Buckcherry’s Josh Todd Talks ‘Dreamin’ of You,’ Upcoming Music, Connecting with Fans + More
Buckcherry just keep going further with their 2012 'Confessions' album, recently releasing a new video for the single 'Dreamin' of You' off the disc. To coincide with the new song, the band is also hitting the road for more dates this spring.
Loudwire recently had a chance to chat with Buckcherry frontman Josh Todd about their new single 'Dreamin' of You,' and Todd also opened up about what the 'Confessions' album has meant to him and how the band has embraced their fans on the road. Todd also unveiled a few details about a new EP and Buckcherry's plans for the remainder of 2014. Check out our chat with Buckcherry's Josh Todd below.
I know the 'Confessions' album was something that was truly personal for you. How was it for you to finally have this album come to life and be shared with listeners?
You know, I'm glad we did it now 'cause I think I'm mature enough to deal with all the subject matter and to kind of look at it from the outside looking in, which is what I was trying to do while writing the songs. I'm just really proud of it and it's a great addition to our catalog.
I think it's really deep and we catch a lot of people with this record. We've been around the world twice on this record and it's interesting to see how it's affected different types of cultures and that's the most fulfilling part, you know?
You mention that it's affected a lot of people. Can you talk about some of those instances of seeing that first hand from the fans?
Well, you know, just when you see kids from Milan in the crowd and they're holding up signs that say 'Wrath' or 'Greed' on it, or they come up to the meet-and-greet table and they tell you an experience they had with a suicide in the family and how they really connected with different songs on the record, especially a song like 'Sloth,' and you see that it brings kind of a tear of joy to their eye that there's someone they can relate to. And it really helps me out too, you know, through the healing process. And it's tough. It's tough when you've dealt with that as a child and I can really see it on people's faces and it's something that's been weighing on them for a lot of years. And that's why we wrote the record. That's why I dug deep on some of those personal moments. I thought, 'This is my story, so I'm gonna tell it raw and real like all the Buckcherry songs and see what happens.'"
We've had a chance to debut the video for your new song, 'Dreamin' of You' here at Loudwire. Can you talk a little about where that song comes from?
It comes from being lost your whole life and feeling like you're not a part of the majority, you know? When I was coming up I always felt like there were these little popular cliques in school and there was mainstream music, and I was never part of those types of movements. I was always on the outside looking in, and mostly by choice. It just didn't feel right, and if something didn't feel right for me, I wouldn't go along with it just because other people were going along with it.
So 'Dreamin' of You' is about how when you hook up with somebody and in the story there's a love interest. There's this kid in the story who is rough around the edges and has had kind of a colorful childhood and he meets this polar opposite of him, who on the outside, it looks like she's got it all. She's got all the material things and her life should be great, but on the inside, she's a cutter. She has some dark secrets of her own, so 'Dreamin' of You' is just like having hope and having blind faith that everything is going to work out.
Listening to this song, it's something in its simplest form. It's you singing with basically a guitar…
[Laughs] I'll tell you how 'Dreamin'' came about. I was obsessed with Fleetwood Mac's 'Rumours' at the time of 'Confessions.' I couldn't stop listening to it and there's that Lindsey Buckingham tune 'Never Going Back Again' and it's basically him plucking on the guitar and singing and I love that song, so I was like, 'Keith [Nelson], write something like this.' And the next day he had the 'Dreamin'' guitar bit and I just starting scatting a melody that ended up very similar to what 'Dreamin'' is now, and I just took it home and kind of beat it into shape, wrote some lyrics and came back and we kind of got the song together and made it a little better and changed the key to make it better and it was born.
I have to say, listening to this album, it's such a nice way to end this record. It's uplifting and inspirational and leaves you on a high note.
Yeah, because a part of that song is forgiveness. With my father's passing as a kid, I was really angry. I really hated him and I was really mad because I felt like he abandoned me and that s--t really hurt and was really confusing for me for a long time, even to this day. But at some point, I'm like, 'Am I just gonna bitch about this on the inside for my whole life or am I just gonna forgive and move on?' 'Cause he had his own set of circumstances he was dealing with. And that's what I chose to do. That's kind of what 'Dreamin'' is about as well is just letting go and just getting on with it, you know?
One great thing about music is that it can be cathartic. Was it at all rewarding to finally get this off your chest?
I wouldn't say rewarding, but I would say emotional. I've written a lot of songs about that moment and that day, but none of them had ever made it on a record. So this is the time when it all came together and I felt like I could do it and be alright with it. And maybe I can share a little piece of me that people can relate to.
I mean, my favorite records -- I would go to the record store and I was a huge fan of lyrics and that's why I became a lyric writer, because it meant the most to me. When I'd get the record and come home and sit down in my bedroom on the floor and I'd sit there with the record from top to bottom reading the lyrics. I'd read every word on the record and there were certain types of records that really helped me through a lot of stuff. One of them was Minor Threat's 'Out of Step.' I really related to all those lyrics, you know. So I never forget that when I'm writing lyrics that, hey, kids are going through so much and sometimes music is their only foundation and the only thing they can call their own, so I like that.
Speaking of lyrics, it's obvious you do put a lot of effort into the lyrical content and it's important to you. Could you share some of the storytellers, lyricists and writers who have influenced you along the way?
Well, a lot of people don't give credit to simplicity, the simplicity of the art form. And that's why I really like 'Back in Black.' I really like all of those AC/DC records. They can do the same record over and over again and it's always cool and it's always interesting and I always love those types of records. And then I'll go and listen to The Doors and I was really into Jim Morrison basically taking culture and turning it into a song, you know? That was always really cool to me too.
I had a really cool foundation of music, you know? When I was coming up my dad would listen to The Eagles, and my mom, when she was cleaning the house, she would listen to Rod Stewart and Linda Ronstadt and Willie Nelson. She was into the Kenny Rogers 'The Gambler' record and she was really into that a lot and I remember thinking how there were so many cool stories in these songs.
So I started getting the bug then and when I started writing, I was into punk and in a garage band and I would just get down on the floor and start writing. I was really into original material and wasn't into doing cover songs. I mean, even if they were horrible, it meant something to me to write something original. And so it's still to this day just very fun for me. And it's something that is therapeutic as well. And we just finished a new EP that we're really excited about and it's got a theme to it and it's a must-have. I'm a huge fan of EPs and I had a lot of 'em when I was a kid, so it's going to be fun to put this one out in the spring as well. So we've got a lot of stuff going on and that's the thing about Buckcherry, we're always writing music.
Anything you can share about the EP? Is it an extension of 'Confessions' or does it take things in a different direction?
Nah. It's nasty and it's raw and it's quintessential Buckcherry. That's basically all I can say about it. It was a lot of fun writing it and it was great to do this EP for me after doing 'Confessions,' 'cause 'Confessions' was so heavy and deep and this EP is just reckless and fun. It's probably one of my most fun little projects to do.
Any idea when we might hear it?
It will be in the spring. It gets mixed in the next couple of days, actually, so the sooner we get it mixed, then we'll get a release date going and start getting the promotion out there and start talking about it.
I know you've had plenty of opportunity to play this record out, so at this point, what songs are really standing out to you in the live setting?
Oh wow. You know, 'Gluttony' did really well. It really touched a lot of people. And you don't really know it 'cause when you're in America, it's all a single-driven market, so when you go outside of America, it's not radio-driven. People start getting into the whole true essence of what you are. So it's really powerful when you get onstage in some of these areas where they don't have a lot of money and they save up that whole month just to go to one show and it's just very passionate, and when we play 'Gluttony,' it just brings the house down. It happened it Italy, Australia and several parts of the U.K. It's just crazy when it comes on that people are singing it so loud that sometimes I can't even hear my voice.
Looking at your Facebook page, there's the 'Family Photos' with the fans and I know you've opened up to having VIP after party experiences at shows. Can you talk about what it's been like breaking down that barrier that sometimes exists between bands and their fans?
It's really interesting. It's something that we weren't normally used to the first few years of our career. But now we're doing it and every night we go out and we sign CDs and do all the VIPs, which is where people get a setlist which is signed and pictures and we talk a little bit with them and it's really cool. We do it after the show, so you really see what it does to people after seeing a Buckcherry show and how it has an effect on people. That's really the payoff.
I didn't think I'd enjoy it as much as I do cause usually after a show, I'm super tired and I'm trying to save my voice, but now that we're doing all this. You're kind of on the hook to put on a great show. We're aware that we put a lot of pressure on ourselves, but knowing that you're actually going to sit and talk and meet people, you just want to be the best you can be. And we really touched a lot of people and that's what it's all about, you know?
Before we wrap up, is there still talk of doing the 'Confessions' film?
You know, we really got caught up with the funding and then we went on tour and we didn't have the funding. So we threw around the Kickstarter idea and we just couldn't seem to get excited about asking our fans to give more money than they already have. They give to us by coming to the shows and buying the merchandise and buying our records, so it's something we still want to get done, but we just hit a wall with the money. It's just a lot of money.
Anything else on the horizon at this point?
Well, we've been touring on this record since April of 2012 so we're pretty … it's been a long one. This has been one of our longest tours, longer than '15,' which was our longest so far, so I think we'll ride this year probably through September, then come off the road and make a proper record, like an LP, and probably get back on the road sometime around February of next year. It's not a lot of time off, but whenever we have time off, we just go and write songs, so we'll probably be off for this winter instead of touring.