Rick Perez

Miss New Buddha. Krimston filled in on drums at a Future Crooks gig.

Though their name was inspired by the title of the Bubba Sparxxx single “Ms. New Booty,” Miss New Buddha are a far cry from mid-2000s, sugar-shaker rap. Instead, the band traffics in a sound reminiscent of punishing indie outfits such as the Jesus Lizard, Drive Like Jehu, and Pissed Jeans.

The seeds for the group developed over a span of years, during which future Miss New Buddha singer Brian Warren would run into the band's future guitarist Jordan Krimston (Big Bad Buffalo, Lua) at shows at the Che Café. “His bands would open for Weatherbox, or other bands I was playing in,” Warren explained. “Jordan was just a little tyke, and we’ve just been friends since a long time ago. He’s only 20, though.”

The duo eventually performed together when Krimston filled in on drums at a Future Crooks gig. Warren (who was playing guitar for Future Crooks at the time) was impressed with his abilities, and the two recorded a handful of songs that leaned heavily into the punk spectrum.

“We did four songs together and were just gonna put out an EP. Then we took a huge chunk of time off. Not even a year ago, we started putting together this incarnation. We used those same songs and wrote a bunch more and kind of got everybody together. Rounded-up a bunch of young-uns,” Warren said.

The group made their live debut in November 2017, around the same time as they dropped their first single, “Creeper in the Wings.”

As the elder statesman of the (now) five-piece unit, Warren’s role has evolved into full-time lead vocalist and lyricist for the band. It’s not his first time fronting an outfit sans guitar, he also played this role circa 2010 in the band Small Talk. The pressure to write the most effective lyrics does weigh quite heavily on him, though.

“I do spend lots of time working on lyrics, and performing them is really pretty fun. It is definitely the closest thing to work when it comes to this band. I’m having a serious problem with this new song we’re doing. It’s just, like, giving me massive anxiety all the time. I just spend hours and hours working on one line, trying to make it all line up,” he said.

The band has been keeping busy playing a slew of local shows, and hope to complete a full-length album at their drummer Trevor LeVieux’s home studio this month.