The Buy Her Candy Interview
The world we live in is crazy and chaotic and full of music. That universal connector, full of so much culture, and history, and power…
I had never been to a house show until a few weeks ago (Oct 20, 2024). There’s something kind of surreal about a bunch of people coming together to watch a bunch of bands perform live in some guy's basement. I guess it’s gotten me a little introspective, like, music is awesome. Shoutout to the Giving Tree.
Enough rambling though. The band I had set out to see that night was “Buy Her Candy”, a St. Louis indie punk rock trio spearheaded by the mind (and hands + voice) of Lukas Calsyn, with drummer Jack Foust and bassist Jordan Dugger rounding out the sound. I had heard a lot of good things about this group, and I was not disappointed.
Their performance was overflowing with energy, passion, and talent. For the duration of their set, they seemed to become the physical manifestation of freedom and fervor. They create an energy so infectious that it’s the reason they even have the drummer and bassist that they do (more on that later). It’s a blend of serious and silly and totally themselves in a way that is super endearing and honestly just fun to be a part of.
As with any of the bands we talk to, please show these guys support! They’ll be playing one last show on November 16th before they’ll be taking a little break from performing live- but you can find their music here and follow their Instagram here!
And with that, please enjoy our exclusive interview with…
BUY HER CANDY
[ Originally recorded 10/20/2024 ]
Band Background/Origins
Let’s just start with names, what you do in the band, and maybe like a little fun fact.
Jordan: My name is Jordan Dugger. I live at [redacted]. (laughing) I don’t know why I said my actual address. I play bass in this band and a fun fact is: this is the first band I've played bass in.
Have you ever played bass before or did you start for this?
Jordan: I've played bass, but I never taught myself bass. Bass is just something I've played passively, jamming with people, but not in the way that I play guitar. I actually sit down and practice guitar, I never sat down and practiced bass
Lukas: Until now, hopefully.
Jordan: Until now actually- actually, now is the time that I have!
Lukas: My name is Lukas, U-K-A-S, because I'm special. I play guitar and sing and sometimes drum and a fun fact is… my family has a cat that has one eye. When we adopted her, she only had one eye.
Jack: My name is Jack. What I do is, I carry the band on my back. I play the drums and a fun fact about that… I've been playing for like a decade.
That's a long time.
Jack: For how not good I am… I should be better.
How did you three start playing together?
Lukas: I'm like the only through-line in this band, there [have] been a lot of different iterations. It used to be [me and] two friends from high school and they moved away, so we had to switch it up. I feel like we've been on the world tour of bass players, but finally we have Jordan. Basically I feel like this is era two of “Buy Her Candy”.
I needed to find a new drummer and I needed to find a new bassist and Jack has been with us a bit longer. Before Jordan, we had Ethan Lyons, but he was a bit too busy… skill issues. Skill issues. Basically, it used to look different and then people moved away, but I wanted to keep playing so I got these guys.
Jack: Right when the guys Peter and Schayfer (old drummer & bassist) were moving away was when I found “Buy Her Candy” and I was obsessed with it and I was like, “That's what I wanna do”. And then that's what I ended up doing. I just started jamming with Luke- actually with “Lovely Slugworm”, that’s how we started jamming. It was like my own project.
Lukas: We all met from them coming to shows and being like, “Do you want to play together? Do you want to play together?”
Jack: Yeah, I met Luke through me seeing him play. We used to play as a two piece last summer, just Luke and I, and then Jordan came to one of those shows and I had sticker bombed my guitar and Jordan was like, “Dude, that thing looks fucking sick. Can I play it?” And I was like, “Yeah dude, it sounds like ass”. And it did.
Jordan: Yeah, if you weren’t gonna say it I was gonna say it, because that is how I met both of you for the first time, at that show. I completely copied his sticker bomb on my pick guard now, because of that fateful day. I haven't even seen that guitar since then.
Jack: That's crazy. I keep it in my room.
Lukas: Really?
Jack: Yeah, by my bed, but I don’t play it 'cause it sounds like ass.
The Brand
Is there a fun story behind the name?
Jordan: Yeah, I don't even know the story. Why are we buying her candy?
Lukas: The original idea was for this to be my solo project and I wanted a title that could mean anything or mean nothing. I wanted it to be a nothing phrase and then we would build the world and associations around it. I got the phrase “Buy Her Candy” from a band called Sleater-Kinney that I really like.
They have this song called “Buy Her Candy” that's like, not that popular- it's not their best- but I was like, “I like the phrase and I want to do something with this”. And one of my favorite artists got their name through a lyric, so I wanted to do that kind of thing.
Kind of going off that, what would you guys say are some of your musical influences?
Lukas: A band called “that dog.” It's lowercase, and then there's a period at the end because they're special. As a through line (across the different iterations of the band) they have always been a big influence. St. Vincent, Sleater-Kinney. Who would you say for, like, all of our time?
Jack: That's tough.
Lukas: Maybe a bit of just your history with loving “Sublime”.
Jack: Yeah, but honestly I feel like we don't dip too far into it. “Presidents of the United States” is a good influence for what I try to go for. Kind of, like, “Queens of the Stone Age” when it comes to the drums is what I've been trying to get into. But more than anything, when it comes to drums, Bud Gaugh from “Sublime”, their crazy ass drummer.
I started out [playing] drums on jazz and so I tried to do a lot of, like, world drumming. It doesn't come out so much in “Buy Her Candy”, but I still try to include it when I write.
Lukas: I'd say lyrically, I like Liz Phair a lot. Jessica Pratt. Juliana Hatfield! I knew I was forgetting someone. Juliana Hatfield. Big, big inspiration. What about you Mr. Bass?
Jordan: Well, I'm not a bass player first, so I don’t really have bass inspirations. I guess Ethan Lyons is my inspiration.
How would you pitch this band to someone who's never really listened?
Lukas: If you really like bad music that doesn't sound good…
Jordan: I would start making monkey sounds.
Lukas: I think we're fun. I think we're fun and fresh and if you like to dance and you enjoy punk music or you like to mosh or you like to just watch… that kind of almost rhymed.
Peyton (photographer extraordinaire, founder of P.U.K.E. magazine, big Buy Her Candy fan): Dance punk party.
Lukas: Yeah. We’re silly.
Jack: That's my favorite part, like, that's kind of what I try to [do] with the songs that I write. He mentioned lyrically his inspirations, but mine… I almost try to make them feel like children's books.
Like, I've got two songs about monkeys just ‘cause when I can't come up with something I just write about stuff I like. And one time I was on Instagram and I saw a video of a monkey going fishing and I was like, “That's so sick”.
That was a good song too. So it worked out.
Jack: It's really funny- if you've seen the video, I actually just described it shot for shot. The words are like, “I take my boat out to the sea”, like, I just described the steps.
Lukas: I feel like my songs are like, “I'm too hungover to go to work”, “I love my friends and music”, “PTSD sucks”, and yours are like, “Monkey go fishing”, “What if there was a knife that was rusted”. Obviously it’s more than that, but yeah.
Jack: Our song Bevel is literally just- we were talking about the song Dayman from “It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia” and I, like, covered it, and we were like, “Oh, that's kind of good”. So we just used that, note for note, and changed the words- me and my buddy Ian.
Jordan: So you stole it?!
Jack: Yes. Yeah, it's stolen. If you listen, it's just Dayman, but I changed the words. And the reason it’s “Bevel” is because we were watching Forged In Fire and one of the dudes on the TV said “Bevel” and we were like, “That's it”.
So, I try to make [my songs] very silly. I think something really important about music is that it should be whatever, and I try to bring that to the table.
Jack: Do you guys want to share any [other] fun facts about the songs?
Yeah, if you guys want to share anything feel free.
Jack: Train song was originally a different song and then we just changed the words. And now it’s train song.
(laughing) Ok, that's a little vague, but yeah.
Lukas: So, he wrote a song called “Faint” and then he played it and- well, he wrote it on guitar and then he switched it... I don't know if this is our best anecdote.
Jack: It's not. I just wanted to say that.
Lukas: It’s ok. You wrote the drum parts for Monacco, like, at your cubicle at work. That’s cool.
Jack: Yeah, I was doing, like, fraud prevention for a bank and so I worked these boring ass 8 hour days and I would just sit there and think of drum parts. And that's how I came up with the drum parts for Monacco, which is my favorite one.
That’s really cool.
Jack: Yeah, it was all in my head, just like going over it over and over. And I feel like that's the one song that I play almost exactly the same every time.
STL
What are your thoughts on the St. Louis music scene?
Lukas: I'm happy with my little circle of friends. It's definitely interesting to see- in any scene- to see people move apart or see who sticks together, who ends up being a shitty person. But I'm happy with my group. We're good friends with the band “The Public”. What are some other good local bands…
Yeah. Any shout outs are appreciated, I’m trying to tap in.
Lukas: The Public, like, very dear, dear friends. “Inner City Witches”!
I just saw them like two days ago!
Lukas: Wait, were you at the Duck Room?
Yeah, I interviewed No Antics there. I'm like, on a roll right now, it's crazy.
Lukas: Hell yeah! No Antics are so fucking cool. The bassist from Inner City Witches did our album.
We're friends with them. Martyridge! They’re [Jordan and Jack] in Martyridge.
Yeah, the first show I went to in St. Louis was a Martyridge show.
Jack: I knew you seemed familiar.
Jordan: Yeah, I also thought so but I didn’t want to say anything.
Just in case, yeah.
Jack: That's so funny.
Lukas: It's also really interesting to see the house shows venues come and go, because if we're thinking about venues that we've played at and used to go to that are no longer around: G-Spot, Painted Penny, Sorority House… La Villa, Backside- rest in peace.
There are a lot that have been so great- The Doorknob is a good spot right now. And my final word about the scene is that @scene_louis is pretty good for finding stuff.
Jordan: I haven't been in the scene as long as everyone else- I kind of just came out of nowhere- but I go to a lot of fucking shows. We don't have a huge scene, but it's a tight enough scene that every show I go to- granted, like I said, I've been to a lot of shows- but every show I go to I just know everybody there.
Lukas: And that's such a nice feeling. Like, I don’t know who’s going to be there, but I’m gonna see someone.
Jordan: It's like a high school party and, like friends and people you see in class that you don't normally see anywhere else. I don't know, there's something cool about that. That it's not huge, but it's close enough that it's just like a big family- even though some of us fight sometimes.
Jack: I think the scene is butts.
Jordan: I don't think it sucks, but I am curious to go to a different place where the music is more prominent and see what this kind of house show scene is like. Just from what I've seen on peoples’ stories or even just watching old YouTube videos of live shows, I'm like, “Dude, I believe we're missing out a little bit”. I want to go to Nashville. That is like my bucket list place.
Peyton: The St Louis scene is very much like a little puppy left on the side of the road- and it's a great little puppy! That puppy is great, but it needs help. It needs a nice person to come and pick it up.
The Question
Would you guys rather have a hamster that looks like a rock or a rock that looks like a hamster?
Lukas: How much does it look like a rock?
Like if you had it right here (~1.5ft) you couldn't tell the difference.
Jack: Now that's interesting. That may be a new species…
Lukas: Is it soft to the touch?
It's a regular hamster. It just really looks like a rock.
Jordan: But like is this- the rock that looks like a hamster- did you just find it or did someone give it to you? Was this a rock that you found in nature?
We’ll say you found it.
Jordan: Dude, I would love having that shit bro.
Peyton: How much does it look like a hamster?
Like from here (~1.5ft) you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.
Jordan: The rock? Dude, that's crazy. What!?
Lukas: I think I want the hamster that looks like a rock because that’s really impressive.
Jordan: They’re both impressive- but it's even better just to find it.
Lukas: But one of them is living. One of them is a living pet that you can feed and be like, “This is my pet rock… it’s a hamster!!!”
Jordan: But then it can die. Imagine your pet rock dies.
Lukas: Well, such is life Jordan.
Jordan: Not for me. I'm getting that fucking rock, ‘cause like, that's crazy.
Peyton: Hamster.
Lukas: Yeah, I want the hamster that looks like a rock.
Jack: I think I would take the hamster if not just to research it.
Jordan: You know what? That's it, I QUIT!
Lukas: That'd be a fun hill to die on, to kill the band on.
Jack: Like, does the hamster have rock-like properties as well? Because this could be, like, a super soldier hamster that I've uncovered.
Lukas: Wait, so did anyone say rock that looks like a hamster.
Jordan: I said rock that looks like a hamster.
Lukas: So you’re the only one…
Jordan: Which is why I’m quitting.
Jack: See, the other thing is, I’m not so worried about it because you already have the rock. So I'll just take the hamster and we’ll have both.
Jordan: What- no, I’m not sharing!
Jack: Well, you can… let me look at it.
Jordan: No. You made your choice.
Jack: Alright, well you can’t pet my hamster.
Jordan: Well I don’t want to pet your hamster! I’m probably allergic anyways.
Jack: I'm going to swap them.
Jordan: I'm not feeding it, so... I’d be like, “How did this rock get in my house?”
Do you have any closing thoughts or anything else you want to say?
Lukas: Music is awesome. I love playing music and live shows. Also, we're going on a break- a hiatus. I feel like an overarching theme in “Buy Her Candy” is me overworking everyone and us playing too many gigs, so we're going to stop doing gigs and come back with new songs! And you should tell people to come to my birthday show on the 16th. That's all I have to plug.
Jack: We got a couple of shows in Martyridge coming up.
Jordan: What do I want to say… I enjoy playing bass. This has been a fun experience!
And that is all for Buy Her Candy! Very very big shout out to all these guys, they are not only incredibly talented musicians but are also all just very genuine people. I am personally looking forward to keeping up with them when they return from their break and will be patiently awaiting some new tunes!
But yeah, this concludes another entry into the ever-expanding catalog that is this website/newspaper/whatever. I hope you all have enjoyed the steady flow of content recently, I know I have been enjoying going out and talking to these bands and just getting more musical in general!
- Bobcat Press out