Lead Vocalist Josh Todd founded Buckcherry in the mid 90’s after bonding with guitarist Keith Nelson over a mutual appreciation of AC/DC in a California tattoo parlour. After recording music together, they added a bass player, Jonathan Brightman, and a drummer, Devon Glenn, and toured local bars and clubs in Hollywood, under the name Sparrow.
After gaining a local fanbase due to their classic rock n roll style, they were quickly snapped up by Dreamsworks Records, and forced to change their name to legal reasons. The band claims they named themselves after a draq queen in Hollywood.
Buckcherry released their self-titled debut studio album in 1999, which was a commercial and critical success, with the album certified Gold. Following on from the album, the band toured extensively, with highlights including an opening slot for Lenny Kravitz and playing at Woodstock festival.
They quickly followed with a sophomore album “Time Bomb” in 2001, however they album was considered by fans and critics as a disappointment, and with various artistic differences and member changes within the group, the band eventually broke up in 2002
After Todd and Nelson flirted with a project with Guns N’ Roses member Slash, and wrote and produced records for other bands such as Velvet Revolver, they decided to reform Buckcherry for a second stint in 2005.
They unleashed their successful comeback album “15” in 2006, which marked the completion of a successful return for the group as it was certified platinum. Since their return, Buckcherry have continued to write fruitful albums, including 2013’s “Confessions”.
Since their comeback, the band have played on massive tours with rock behemoths KISS and Motley Crue, and contributed music to movie soundtracks such as the “Avengers Assemble”
Though Black Stone Cherry did not technically form until 2001, lead vocalist/guitarist Chris Robertson and drummer John Fred Young started up jam sessions in their early teens. The duo were eventually joined by the group’s remaining members: rhythm guitarist Ben Wells and bass guitarist Jon Lawhon. Drummer John Fred Young’s father Richard Young is a member of “The Kentucky Headhunters” and through him the band was able to receive some insight about the music business and use the Kentucky Headhunter’s practice space as their own.
The group jumped straight into recording, releasing their first CD demo “Rock N’ Roll Tape” in 2003 and began gigging in local venues around this time. The group was picked up by New York record label Roadrunner and released their self-titled debut in 2006. The band’s first album was a good mix of drawn-out southern grunge and stoner metal and managed to sell 110,000 copies. After this release Black Stone Cherry were considered local heroes and coasting of this success they played their old high school gym filled with 1500 people.The band developed a rather large following in the UK and went on to record and release their first live album in Astoria, London, UK. The live album was highly limited and at one point it was fetching £200 online.
The band’s next album “Folklore and Superstition” was produced by Bob Marlette, who had previously worked with Alice Cooper and Ozzy Osbourne and it was recorded in Martina McBride’s studio. The album did very well on the charts peaking to No. 1 on the UK Rock Album Chart and No. 50 in Sweden.
The band’s third studio album “Between the Devil & the Deep Blue Sea” was released on 31 May 2011. It entered the Billboard 200 charts at No. 29 and the Florida Georgia Line cover of their song “Stay” became a huge hit. This release saw the band opening up for Alter Bridge, Theory of a Deadman, and Chickenfoot. The group also embarked on a sold-out headlining tour of the UK with Rival Sons.
The band’s follow up studio album “Magic Mountain” came out on 6 May 2014 and made it to No. 22 on the Billboard 200, No. 5 on the UK Album Chart, and all the way to No. 1 on the UK Rock Album Chart. The band would go on to promote this album with a European tour.
Buckcherry have been a band out of time for as long as they’ve been together. Formed in 1995 they were too late to fit in with the Glam Metal scene of their native Los Angeles, too late to ride the wave of grunge in the early 90’s and a little bit too early to truly capitalize on the post-grunge boom at the turn of the 21st century. However, if you don’t fit in you can only stand out, and that’s exactly what Buckcherry do. They’ve built up a devoted fan-base by not only fusing the two genres that they missed the boat on the first time around better than anyone else around, but also by regularly turning in staggering live show after staggering live show which anyone can see to this day. Combining the street-born swagger of golden era Guns ‘n’ Roses with the tuned down riffs and heavy angst of Silverchair and Shinedown, a Buckcherry concert can stake a legitimate claim to being a melting pot of the last thirty years of American rock. Everything that made it exciting, edgy and life affirming can be found in spades along with Keith Nelson and Stevie D.’s duelling, scything guitar work, while all being conducted to perfection by Josh Todd, a frontman who could be the dictionary definition of commanding. The band hasn’t missed a step live as they come up to their 20th year as a band, and they’re only getting better. So anyone looking for the best time they can have with some sensational riffs and amps turned to twelve can’t go wrong with an evening with Buckcherry.
william-howard-2
You only need to take a look at the business end of the lineups for the major heavy rock festivals - Download and Sonisphere, sure, but the mammoth likes of Rock am Ring in Germany, too - to realise that hard rock, to put it mildly, remains a commercially viable enterprise. We can probably all agree that the likes of Alter Bridge and Black Stone Cherry are by no means household names, but they’re already veterans of the arena circuit in the UK, for a simple reason; they tap into a simple, age-old formula, and do it very well indeed. In Black Stone Cherry’s case, they tick all the obvious boxes; a genuinely engaging frontman in the form of Chris Robertson, whose southern drawl melds into a growl on the band’s big choruses, as well as freewheeling, technically proficient guitar solos and an insistence on making sure that absolutely everything is turned up very, very loud indeed. With the fourth full-length, Magic Mountain, having arrived back in May, they’ve lined up an arena run for October and November of this year in the UK; I’d recommend highly if you’re looking for little more than a good, old-fashioned rock band at the top of their game.
Joeg_67
THE SHOW WAS LIT!
Those guys are going to be big one day - success guaranteed!
They have so much energy, they are really talented, they own the stage, they are having tons of fun while performing, giving their best!
And the music is fucking good - what's not to like about them?!
Bonus: They took the time to meet their fans after the show and talk with anyone coming their way, so I got lucky enough to meet and chat with Tyler a bit, such a nice guy!
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