Wattie Buchan

Personal life

Buchan was born in Edinburgh, Scotland on 24 July 1957. He served in the British Army as a soldier prior to joining The Exploited. He became interested in punk rock in the 1970s after hearing music by bands such as Sex Pistols. Buchan is married to Gena Buchan.

Career

The Exploited are a Scottish punk rock band from the second wave of UK punk, formed in 1978. Originally playing styles such as street punk and oi!, the band played styles such as crossover thrash later on. Formed in Edinburgh by Walter "Wattie" Buchan, they signed to Secret Records in March 1981 and released their debut EP Army Life. The album Punks Not Dead followed in the same year. Despite many lineup changes, the band continued into the 2000s, and has developed a worldwide following. In 2012, the band began writing material for a new album.

Health

In February 2014, Buchan suffered a heart attack on stage in Lisbon, Portugal. The Exploited had been touring with Hatebreed and Napalm Death. He was admitted to S. José Hospital in Lisbon after the show and later moved to S. Marta Hospital to recover and undergo heart surgery. The Exploited cancelled the remaining of the Tour Of Chaos 2014 due to Buchan's condition. On 29 June 2014, The Exploited's Facebook page updated on Buchan's condition, saying that after a successful heart operation, the band is practising new material.

In an interview with Rock Hard Magazine in May 2016, he said that he had suffered from depression, which was affecting his ability to write new lyrics.

Views and beliefs

Buchan openly hates politics. He also hates religion. When asked about religion, Buchan replied, "I fuckin’ hate religion. For me everyone’s free to believe in something. Just because you believe in some of it, doesn’t mean that you…but I can’t understand people that care about religion more than anything else. I am like 'What? What the fuck?!?' I just hate religion." Buchan is an anarchist.

Despite his professed anarchism, Buchan has occasionally been accused of racist sympathies because of his swastika tattoo, an incident in the early 1980s when he was involved in a fight with some Asians in a cafe and his association with the controversial Oi! band Skrewdriver. In a documentary on the band, Wattie said that this made it difficult to agree gigs for The Exploited in the early 1980s.

Feuds and criticism towards other musicians

Buchan is notorious for strongly criticizing other musicians and starting feuds with them. The Exploited's Punks Not Dead album's title is a reaction to anarcho punk contemporaries Crass' song "Punk is Dead". He has been open about disliking Crass saying "People listen to bands and believe what they sing about. Crass was just words." He stated "they were full of shit. They said they believed in this and that, but bought record companies under other people’s names so it couldn’t be traced back to them. It was all about money with them." Other than Crass, Buchan has criticized multiple other bands and musicians including Henry Rollins, Jello Biafra, Green Day, Bad Religion, Linkin Park, The Offspring and Descendents. Buchan has also criticized emo saying "Emo's shit! They can stick it up their ass!"

Buchan has been notorious for his dislike towards former Dead Kennedys member Jello Biafra. The Exploited's song I Hate You is about Jello Biafra. On the album Live at the White House, he introduces the song with an insult to Biafra and claims that he slept with his wife. On the same album, he dedicates the song Wankers to the artist Pushead, who claimed that he was neither paid nor credited for his work with the band, and the song Daily News to Maximumrocknroll.

In May 2016, Wattie also criticised Slayer for refusing to allow The Exploited to appear on stage with them after The Exploited had allowed Slayer to cover [collaborating with Ice-T] three of their songs for the Judgment Night soundtrack for only a small payment.

Feud with Conflict

After the appearance by The Exploited on Top of the Pops to perform Dead Cities in 1981, the hardcore punk band Conflict criticised the decision to appear on the programme with the song Exploitation. This began a long-standing feud between The Exploited and Conflict, which divided the punk community and caused occasional clashes between the bands' fans (known as The Barmy Army for The Exploited and the Conflict Crew).

Feud With Green Day

At an awards ceremony for a music magazine, Buchan was presenting an award that was won by Green Day, a band he had previously said that he hated. Buchan alleged that during the after-party Green Day member Billie Joe Armstrong confronted him and said "when you die, I'm going to be standing over your grave, laughing at ya." The two then had to be separated by onlookers.

Studio albums

Live albums

Compilation albums

Split albums

EPs

Singles

Videography

Music videos