When you think of the band Buckcherry, you cannot help but think of the image of tattooed front man Josh Todd. The band is more than this charismatic front man as evidence by our sit down chat before their show at the Tower city Amphitheater in Cleveland. The soft spoken and articulate singer touched upon everything from his home life to his experience of getting his first tattoo. So lets go “Ridin” and see where this takes us shall we??

Gus: First we want to thanks you for taking the time to talk to us before you your show in Cleveland.
Josh: No problem.

Gus: You guys have been touring almost non-stop for the last year and a half in support of "15." Why did you guys decide to do a joint tour with Hinder and Papa Roach instead of headlining your own tour?
Josh: Well, we have been doing our own shows on and off for a long time. We have been on the road for almost 2 years straight. We really wanted to tap into a new audience. Hinder has a younger, more of a top 40 audience. We are going to our ballad pretty soon and we thought it'd be a great way to introduce the song in front of those types of people.

Gus: What ballad are you going to release?
Josh: "Sorry"

Gus: "15" is your most successful CD to date. Do you guys feel any pressure on your next effort?
Josh: There is always pressure, you know. We put a lot of pressure on ourselves. It's funny when you have gone away from the marketplace for a long time and kind of make a comeback which we did. The next time you're out, everybody has been reintroduced to you so you have to work a little harder and the songs have to be a little bit better in my opinion. We experienced that with "Time Bomb." Yeah, we are going to have to work extra hard to get the record we need.

Gus: Speaking of your next CD, have you guys started working on new material yet?
Josh: We have compiled a lot of ideas. We just have to put them together. We write really fast and we love to work. We are going to take two weeks off and start hammering away.

Gus: Do you guys have the target date for the release?
Josh: Hopefully by summer of next year.

Gus: You guys have a live DVD coming out correct?
Josh: Yeah, we're working on that or a live record. We don't know which one we are going to do but we will do something..

Gus: When you guys first broke mainstream in 1999 with your single "Lit Up," media were penning you the next big rock band or the band that will save rock 'n roll. Did that pressure ultimately lead to the demise of the first incarnation of the band?
Josh: No, It had nothing to do with the demise of the first band. I wish I could say it was just one thing, but it was kind of like a domino effect between our label, our management, and internally within the band. We weren't really jiving you know? Three of the members quit at different times. It was just Keith and I at the end of "Time Bomb" who were left. Keith and I started the band, and it was kind of funny to us that it came full circle. We were just writing songs for the third record and one of them was "Crazy Bitch." We just couldn't find the right members. There was a lot of baggage at that point, with all kinds of things. Keith and I just needed a break from each other. It wasn't like our relationship was bad or anything. There was so much disappointment at that time that we just needed to step away and get perspective.

Gus: Speaking about your break, in 2004 you came out with a solo release "You Made Me" and toured in support of it. Will you be doing another solo effort or is Buckcherry your sole priority?
Josh: Buckcherry is my sole priority. I did that record because I really wanted to stay active, and it was good for that. Unfortunately, it ended in a bad way and I won't be revisiting that! Buckcherry has always been my passion (me and Keith's passion.) I always wanted to be in one band my entire career and I learned a lot. This new lineup is, well it's not really new anymore. It's been around as long as the old lineup was. It's just the band we always wanted to be. After two years, we still get along great, and everybody's in amazing shape. We have a lot of respect for one another and we have all been through the hard knocks of the business. We are all friends.

Gus: We did an interview with Xavier in May at the Rock on the Range show and he was telling me how you guys like to hang out at the mall on your days off, and how much of a close knit group you are.
Josh: (laughs..) That never happened before! It's really important, you know? It's really hard to keep a band together. You are basically married to four other guys. You really got to work on it.

Gus: I attended the Live 8 the show in Toronto in July of 2005. How was it taking the stage with such diverse artists as D.M.C, Gordon Lightfoot, and Neil Young?
Josh: It was spontaneous and it wasn’t planned. We finished our portion of our performance there, and the guy who is running the show came back and said, "Hey Josh, you want to get up on stage with everybody else in sing Rockin’ in the Free World?" Fuck Yeah man!! I just walked on stage and said “Who was taken the stage with Neil?” Nobody was stepping up so I did. It was very memorable. We even took a private plane there. A eight passenger plane with Elliot Easton from the Cars and Gary (I forgot his last name) from CSI.

Gus: Sinise?
Josh: No... The CSI guy from Vegas. He was really cool! We had a blast just on the plane flight cracking jokes! Then we hung out with the Aerosmith guys which we have met a couple of years back doing the Millennium show. That was rad!

Gus: You and your wife recently took part in an E special called "Rock Star Wives." How did you get involved with that and when you watched it, were you happy with the results?
Josh: Yeah! My management called me and said "Would you like to do this E thing?" Yeah, you know? That's my life, and that's a part nobody sees and I thought it would be fun. I'm happy with the way it came out! It came out well! There were a lot of interviews that didn't even get cut in. I thought it was cool!

Gus: So you were cool showing your private life?
Josh: To a certain extent, I wouldn't want to be a reality show.

Gus: You mean like Gene Simmons?
Josh: (Laughs) That would be too much for me. I'm really not that interesting.

Gus: For our woman readers out there, my friend recently saw you in an ad for "Juicy Couture." How did you get involved with that?
Josh: (Laughs) I don't even know when I did that? Stuff comes up all the time and I just do what feels right. I have no idea actually. I am at the end of a whirlwind of doing 270 shows so… I don't know?

Gus: What's the current tally amount on your tattoos and can you tell us a story of getting your first tattoo?
Josh: I'm always getting tattoos. I got plans you know? I took a lot time off from getting tattooed, about two to three years off. Now I'm getting tattooed again. I want a first half my life and a second half of my life. My first tattoo I think was Betty Boop on my arm and I was pretty fucked up. It was a completely bad decision and now I have it covered up since (proceeds to show me.) I think everybody has that story. I should have waited to get tattooed.

Gus: How old were you?
Josh: 18. I tried to get tattooed when I was 16 but they wouldn't tattoo me. I went into the tattoo at Laguna Beach they carted me and wouldn't tattoo me.

Gus: So what's your current tally do you know?
Josh: I don't know? I got my own little plan in my head and I try not to discuss it because of my mom and my wife. They always want me to stop (Gus laughs.)

Gus: I have a lot of friends that have a lot of tattoos and they say it's very addicting.
Josh: It can be. I always wanted to be heavily tattooed. I always wanted to have sleeves as far back as I can remember. I think it's an acquired taste. I look at it as being a part of a tribe or something cool. All of my friends are heavily tattooed so I don't even think about it. Unless, I go down to a pool at a hotel with my daughter then the whole place is silent when I walk in. That's the only time I really think about it.  (We both laugh) They may think I'm some ex-con that kidnapped a little girl.

Gus: Going back to "Crazy Bitch," who came up with incorporating Billy Squier's "Stroke Me" and why?
Josh: It's a great song! Billy Squier wrote some great hits. It just fit tempo wise and lyrical wise. The time we go out on the next tour, I think we're going to do some old disco shit. It’s going to be fun! I'm really looking forward to that because we have been doing the stroke for a while. We do the stroke and a little of Ohio Players "Fire."

Gus: Touching upon your sobriety was there a particular incident that helped you you’re your decision to become sober?
Josh: There was a bunch of things that happened all at once. My first daughter was born and I got arrested at the same time shortly after that. I got fined all these AA meetings by my probation officer. I didn't know how to live without getting loaded you know? I had this beautiful little girl and I wanted to show up for her you know? I was broke, a starving musician, the whole thing. I got arrested and my probation officer fined me 32 AA meetings on top of the six I had to do from my program. I got busted for drunk driving, and it pretty much changed my life! I thought it was going to be the end of my life, but it actually was the beginning.

Gus: So having your daughter made you come full circle?
Josh: Yeah! I have a 13-year-old daughter and have been almost 13 years sober. I also have an 18 month old.
Gus: What's one misconception that people have about Buckcherry that you would change if you could?
Josh: I don't think I would change anybody's misconception of the band, because I think it's fun, you know? I wouldn't want everybody to know exactly what it is because I don't know if that would be their rock 'n roll fantasy. I think it's important for people to have their fantasy. After being in the business for a while and having my heroes and meeting people I don't think I would want to know what they were really like when I was 15. I don't think that would really interest me. I don't know.. Misconception?? I think some people thought that this band was put together (I read somewhere) by a record company. That is absolutely not true! I've been quoted as an 80's rock band. I think were more 70s and 80s. I couldn't stand 80s rock which a lot of people don't know about me. Glam bands like Poison and Cinderella, you know all those glam bands, I really didn't like them. I like Guns and Roses a lot. I was into punk rock a lot.

Gus: So who were some of your idols then?
Josh: My idols were bands like: Minor Threat, Sub Humans, 7 Seconds, GDH, Black Flag, and The Replacements. Those were the bands I listened to. Then I started sneaking into my sister’s room and listening to her Prince and Billy Idol records and The Time and Appollonia 6. I got into all those records and that was a great era of music. I like everything you know?

Gus: When you turn on the radio what makes you say, this is something cool that's going on?
Josh: I really like the new Silverchair, I don't know if you heard it yet?

Gus: No, I haven't.
Josh: It's fantastic! I saw this performance of this band on Jay Leno and I said who the fuck are these  guys? The singer changed his whole appearance, it's completely different. I thought this song was great. He then said it was Silverchair and I was like "Wow Man." So I went on iTunes, which is like my favorite thing. I'll go in there and get pop stuff like Timberland, Silverchair, Slipknot (I'm a huge Slipknot fan,) John Mayer, Dixie Chicks, anything under the sun.. PJ Harvey, Rufus Wainwright.

Gus: I don't know too much about Rufus Wainwright
Josh: Fuckin’ incredible! You should see him live, fucking amazing! There's a record called "Poses" ' it's great!

Gus: In closing up is there anything you want to say to our GlamMetal readers?
Josh: I just encourage everybody to come out and check out Buckcherry live and if you don't have the record "15," you should get it!

Gus: In my opinion, one of the best CDs that have been released at last couple of years.
Josh: Awesome!

You can buy this awesome release here!!!

We want to thank Buckcherry’s manager Steve and Josh from 10th Street for helping set up this interview request. For more info on Josh and Buckcherry, go to www.buckcherry.com