PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
Buckcherry released their seventh studio album ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll’ today. I chatted to Keith Nelson, guitarist and one of the founding members of Buckcherry about how the songs were crafted and recorded. A bit about their own record label F-Bomb and other ventures.
Hello
Hello. How are you?
I’m fine thank you. How are you?
Great
I wanted to ask you a few questions about your new album Rock ‘n Roll that’s coming out on the 21st August if that’s Ok. Backtracking a little ‘Confessions’ your last album was about The Seven Deadly Sins then you had your E.P. ‘Fuck’ where every song had the word ‘fuck’ in it so I wondered what the idea was behind this new album Rock ‘n’ Roll?
There was no pre-conceived notion whatsoever. It was really about just about writing some songs. After coming out with those two records with themes we just wanted to have no pre-conceived notion. We just wanted to start writing songs, just jamming and see what happened. It’s kinda the way it came together. We just wanted to call it Rock ‘n’ Roll and we ended up with what we thought was a good solid record.
Yeah. I’ve just been listening to it and I know the opening track Bring It On Back is about Go-Karting and then Tight Pants is fairly obvious. Can you tell us about a couple of the other tracks and what they’re specifically about?
Yeah, you know The Madness is about, well lyrically, it’s about the good and the bad inside of all of us and I’ve heard Josh (Todd) say many times that, that was the inspiration for his lyrics. You mentioned Bring It On Back that was kind of about, well Josh is really into auto-routes and is a very accomplished Go-Kart racer so the speed and that competition in that world inspired that one. Rain Falling is probably one of my favourite songs off the record because it’s so different and Josh came up with that chorus, brought it to me and I got some melodies and lyrics and I put the music around it and crafted the rest of the song. Every song on the record, regardless of where it started, ended up in a room with the five of us playing it and just being a band and actually playing a song together. That’s how it was recorded as well.
Right, so you get together and jam and see what happens?
Yeah, It’s not pieced together by a producer on a computer screen. It’s just guys in a room playing their instruments. You get the idea?
Yeah. You’ve got your own record label ‘F-Bomb’
Correct
Is that purely for Buckcherry or will you let other bands record on that?
We haven’t had any other bands yet but it’s something that we’re into. The E.P. (Fuck) was the first run and we felt really good about the way the record was handled and now we’re doing our first full length record and we’ll see how it goes. It’s also very eye opening as we are solely responsible for everything so an interesting mix of things on the business side for us.
So you’re responsible for your own destiny, so to speak. Do you personally get to go out and see many bands?
Yes, of course. There’s always the bands that we’re on tour with and we’re all fans of music. We’re all fans of anything good. It doesn’t matter what genre as long as it’s good.
Are there any bands that you would ask if they wanted to record with you? Any new bands you’ve seen?
There’s a band in the UK called Buffalo Summer that we really like. We’ve had them on tour with us. We really like those guys. Andrew and the boys are a good bunch.
Probably your most famous song would be Crazy Bitch and you brought out a line of ‘Crazy Bitch‘ merchandise. Are you expanding that range?
We are interested in anything that our fans are interested in. There’s always talk of adding to that range but right now our priority is in getting the record out there to people. There’s always talk around that. We’re not going anywhere.
Do you sell that range at the merchandise stand when you do a show?
Yeah as well as on-line. When we come to the UK I’m sure there are some international trade laws that would prevent it.
Is there an album launch show?
Our tour starts on the August 28th in New Jersey. All of Jersey, especially where we’re going to be at, is such a great place for Rock ‘n’ Roll. It’s going to be a good way to kick off the album and the tour and we’re going to enjoy it!
How many gigs are you doing on the tour?
It’s really going to be dictated by a number of different factors, we’ve done somewhere between 200-300 shows per record.
Have you got any plans to come over to the UK?
We’re discussing that right now, Hopefully at the very latest we’ll be there next year for some festivals.
Any you can tell us or is it all ‘hush, hush’ at the moment?
It’s all in the works. I wish I could tell you exactly but I cannot. But I want to thank our UK fans for being so supportive and really awesome and keep showing up for us. So many of our favourite bands are from there (The UK), you know, from the past. You really feel like you’re in a special place. We don’t take it lightly we want to come over and play for the fans.
Any favourite cities that you have played over in the UK?
Bristol’s great. Nottingham’s always fun.
Manchester?
Manchester’s always great.
I live there so have you seen you there and at Hard Rock Hell in Wales.
Yeah and London’s always off the hook, we love playing there!
Buckcherry are always a good live show. Thank you very much for speaking to us.
Thank you
And good luck with the album
I was exceptionally nervous, why I don’t know. In person interviews I can do no problem but I seem to have an irrational fear of the telephone, still sometimes you just have to ‘Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway’. Keith was very professional and put up with my nervous mutterings (sorry Keith) and I could have asked a little more but this was a transatlantic call and I couldn’t catch every word during the interview. Read our 5* review of the album ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll’ here.
