All of us at Allston Pudding ask a lot of questions. It’s time to turn the tables. Enter “Bands Ask, Bands Answer,” where—you guessed it—bands ask each other questions, and sometimes get an answer or two. BUFU’s Rok Stok is coming up this weekend and with such a stacked bill, we want to talk to as many artists as possible in the next few weeks. Warning: things may get a little weird.
“BUFU Fest is to Rok Stok like what Goliath is to the David,” said BUFU creator and head honcho Ben Katzman. “BUFU Fest is a massive beast that brings together friends from all over the United States of Shred. Rok Stok features mainly bands from the label, but also regional friends who rok just as hard and spread their shred through the mighty slingshot we call Boston.”
7 bands. 1 day. 1 opportunity to chill mad hard.
BUFU Rok Stok is coming to the Cambridge Elks Lodge this Saturday with a whirlwind of smashing live music from 5:30 p.m. – 11:00 p.m. All are welcome, proper ID required. Numerous new releases and additions to the BUFU brand are on the horizon, so stay tuned for from great announcements. This edition of “Bands ask Bands” sees us kicking things off with the BUFU Crew themselves. Keep on reading to see more from The Midriffs, The Lentils, GYMSHORTS, and Littlefoot.
Allston Pudding: How did Up-Dog make it through this brutal winter?
BUFU: This brutal winter was like being in ‘The Hole.’ And the thing about being in ‘The Hole’ is that you go in a sad boi, and have to audit all your thoughts until you reach OT level VI-VIIII and graduate at bad boi. Shoutout to the great LRH for continuing to inspire and push the demonic thetans that made our winter brutal out as we go clear into spring.
Allston Pudding: What is the BUFU crew’s favorite springtime outdoor activity?
BUFU: Reading about scientology while cropping tops and chillin’ hard, duh. We’ve been going pretty hard on those vegan ice cream sandwiches at FOMU. So eating ice cream sandwiches outdoors while wearing a sik croptop is definitely a favorite.
Allston Pudding: What’s the worst chinese buffet you’ve ever been to?
BUFU: Well have you heard of the Berklee cafeteria before? If you thought the school was only there to whip out your mental endurance and money, you have been surely mistaken because there also exists the Berklee cafeteria, where one Chinese cuisine night will make sure to help whip out your insides. Shout out to the Vegan chik’n nuggets tho, they are off tha chain.
BUFU: If you had to pick one celebrity crush to take on a boba date who would it be, and what flavor would you like to sip on with them? One tea Two straws.
Midriffs: Well, first off we would not be on a boba date. Cause boba sucks. We would be on a milkshake date. Chocolate milkshake. 1 straw. 2 people. Hella tension. We couldn’t decide between John Stamos or Blondie, because they’re both babes.
BUFU: If you were a song on Van Halen’s album 1984, which one would you be?
Midriffs: Felix is going to be excluded from this answer because for some absurd reason he doesn’t like Halen. So Tj and Sam would say Jump. Because it’s possibly the best and the worst Van Halen song ever. You love it, but also you hate it. And that’s how I hope people feel about our band. You love us or you hate us. No one wants to be that band your kind of into.
BUFU: It’s 2am and you just found out you’re delivering Taco Bell to the church of Scientology. Which celebrity Scientologist would you hope you’re delivering to, and what Taco Bell item would you get them?
Midriffs: We’re going to say the answer Katzman’s fishing for. John Travolta. Crunch wrap supreme.
Midriffs: Who’s your favorite Full House character? Why?
The Lentils: Originally, I was gonna say Kimmy Gibbler, ’cause she was such a babe to me, but then I put some thought into it and realized that the best character of the show is really the dead mom. It’s easy to forget, what with the non-stop laughs and free-wheeling, character-driven humor, that the premise of the show revolves around a violent tragedy; the innocent death of a mother of 3 at the hands of a drunk driver. The strength of the show is in its depiction of how people come together after a tragedy to help each other learn to live and love again. They make compromises, there are set-backs, but nobody’s putting their dreams on hold, and they’re having a blast doing it because they all truly care about each other. This is what sets Full House apart from the rest of the TGIF line-up. What has Family Matters got on that? Oh no! Steve’s invention didn’t work out as planned! Shit! Eddie put a dent in Carl’s car! Big fucking deal! At least your wife is still alive. Also, there are twins.
Midriffs: Your whole band wakes up in a bed naked. What happened last night?
The Lentils: That’s funny you ask. Have you seen our press photo?
It’s actually not such an unusual occurrence. We all live together and we’re only rich enough to afford one bed and our heat is always getting turned off and it’s so cold in Vermont in the winter, so we have gotten to be pretty close. As for the exact nature of our relationship, that is a fairly personal question and I’d rather not answer it in this forum. Also, it might hurt the sales of my memoir, Love Free Or Die: the True Story of Brattleboro, Vermont’s Mer-Punk Movement. It’s coming out on July 4th, so mark your calendars!
Midriffs: How does your social media presence inform and influence your concept?
The Lentils: Ha! Are you kidding me? There’s no concept to our band. The Lentils is just a collection of misinterpretations and failures tied together seamlessly. The Lentils is made by mutants for mutants. It is music for people who are truly fucked. Broken people. Desperate people. People who don’t care if they live or die. Our social media presence exists mostly to alienate everyone else.
The Lentils: Have you ever had to choose between rock and roll and true love? What did you choose? If you haven’t, which do you think you’d choose?
GYMSHORTS: https://youtu.be/0RWmX6z7_E4
The Lentils: Given the appalling state of current affairs, the overwhelming abyss of human suffering in the world and the ever-looming threat of your own mortality, how do you justify being in a rock and roll band?
GYMSHORTS: https://www.youtube.com/embed/VTw9Oo62sZc
The Lentils: Do you think a girl thinks less of a boy if he lets himself be kissed? I mean, don’t you think that even though girls go out with boys like me, they always marry the other kind?
GYMSHORTS: https://www.youtube.com/embed/NPGUIpv
GYMSHORTS: How many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop?
Littlefoot: 4206669
GYMSHORTS: Whats your favorite unreleased Steely Dan song?
Littlefoot: “cheez-it logic”
GYMSHORTS: If you ate pasta and anti-pasta in the same meal would you still be hungry??
Littlefoot: Duh, they would cancel each other out.