|
By DS
With songs like "Porno Star," "Whiskey in the Morning" and "Slit My
Wrists" you may think your entering some sort of rehab center for
distraught youths. But, Josh Todd and Buckcherry are all about hard
stomping rock and roll that blends the adrenalized energy of punk
with the gritty guitar sound of bluesy rock and roll. Take the Black
Crowes, G & R, Aerosmith and Tesla give them a big, fat hit of B-rock
and then you'll have Buckcherry.
Their sophomore album, "Time Bomb" which seems appropriately named,
is a gritty rock and roll album that provides a hard steady groove,
solid melodies and powerful lyrics with depth and substance. Todd
writes from his own life's experiences and covers all sides of his
emotions, addictions and contradictions. He rips through every song
with a unique edge that solidifies Buckcherry's music as a sound all
their own. Their first single; "Riding" has already impacted the rock
charts and is destined to become a big hit for the band.
Currently Buckcherry is headlining a national tour with Sinomatic
in support of 'Time Bomb.' I recently spoke with guitarist, Keith
Nelson about the tour, music and future plans for Buckcherry.
I saw you guys at The Village Pub and you rocked.
Oh yeah, thanks dude.. Cool.. We played The
Village Pub a few years back when our first record just came out and
it was really cool, so we thought it would be a good idea to play
there the night before we played Madison Square Garden.
That must have been pretty sick; to go from
a local venue like The Village Pub one day and then to the Mecca of
arena's at Madison Square Garden the next..
Well, you know, someone was asking me about
that and this is my take on it; you don't go to Madison Square Garden
like you're playing the Village Pub, you go to the Village Pub like
you're playing Madison Square Garden. It was a lot of fun to play
that pub, man.
Yeah, it was a great show and the energy in
the room was enormous.
Thanks..
Now are you guys still on the road with AC-DC?
No, we actually finished up with those guys
in Albany, NY and we're out on our own tour right now. We're gonna
be at Irving Plaza in a few weeks.
How would you describe your live show?
You'll see five guys who really dig what they're
doing. You're not gonna see any deejays, your not gonna see any samples
and there won't be no rapping. Your gonna see five guys go up there
and throw-down like it's the last gig of their lives.
Cool.. Lets talk about the success of 'Time
Bomb' this album has been blowing-up, no pun intended.. How have you
and the members of Buckcherry been dealing with all this success and
fame?
The thing is that we haven't had the kind of success that is 'huge,
through-the roof success,' so what it's done is made us really hungry
and it's made us work even harder. We stay so busy that we haven't
really even had a chance to sit back and go, "Wow, we're doing pretty
good." We got a show tonight and we got business to take care of and
we haven't been able to sit back and revel in it. We've been working
really, really hard..
Busting your asses, man
Fuckin' eh dude, we've been out on the road
since January. We've had a few really short breaks but that's how
long it's been for us.
How has the road been treating you?
The road's treating us good.. It's really great to watch our fan base
grow and change a little bit, that's the best part about being on
the road. Everything else you can have…
(laughs) Tell me about being on the road for so long, are there a
lot of tense moments within the band?
There's always something like that because your
in really close quarters, but everyone's got a common goal and that's
making the show happen and everything been cool.. There haven't been
any fist-fights if that's what you mean..
Good.. That's important.. (laughs) How long
have all you guys been together?
I started the band with Josh, he and I originally
got together and started writing songs and that's kind of the genesis
of the band. That when we started and it's been almost six years now.
Working with Josh for so long; how would you
say he is on a creative level?
He moves a mile-a-minute, man. He's probably the hardest working guy
I've ever met in my life. He's so motivated to get things done. When
it's time to create music and write new songs he'll call me before
I wake up in the morning and wants to know what's going on and what
are we doing and what have I done lately. Then, when it comes time
to playing life shows; he's getting ready two-hours before the show..
He's the hardest working guy I ever met, he's supremely motivated.
It's good because it keeps everyone on their toes and it really inspires
me. It's great to have someone that I create with whose like that.
Take me through the whole creative process;
when you guys write a song what do you lay down first, the music or
the lyrics?
It comes from so many different ways.. A lot
of the songs that Josh and I collaborate on start out with the music
first. Some songs, like 'Check You Head' Starts out with Josh making
the melody first and we'll build it around that. Josh came up with
this melody for this song called 'Good Things' which is on our Japanese
release, and he just had this melody and then I just kinda took that
and built chords around the melody that he was singing. But, other
songs like 'Porno Star' he came up with that riff and JB came up with
the music for 'Underneath' and we all get in a room and pound it out.
Regardless of where the songs start we all end up in a room together
and put our own little stamp on it. I love to write songs with our
drummer (Devon Glenn) because that's the heartbeat of everything that
goes on, so I'll start with a couple of riffs with the drummer in
the room and coming out an hour later is a lot of fun.
Do the songs ever come out the way you envisioned
it in your head?
Sometimes I like to take the liberty of hearing
things completed in my head and trying to almost finalize it, but
I don't think that works.. It really serves the band better to kinda
come up with the skeleton of the song and then let everyone put their
thing on it.
How would you say that Buckcherry has evolved
within the past six years?
I think we have a much better idea of our sound.
I think we have a much better idea of what our fans want. One of the
things that we wanted to establish with this record was the fact that
we have a sound. When you listen to records across the career of a
band; when it comes on you know who it is and we wanted to take the
next step in forging that.
Do you or any of the bandmates have any plans
to do a side-project or anything like that?
I sure hope not. I think Buckcherry is enough
to keep us all busy for a long time, hopefully.
What do you think about the current music scene
and the bands that are coming out?
It's kinda depressing right now.. There are
some really great artists out there, it doesn't all suck. But, I really
miss singers that can sing and guys that can play or girls that can
play, for that matter, it doesn't mater if their a male or a female.
There is some really great music out there, but there's so much of
this cookie-cutter bullshit that everyone's being fed with these singers
that bark at ya.. The music never breathes, their isn't any texture
to it, it's just a fucking drag.
In your opinion, is MTV good or bad for rock
music?
I think it can be really good for rock music
when it works.. But when it becomes a game show I think it's not very
good. MTV was really good to us on our last record, but now they don't
play many videos..
What's next for you guys?
We're just gonna continue touring. We're booked
through October hew in the states, Europe and Japan. We're just gonna
keep working, man.. Playing live that's what we do.
http://www.buckcherry.com
|
