"I see myself as the buffer between the band and the record company"
About this Quote
A “buffer” isn’t a visionary title; it’s a job description, and that’s the point. Jerry Harrison frames himself less as an auteur and more as an impact absorber: the person who takes the force of the record company’s demands so the band can keep functioning as a band. In a single word, he sketches the unglamorous infrastructure behind “creative freedom” - not a vibe, but a negotiated truce.
The subtext is about translation and triage. Bands speak in instincts, experiments, loyalties, and fragile momentum. Labels speak in timelines, budgets, singles, and leverage. Calling himself a buffer suggests Harrison is fluent in both dialects and willing to be the one who gets bruised. It also hints at internal band politics: someone has to take responsibility for the boring conversations without becoming the villain. Being the buffer is a way of protecting relationships inside the group, not just external autonomy.
Context matters: for artists coming up in the post-punk/late-70s ecosystem, the record company could be both patron and censor, funding the studio while trying to sand down the weird edges that made the music worth funding. Harrison’s line acknowledges that tension without romanticizing it. It’s not “us versus them” so much as “us with a firewall,” a recognition that the music survives not only on inspiration but on someone doing emotional labor, strategic communication, and controlled compromise. That’s a quietly radical self-portrait in an industry that rewards loud frontmen and forgets the diplomats.
The subtext is about translation and triage. Bands speak in instincts, experiments, loyalties, and fragile momentum. Labels speak in timelines, budgets, singles, and leverage. Calling himself a buffer suggests Harrison is fluent in both dialects and willing to be the one who gets bruised. It also hints at internal band politics: someone has to take responsibility for the boring conversations without becoming the villain. Being the buffer is a way of protecting relationships inside the group, not just external autonomy.
Context matters: for artists coming up in the post-punk/late-70s ecosystem, the record company could be both patron and censor, funding the studio while trying to sand down the weird edges that made the music worth funding. Harrison’s line acknowledges that tension without romanticizing it. It’s not “us versus them” so much as “us with a firewall,” a recognition that the music survives not only on inspiration but on someone doing emotional labor, strategic communication, and controlled compromise. That’s a quietly radical self-portrait in an industry that rewards loud frontmen and forgets the diplomats.
Quote Details
| Topic | Music |
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