At this stage of his career, Buck isn’t interested in reviving his earlier rock stardom. “I just try to work with people that I find inspiring,” he told Portland Mercury. Buck teamed with Luke Haines, formerly of The Auteurs, to create 2020’s “Beat Poetry for the Survivalists.” Unlike some collaborations, the two didn’t actually meet in person “until the record was mastered,” Buck said. Buck first connected with Haines over art when Buck bought a painting of rocker Lou Reed that Haines painted. The pair began exchanging emails and moved to make music together remotely.

That same year, Buck had another collaborative album out. He joined with his friend and frequent collaborator Scott McCaughey, plus Frode Strømstad and Arne Kjelsrud Mathisen from the Norwegian power-pop act I Was a King, to form The No Ones. Together they released “The Great Lost No Ones Album.” This project came from a chance meeting at music festival in Norway. “They asked me if I had any songs … Scott wrote the lyrics,” Buck explained to Billboard. “They’d send stuff over and we’d change it and send it back.” 

Buck shows no signs of slowing down. “I like the speed and the pace of having to work and do things,” he told Portland Mercury. “It gets you moving and the blood circulating.”