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| Photo Credit: Century Media Records |
And even though many of those rap-rock acts have all but
disappeared or have modified their approaches to stay afloat, Buckcherry has
stayed its course well into 2013, sticking to its soundtrack-to-a-booze-guzzling-party
template to the delight of its fans.
That’s not to say that the band hasn’t tried new things because, as you
will read, it has. It’s just that,
better than almost any other band, Buckcherry embodies the
rebel-without-a-cause mentality that defines rock-n-roll and plays what it
wants to regardless of any trends or business influence.
Helping Hands Rock Reviews recently had the chance to sit
down with Buckcherry’s lead vocalist, Josh Todd, to catch up on the latest
twists and turns in the journey of the veteran rock band.
Helping Hands Rock Reviews: I’d like to start
off by talking about your new album, Confessions. Some, but not all, of the song titles revolve
around the common theme of the seven deadly sins. Do you guys see Confessions as a concept
album?
Josh Todd: No, it’s more of a theme record. Keith (Nelson, guitarist) and I have thrown
around the idea of doing a record on the seven (deadly sins) for a long time
and it’s not like it hasn’t been done before in films and other records. We just wanted to do our take on it. The challenge was just making great
Buckcherry songs out of the sins.
HHRR: Though the themed
album is a new concept for you guys, Confessions should delight long-time
Buckcherry fans as it stays true to the band’s sound. Buckcherry has always seemed to play by its
own rules instead of trying to be a flavor of the week type of band. How important do you think that has been to
the band being around for going on 15 years while many of your peers from back
in the day gave up long ago?
JT: It means a lot. I
think we stuck to our guns and we always did what was true to us. And it wasn’t easy sticking to our guns. We had to slay a lot of dragons along the way
- a lot of outside forces that wanted to change us and fit us into some kind of
marketing mold that they had in mind. We
always stayed true to ourselves and I think that’s why people still come out
and see our shows. They respect that and
they like that.
HHRR: Earlier in the
year, there was talk of a short film being released to go along with
Confessions. Is that film still on the
radar?
JT: Yeah. I wrote a
short film and we got it casted, we had a director, and we had locations. It just costs a lot of money and there’s not
a lot of money to throw around in the music business anymore. We just had no idea what we were taking on
when we wanted to do the movie because we’re not in the movie business. It’s been a struggle to get the money. We’re still trying to get the money. I don’t know if it will ever come to fruition
because it only benefits Buckcherry, really.
So, to try to get other people to invest in it, it’s been very hard.
HHRR: Speaking of films,
just this month, you guys just released a video for “Nothing Left But
Tears.” That was more of a dark, conceptual
video rather than a slamming performance video, making it quite different for
you guys. How did the idea for that
video come about and how do you like the results?
JT: Well, we read the treatment of that video and thought it
was really cool and it was out of the box for us. It had a cinematic quality which this record
has. So, we thought it was a perfect fit
for what we were trying to do and it was outside of the box for us as
well. It wasn’t just a typical
performance video like we’ve done in the past.
So, that’s why we went for it and we had a lot of fun doing it. All the guys played a different sin and I
played Lucifer and we had two characters at the beginning of the video – it was
good.
HHRR: The video comes
off as very serious but were there a lot of laughs behind the scenes as you
guys were getting into costume?
JT: Oh yeah, we had a great time! We always have a good time, ya know? We were really messing around with each other
when we were in our costumes because Jimmy (Ashhurst, bassist), the poor guy,
had to have his eyes completely shut for about three hours. It was really tough on him, so we kind of
teased him about that. But we were
trying to be sensitive to how isolating it was.
HHRR: Buckcherry has an
image of being a wild band. What might
surprise people about how the band behaves on the road…either in terms of being
really over the top or being less crazy than people may expect?
JT: We’re just not that crazy! You can’t be that crazy and maintain a
touring schedule like we have. We have a
very demanding touring schedule for guys that are our age and that have been in
the game this long. It’s a lot of work
and, in order to pull it off, we have to take really good care of
ourselves. We like to get crazy and wild
onstage and host the party and make sure everybody is happy in regards to the rock
show because that’s our job. Then, when
we get offstage, it’s a whole different thing – it’s a different world. We’re just used to our routine and what makes
every individual in this band operate at the highest level, whatever that
means: taking care of yourself, working
out, that type of stuff. It’s really not
what people think.
HHRR: You guys have a
couple of festival performances coming up:
the Harley Davidson Anniversary Festival in Milwaukee on August 30 and
the Monster Energy Aftershock Festival in Sacramento on September 14. How do festival shows like those feel
compared to the shows that you usually play?
JT: It’s all kind of the same mentality for us when we walk
onstage. We try to give people their
money’s worth. Like last night, we
played a small club, and it was a Monday night, and it was crazy! People just packed the place and it was
incredible! And not too many days before
that, we were on a big, outdoor, huge, festival stage in Quebec. We’re thrown into so many different
situations that you gotta have the same game plan for each stage. It’s just basically to keep people engaged
and, to be a headliner, to give people their money’s worth.
HHRR: Do you guys have
friends in other bands that you are looking forward to reconnecting with at
those two festivals that are coming up?
JT: Honestly, we’ve been on the road since April of 2012. We’ve put in over 200 shows. I don’t even know who’s playing. I just show up – just show up and do our
thing.
HHRR: Are there any new
bands that you guys have played with on tour that you’ve been impressed by?
JT: Yeah, we’re out here with our label mates, Girl on
Fire. They’re a really good rock band
and they’re very nice people, so we’ve been really digging those guys.
HHRR: Anything else that
you’d like our readers to know about what’s going on with or coming up from
Buckcherry?
JT: We’re gonna finish out this tour of the States and
Canada. Then, we’re gonna go to South
America and Mexico. And then we’re gonna
go over to Europe and Australia to close out the year. Then, there’s talk of us possibly recording
an EP at the beginning of the new year and then keep touring on Confessions and
the EP ‘til probably Septemberish of next year and then go make another record.
HHRR: What’s the
philosophy behind doing an EP between full-length releases?
JT: I don’t wanna give it away but we got an idea of what we
want to do with the EP. I’m a huge fan
of EP’s because, when I was growing up, I bought independent records. I didn’t even own a major label record until
I was like 17. So, I had a huge independent record collection, I had a lot of
EP’s. So, to do an EP would be amazing
for this band. We’ve never done
one. And we’re pretty excited about it.
HHRR: Our site, Helping
Hands Rock Reviews, is all about raising awareness and money for
charities. Does Buckcherry have a
favorite charity that you’d like to give a shout out to?
JT: Yeah, we’ve worked a lot with Childhelp. I personally give to St. Jude’s and the Tony Hawk Foundation as well.
