It has been four years since the last Buckcherry album. This is the longest stretch in between albums for the bombastic, melodic, hedonistic, thoroughly badass California rock band in the last 15 years, with a number of key lineup changes in 2017 putting the songwriting process on hold for bandleader/vocalist/songwriter and band founder Josh Todd.
Undaunted, once the time was right, Buckcherry’s new quintet reconvened to record the follow up to 2015’s Rock ‘N’ Roll, issuing forth the truly incendiary, gritty, nasty [in the good rock and roll way] and eminently hook laden new record, Warpaint, earlier this spring.
“We did have some ideas kicking around and once we started writing for the new Buckcherry record in the fall of 2017 we wrote a lot of songs. [guitarist/songwriter] Stevie D and I were very thorough and were very productive. It was very reminiscent of the things that took place and the process that led up to the ‘15’ album [in 2005, after the band returned from a three-year hiatus] – almost identical. I am so happy with this record. I think it’s one of our best. I think it’s a really good record,” said Todd from a tour stop in the American Midwest, as the band continues to tour in support of Warpaint. A number of Canadian dates for Buckcherry happen starting this week in Ontario.
Since the departure of Keith Nelson, who had been with the band since 1995, in 2017, Todd and rhythm guitarist Stevie D have been the primary creative partnership in the band – a close and fruitful collaboration that actually began with the two working on songs for Year of the Tiger, a more aggressive and grittier brand of music released under the banner of Josh Todd & The Conflict in 2017.
“We have known each other for a long time. I met Stevie when I was 19, way before I was in Buckcherry. We were both starving musicians in L.A. at the time, and we became roommates. We were long-time friends before we ever got into this game and we have a long history together. Because of the politics of the band when he got in it in 2005, he never had an opportunity to write, and he is a really talented musician. So, after the lineup changes and stuff, it was our mission to pull this thing together. And it was just a labour of love; it was really inspiring,” said Todd.
“We kind of learned out songwriting language during the process of writing for The Conflict, so by the time we got to the Buckcherry writing table, we were in full force. Stevie knows intimately my history and my personal life. He also knows my foundation and what I came from musically. So, he knows how to give me direction and focus. And it’s the same for him; I know everything about him and so when I want to get a good song and when I want to give him something to start of his creative process, I know exactly what to say.
“I can give you an example. With the song Warpaint, I just called him up, and we had already been writing a lot of songs. I said, ‘I need Highway to Hell from you. I need some Highway to Hell. Come up with something like that,’ just to spark something in him. He came back with the music for Warpaint and I thought it was just amazing. Then I felt like it was all on me to bring in some really great melodies and just great lyrics to match what he had done. And that’s pretty much it. It’s a real back-and-forth process and vice versa. I came in one day with all the lyrics and melodies to Radio Song and I just said, ‘hey man, put up a click track, lets find a tempo. I want this to be Buckcherry’s Purple Rain.’ I just sang it and put it down a Capella and he came back the next day with all this amazing music to it, this amazing bridge to it. I told him the guitar solo on this had to be like Prince’s guitar solo, it’s got to have a beginning, a middle and an end – it’s got to speak to you, it’s got to be epic. And he came in with this amazing guitar solo. So that kind of thing happens all the time with us.”
Todd believes it’s important for him as an artist and for the band, to always be creating, regardless of whom those collaborations are with.
“I just think whenever there is a lot of change, personally and professionally with me and anybody I am writing with, and it happened to be Stevie and I doing the last two, it just makes for really great music and it helps you kind of concentrate on the mission. It’s hard getting a record over the finish line, so you have to be really focused and you have to write, and rewrite and it’s exhausting and takes a lot of energy. And I think we just had it going full on, and I think it shows on the overall finished product. You’ve got to be really thorough too. You’ve got to write a lot of songs to get down to 11 songs that are just great. We want something that is great from start to finish,” he explained.
“We’re always working that creative muscle. I feel like when bands take a lot of time off, its hard for them to make good records, because they’re not locked in. They are filled up with everything outside of music; families and mortgages and overhead and they’re not thinking about music. I am centred on music all the time and I am constantly writing. I step outside of my genre to cowrite all the time. I will cowrite on a Hip Hop track, I will sit down and do some electronic music. Stevie and I will sit down, and we will write songs just for the sake of writing songs
“I think when you are working on your songwriting all the time, it just gets you closer and closer to being better at your craft. I just love building something from nothing and that’s what making a record is all about. I am passionate about it and I am still learning after all these years and I think that’s why we keep making good records.”
The year 2020 marks the 25th anniversary of the band’s formation, while 2019 is the 20th anniversary of the release of the band’s self-titled debut. Since then, Buckcherry has endured one short hiatus from 2002 to 2005 and a number of lineup changes. But the band has also released a string of hit albums and singles throughout the 21st century. Songs such as Lit Up, All Night Long, Crazy Bitch, Dead Again, Sorry, and many more. Throughout it all, Todd has been at the forefront of the songwriting and overall image and aesthetic of the band, even more so now, since the departure of Nelson.
“You know, I always knew that I would be the last man standing. I started this band from nothing but a four-track in my bedroom and so I was always the youngest guy in the band as well. When people think of the lineup changes and everything, there have only been two members that have been let go, everybody else has quit. There’s nothing you can do about guys that don’t want to do it anymore,” he said.
“You’ve got to respect that and go out and hire new people, and that’s what we did. And this is the best the band has ever been; this is the best group of musicians that has ever been in Buckcherry, and you’ll see it when we play. It’s the best lineup we’ve had, so through every change it’s only gotten better and I am very proud of that. We have only grown in every way.
“It is what it is. It’s strange, I never thought that would happen, and that’s not what I wanted to happen when we started, but you can only do what you can do. It’s really hard to keep five guys on the same page, regardless. And there’s a lot going in and it’s a huge sacrifice, like I said, and some guys can’t handle it.”
Kelly LeMieux has handled bass chores for Buckcherry since 2013, while both lead guitarist Kevin Roentgen and drummer Francis Ruiz are newer additions.
“I love having the new guys. It does bring in a new energy and it steps up your game. Francis Ruiz on drums came in earlier this year and Kevin Roentgen on guitar and Kevin is a really great singer as well and just a great musician. We have known him since way back in the day when were all struggling musicians, me and Stevie. So, to be in a band with him after all these years is really cool. We all get along really well. We also knew Francis from back in the day, and he has been just a great addition as well. We get along super well and that is so important. It’s just going great right now,” Todd said, adding that ultimately the buck in Buckcherry does indeed stop with him.
“It definitely does to a certain extent because I know what’s best for the band. I have been in it since the beginning and I am the face and the voice. But as far as collaborating and taking the views and ideas of the other guys, I’ve got to collaborate to get the best product. I’m not stupid. I want the best product and sometimes that’s not all going to come from me. I collaborate a lot with Stevie on songs and we’ll reach out to other songwriters if we don’t think we have it. The song Right Now on this album was like that. I just went in and rewrote the lyrics to make it something I could own, but we didn’t write that song. I do whatever is best for the overall product of Buckcherry, ultimately, because we’ve got to win when we go out there. That’s the bottom line, or the fanbase doesn’t grow.”
Todd said one part of his burgeoning fanbase that holds a special place in his heart are the throngs of Canadian rockers who come out to Buckcherry shows. The love is mutual as the band makes a point of hitting the Great White North as often as they can, including in Montreal on July 3, in Barrie, ON on July 6, Oshawa the following night, and then a jaunt up Highway 401 to Kingston on July 9, before a gig in Kitchener on July 10. The band comes back to Ontario for a show in Ottawa on July 31, and another in Leamington, ON on Aug 2 before shows in Sudbury, Toronto and Peterborough.
“Man, Canadians love rock music, they always have and always will. We have raised hell live up there and we had a great relationship with all those cities we play up there. I mean, we come in there and it’s insane; it’s like Animal House when we go on stage. It’s crazy, and everybody is partying and drinking and having a great time and that is the best climate for Buckcherry to be in, you know. We love to host the party, and everybody knows that, and I think they can count on us to deliver and we can count on them on their end, that’s why Canada is always a great place to go,” he said.
For more information on all Buckcherry tour dates, Warpaint and other news, visit www.buckcherry.com.
- Jim Barber is a veteran award-winning journalist and author based in Napanee, ON, who has been writing about music and musicians for a quarter of a century. Besides his journalistic endeavours, he now works as a communications and marketing specialist. Contact him at jimbarberwritingservices@gmail.com.
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