers everywhere, but—everybody’s constantly, like, next thing, next thing. BUFU’s like a factory line, we’re always pumping stuff out.

AP: Yeah, but you have such a fun personality too, you know?

BK: Yeah, cause we love chillin’ mad hard. We were talking about bands being mean, or bands being party animals, and that’s our whole thing. I like traveling and meeting new people and having new experiences, and BUFU records started as a way for me to put out my friends records, and be a collective and bring people together. All the bands on BUFU are friends with each other. It’s not just like “we chill made hard” is a phrase; it’s a thing we do. We’re always hanging out and we’re always in touch. We’re all shredding nonstop (laughs).

Yeah, I don’t know! I think we are who we are. I’m always hitting up people to hang out. I have a tight crew but I’m always looking to hang out with new people, and talk to them about them about their heartbreak (laughs) and learn about their life.

It would be sick to be old and have met every person ever, and have at least one conversation. Whether it’s about KISS or it’s about love…

AP: Or love and KISS.

BK: Or love and KISS, which is my life story.