The Truth, Please don't support this band.

Hello, I am a past member of Buck, and I need you to know the truth about the band. I am not comfortable without people knowing the truth of why I was "fired" from what I own 50% of. I was in this band for three years and gave it my all. I was lead guitar, songwriter, merch salesman, therapist, sound man, backing vocals, studio man and many called me the soul of the project. I should have left this group a long time ago but stayed to attempt finishing an album we were working on so I wouldn't lose the money I had invested to nothing. My Fiancé also did all the photos and videos you see, and it has been requested they remove all the content they currently are trying to commercially use. 

What Happened?  

The breakup situation is very complicated and went on for a few years, with many problems that built up over multiple lineups. I formed the band Buck with Alex Rossman in 2023, we ended up with the current lineup with the contract signed on August 12 2025. Matthew Taylor never signed the contract. 

Me and Alex were in charge of the big-ticket stuff, and we contractually carry more voting power and responsibilities than the other members. We were co-owners and founders. This also meant in a situation like this the band could not continue under the same name or logo and would need to be properly dissolved and in a choice between me and Alex Rossman. We had a situation develop at my home during my engagement party between Colin Willmann the (bass player) and Alex Rossman at my residence that involved one of my best men and best friends. Also involved at the table were Alex's wife and one of their friends and one of mine. Before we had rehearsal, I was setting up to record demos for our studio date that Saturday. As I finished setting up Colin Wilmann stated that we needed to talk, and Alex Rossman also stated the same. They brought to my attention that my friend had made an unforgivable joke in their opinion. They stated he was talking about throwing coins at a larger girl's cleavage in high school as a joke, and it was consensual and the woman's idea. The conversation before, according to my friends, was about throwing food at a man's plumbers crack. Colin Wilmann actually refused to give me any context, he said what my friend said was so horrible he refused to repeat it. Alex was only willing to give me a paraphrased version, and when I pressed for more context, he could/would not provide. While Colin was explaining the situations emotional impact he got escalated and was yelling at me and making aggressive motions and crying. Colin Proceeded to call my friend "a piece of shit" three or so times and chanted and sang at me "weirdos are good, not creeps" inferring my friend is a creep at the top of his lungs. I asked him to stop and let me speak. I told them my friend is neither of those things, my mother and fiancé sure disagree. It was unfair to judge him like that while refusing to give me full context. I did not get emotional on the This confrontation; I did not raise my voice or anything. I told them thank you for bringing it to me and the way they said it made me worry about my friend. I told them I would check in with him and talk to him about this situation, and I would request he talk to them as well for resolution. Colin and Alex then put an ultimatum on me; Blake was to be immediately requested to not be invited to our gigs for an indefinite amount of time to "work on being a better person." I was uncomfortable with this proposition but tried to remain diplomatic and did not emotionally respond other than being thankful for the concern. We then practiced, with me really shaken they would put me in this position for our December 5 gig and 6 studio date.

I gave it two days to our next rehearsal to sit on the ultimatum, and to talk to everyone involved. Mattew Taylor is the singer and keyboard player for Buck, I thought he was also a close friend, so I did ask and talk to him about the situation. Matthew also agreed the situation they put me in was wrong. I also talked to both people at the table and apologized to them about it before a gig on December 5 and I was told it was no big deal, and all was well. The story I got from those four and their emotional response was very different from what I got from Colin and Alex. My friend apologized, offered to reach out and offered not to come to the gig, he felt bad he had made anyone uncomfortable and wanted to talk it out and resolve it. My other friend didn't think anything said at the table warranted the response or situation they put me in. 

On Thursday December 4 before rehearsal, I approached Alex and Colin and stood up for Blake. I did not get emotional and I handled it with diplomacy, even though I heavily disagreed with what they were asking of me. I stated they legally couldn't request my friend not to show up to a public gig and if he wanted to still attend that was up to him. Colin stated that wasn't ok with him and would stay on the other side of the room if that happened. I told Colin needing space and time from my friend was something he needed to talk to him about directly. I asked Alex and Colin to stop using me as a middleman and handle it themselves and there was no way they could force anyone's actions. Colin again got confrontational and raised his voice at me saying "you can't just disagree with my feelings" and I replied, "yes I can and I do." We then rehearsed, very quietly and in a haze. 

Alex stayed after and we had a talk. Me and Alex were already falling apart, he had called countless band meetings calling all members but himself out over honest mistakes. He wanted everything to be scripted and even tried to mandate a band uniform but never could remember the script himself. On multiple occasions I had incidents with Alex where I requested, he take it down a notch and maybe needed to stop putting standards on others he did not practice. I tried to be direct and respectful to Alex, but he always would just make everything someone else's fault or said you never said anything. He would call me all agitated and wanting to fire people and I would have to be the band therapist and try to keep people from fighting and quitting because of this. 

He left that Thursday with me asking him to stop treating us as though he were our coach, and I told him his leading and communication style was creating rifts and resentment.

Then we had our gig Friday December Fifth at Goosetown Tavern. Alex text me before the gig with yet another ultimatum. Alex asked me how I wanted them to reach out to my friend and I told him with respect. He had a problem with that, he said if Colin reached out, he was going to be emotional to my friend and probably would explode at him. If Alex reached out, he made it clear to me he would be cold and emotionless and would treat my friend like an HR problem. I was uncomfortable with both but also realized this was Colin and Alex trying to bully me into being the middleman again, so I chose route Alex. My friend sent me a screenshot of how Alex handled him and I had had enough of the god complex and bullying. I called Alex and this time I did get emotional. I called him out, with tears in my eyes and with my voice raised I told him how fed up I was with the way he was treating me and my friends. I told him I was tired of being around people who were supposed to be my friends and treated me like a kid, I was tired of how hard I and my Fiancé had worked for the band for free. She had done all videography, photography and merch for us and for free. She never had them sign an NDA as they refused to when we brought it up. I was lead sound guy, songwriter, therapist, guitarist, and I also always brought the crowd and ran and maintained the merch. I told him it was time for a change, and I needed them to act like friends not employees, the whole thing had lost the spirit, and I was truly heartbroken it was going this way. I realized I was exploding on the phone and told him I needed to hangup, the last thing he said was "I am sorry I will be here for you." I got to the gig and tried to talk to all three members, I told them I wanted to heal the problems and get the album done and didn't understand what their problem with me was, they never would tell me what the problem was even when I asked. I shook their hands and I played a show that got a standing ovation by the other bands, I was very proud of my performance but knew it was going to be the last with the band in my heart. Matt came up to me after the gig and made it clear he wasn't coming to the studio the next day, so we cancelled. We all decided to take some time away after that, I wasn't willing to talk to them until December 15. 

December 15 came and my plan was to request Colin be fired and me and Alex needed to take the contractual protocol to dissolve the band, or depending heavily on their handling of me perhaps a reconsideration of ownership and the future. I just wanted to finish the album and dissolve. We had agreed to a Discord call; however, Alex instead used a standard conference call. When I picked up the phone I only ever heard from Colin and Alex, I never once heard Matt's voice. It did not say how many people were on the line or who was on the line. Alex started before I could say anything, and he told me they simply had voted me out of the project and would be moving on without me. They never put a vote in writing, and there was no attempt from Alex for any of the things to be done that the contract stated must be done to vote me out. Matthew Taylor also had never signed the contract and my vote carried as much as Alex's. They stated it was an involuntary withdrawal as of section 18 of our contract, however I in no ways violated any of the contract. I had not acted in any way that any of the other members hadn't, and I got a standing ovation, so I was clearly meeting performance expectations I would think? Colin had raised his voice on multiple occasions and Matt came to me directly to address it because it was making him uncomfortable. Colin had come to me multiple times emotionally about many things, even called me a racist behind closed doors. Matt had thrown something at Alex once and I for some reason was the one who handled that. I had convinced Alex not to fire all members at least three times individually. Alex tried to handle me the same way he handled my friend acting as though I had no power and still didn't own my share of the project. When I asked what I did Colin said, "I think it's obvious buddy" and Alex said "you chewed me out over the phone" like he never had done the same to me or any of the other past or current members. Again, he ended that phone call with "I am sorry I will be here for you." And Colin and Matt weren't there for this "chewing out." They never reached out and asked my side of the story like I always had for them when Alex wanted to fire them.

I own the bands website domain bucktheband.com, I pay for it and it isn't in any of the finance sheets Alex was in charge of keeping. They are still running the website with my fiancé's photos and my face in those photos. I am all over their socials and I have Alex saying in writing that he would remove her photos and my face. I don't want money from them, I don't want to go after them for revenge or spite, I just carried that band, and I want the name out of use as per the contract. I just want them to change the name and stop using what I built and to dissolve it properly.

This project and the people were extremely important to me and turns out as this all was happening; I had an infected gallbladder and needed emergency surgery, so I had a lot of reasons the emotions got to me. I had been there for them when they snapped at me worse than I ever did and took advantage of me, my family and friends. All of my support is surprised I was as nice as I was as long as I was. 

The band Buck needs to dissolve; they need to change the name. He is still using my face and website domain and my fiancés photos, they are on all their socials, ads to replace me and also their website. My face is still on the main website page and all socials. 

IT HAS BEEN PRESENTED IN A WRITTEN LETTER THIS PROJECT IS TO NO LONGER USE AMANDA BURCK'S PHOTOGRAPHY OR THE LIKENESS OF MITCHELL MANNING AND THEY ARE STILL ACTIVELY POSTING SUCH CONTENT.