Liz Buckingham

Liz Buckingham
Liz claims her next victim.
Background information
Birth Name	Elizabeth Buckingham
Alias	Liz, Liz13
Born	Early 1970s
Occupation	Musician
Genres	Sludge Metal, Doom Metal, Stoner Metal
Instrument(s)	Guitar
Years active	1990 - Present
Labels	Southern Lord Records, Rise Above Records, The Music Cartel, Game Two Records, Spinefarm Records
Associated acts	13, Never, Sourvein, Electric Wizard

Liz Buckingham is a guitarist originating from New York City, currently residing in England. Active as a musician since 1992, she has been known as a sludge guitarist with 13 and Sourvein but is best known as one of the guitarists for Electric Wizard since 2004.

Biography

Early Years and 13 (1990 - 1996)

Buckingham was raised in New York City in what she would describe as a "classical music household" as her father was an opera singer and vocal coach. In an interview with NPR she cites "Moonlight Sonata" by Beethoven as one of her favorite pieces of heavy music. She also states as far as what rock and metal bands she got into early on it's impossible to pin it down to just one. She would cite Slayer and Celtic Frost as early metal bands she was into. Buckingham would not take up a guitar until the age of nineteen and was self-taught before joining her first band in 1990.

Buckingham would musical beginnings started with a band featuring vocalist Alicia Morgan known as Thunderpussy 13, a mostly-female sludge band playing around the New York area though they'd soon change their name to 13. The band would release several singles (One with Grief and two with Eyehategod) and split releases, including a cover of Hellhammer's "Triumph of Death" for the Celtic Frost tribute album In Memory of Celtic Frost. The band occasionally toured outside the New York area but broke up by 1996.

Around some time in 1992 or 1993, Morgan and Buckingham collaborated with Eyehategod members Mike Williams, Jimmy Bower, Joe LaCaze and Marc Schultz to form Never. This one-off project would record two songs but only one song was ever released on the "Luxuria" compilation. The demo would later surface on YouTube in 2019.

In an interview with Invisible Oranges, Buckingham would speak of her early years as a guitarist:

“	“When I started with 13, I was just learning how to play guitar, and just learning about everything, really. It was total experimentation. I knew exactly what sound I wanted, but it took a number of years before I was able to achieve it. My first amp was a really nice amp, actually: at the time, nobody really wanted ’70’s amps. It was a 1971 Marshall Super Bass: it had an amazing tone, but it was nowhere near loud enough for me and it was always breaking. I used a Turbo Rat pedal that had insanely uncontrollable feedback which I eventually became accustomed to and learned to use as an effect. Then I got the dreaded Boss “Metal Zone”! I was thrilled with that: proper death metal sound! After 13, I started to learn a lot more about equipment, having used other people’s, so I thought getting a bass set up would get me that heavier low end sound I really wanted. I started using a Sunn Beta Bass amp, an old ’60s Ampeg 2×15 cab, and a Big Muff. I used this set up with Sourvein in the beginning, but again, still not loud enough! Then I got the Laney and I never looked back. Keep in mind I could never afford the amps I really wanted, like an original Orange or Sunn Model T. I just got what I happened to find that I could afford. I’ve always played the same SG with all 3 bands, except at the very beginning with 13 when I played a Gibson Les Paul for a little bit.”	”
	— Liz Buckingham, Invisible Oranges

Sourvein (1998 - 2003)

Buckingham would join Sourvein roughly around 1998 alongside drummer Slim Spencer and founding members T-Roy Medlin and Josh Crapo. Buckingham's first recordings with the band would surface in 1998 on the split album He's No Good to Me Dead - 74 Minutes of Extreme Pain. Later the same lineup would release Sourvein's eponymous debut record on 21 October 2000. Two years later the band would sign to Southern Lord Records and release Will To Mangle, with Miguel Velez and Henry Vasquez taking over the rhythm section. This lineup would extensively tour the United States that year alongside Brothers of Conquest. Buckingham would leave the band in 2003 when she moved to England.

In 2005 Sourvein would release a cover of "Forever My Queen" by Pentagram for their 7" split with Rabies Caste, which was recorded in the same sessions as Will To Mangle.

Electric Wizard (2003 - Present)

Towards the end of 2002 the original lineup of Electric Wizard had essentially disbanded, with original drummer Mark Greening leaving that summer and original bassist Tim Bagshaw leaving in the fall. The band would go dormant for a time until unveiling a new lineup in late 2003 and a forthcoming new album. Electric Wizard would now be a quartet with founding member Jus Oborn, bassist Rob Al-Issa, drummer Justin Greaves and Buckingham as a second guitarist and songwriter. We Live saw release in the summer of 2004 as the debut of this new lineup (Also nicknamed at the time "Electric Wizard II" or "The Electric Wizard".) to positive reviews. Electric Wizard would return to touring in 2005 surrounding a BBC Radio Session appearance and a headlining slot at the 2005 edition of Roadburn Festival. Further touring that year saw them through most of Europe and Australia.

Following touring in 2006 alongside Grand Magus and Cathedral alongside festival appearances, work would begin on the band's sixth album. While Electric Wizard had earned a sizable reputation among underground doom acts, the addition of Liz and the band's slow shift into a more occult rock sound pushed the band into bigger notoriety with every release, starting with 2007's Witchcult Today, produced by Liam Watson. A follow-up would come three years later in 2010's Black Masses, also produced by Watson. This album was positively reviewed by major publications and peaking at 26 on the US Heatseekers list.

In 2013 the band would leave longtime label Rise Above Records and form their own record imprint Witchfinder Productions, eventually building their own recording studio in Dorset after release of 2014's Time To Die. Notably Buckingham would tour the United States for the first time in over a decade in support of Time To Die, with every date selling out. Despite some delays with recording the band would release a ninth album in 2017 entitled Wizard Bloody Wizard to positive reception, the band touring all over the world in support over the next two years.

As of 2019 Buckingham is the longest tenured member of Electric Wizard outside of guitarist/vocalist Jus Oborn.

Personal Life

Buckingham was born in New York City but moved to England in the early 2000s. She also has a dual citizenship between the United States and England since birth. She's currently married to Electric Wizard guitarist Jus Oborn since roughly 2003 or 2004.

Bands

• 13 - Guitars (1990 - 1996)
• Never - Guitars (1992 - 1993)
• Sourvein - Guitars (1998 - 2003)
• Electric Wizard - Guitars (2004 - Present)

Selected Discography

With 13

• Demo #1 (Demo) (1992)
• Demo #2 (Demo) (1992)
• Hollow / Bound (7" Single) (1993)
• Grief / 13 (Split with Grief) (1993)
• Whore / Untitled (Split with Eyehategod) (1994)
• Wrong / Southern Discomfort (Split with Eyehategod) (1995)

With Sourvein

• He's No Good to Me Dead (Split with Grief, Bongzilla, Negative Reaction, Subsanity) (1999)
• Sourvein (Studio Album) (2000)
• Will To Mangle (Studio Album) (2002)
• Sourvein / Rabies Caste (Split With Rabies Caste) (2005, recorded 2002)

With Electric Wizard

• We Live (Studio Album) (2004)
• Radio 1 Session 1/05 (Live Album) (2006)
• Witchcult Today (Studio Album) (2007)
• Electric Wizard / Reverend Bizarre (Split with Reverend Bizarre) (2006)
• The Processean (Extended Play) (2008)
• Black Masses (Studio Album) (2010)
• Legalise Drugs and Murder (Extended Play) (2012)
• Time to Die (Studio Album) (2014)
• Wizard Bloody Wizard (Studio Album) (2017)

Equipment

Instrument 1

Gibson SG

Amplification

Laney

External Links

• 2017 Interview via Echoes and Dust
• 2014 Interview via The Quietus
• 2012 Interview via Black Sunday Magazine
• Interview via Radio Metal