By Steve Newton
I did my third interview with Blue Öyster Cult guitarist Donald “Buck Dharma” Roeser back in January of 2002, when the band was touring behind its 13th studio album, Curse of the Hidden Mirror.
That was less than two years after the famous Saturday Night Live skit with Christopher Walken about B.O.C. being pressured to use “more cowbell” while recording “(Don’t Fear) the Reaper”.
A year earlier Sony’s Legacy Recordings had produced a reissue of the 1976 Agents of Fortune album with a demo version of “Reaper” that didn’t include any cowbell, so at one point in the conversation I asked Buck whether it was his idea or that of then-drummer Albert Bouchard to add that legendary blast of percussion.
Have a listen:
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