Buckcherry is a Grammy-nominated hard rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1995. The band released two albums, Buckcherry (1999) and Time Bomb (2001), before dissolving in the summer of 2002. In 2005, lead vocalist Josh Todd and lead guitarist Keith Nelson formed a new band using the Buckcherry moniker and released a new album on April 16, 2006, 15. It contained Buckcherry's biggest crossover hits to date, "Crazy Bitch", and their first Billboard Hot 100 top ten hit, "Sorry". Their fourth album, Black Butterfly, was released in September 2008. Their fifth album, All Night Long, will be released on August 3, 2010.

Band history

Formation and commercial success: 1995-2002

Buckcherry was formed after lead vocalist Josh Todd met lead guitarist Keith Nelson through their tattoo artist after discovering a common love of AC/DC. The duo made a few demos before being joined by bassist Jonathan Brightman and drummer Devon Glenn, calling themselves Sparrow. Sparrow began performing around the Hollywood club scene, receiving a strong, local following due to their old school rock and roll vibe, and were signed to DreamWorks Records shortly after. The group changed its name to Buckcherry after receiving a cease-and-desist letter from a record label called Sparrow. Although Buckcherry is a spoonerism of Chuck Berry, the group said it was inspired by a drag queen acquaintance of theirs named Buck Cherry. The band released its self-titled debut in 1999 to critical praise and certified gold sales. The album, produced by Terry Date (Soundgarden/Mother Love Bone/Pantera/Steve Jones), included three modern rock chart hits in "Lit Up", "For the Movies", and "Check Your Head".

After adding rhythm guitarist Yogi Lonich to the lineup in 1999, Buckcherry toured nonstop in support of the debut album, including opening for Lenny Kravitz on his Freedom Tour (1999), before going back into the studio in 2000 to work on a follow-up, Time Bomb (2001). The second album was considered a disappointment by many critics,^[1] and it didn't fare as well on the charts. Allmusic noted that "For a second record, it's surprising how jaded and nihilistic they are already.^[1] Buckcherry performed opening dates for AC/DC in the spring 2000.^[2] In August 2001 after tension over the musical direction started to set in, Jonathan Brightman, Yogi Lonich, and Devon Glenn each successively left Buckcherry. However, Josh Todd and Keith Nelson planned to continue Buckcherry, and even began the writing process for a third album. It was during those sessions that Josh Todd unexpectedly left the band in July 2002, seemingly leading to Buckcherry's demise.^[3]

Later years: 2002-2005

Josh Todd and Keith Nelson performed together along with ex-Guns N' Roses members Slash, Duff McKagan, and Matt Sorum (also of The Cult) at the Randy Castillo tribute concert. Speculation ensued that Josh Todd would become the lead vocalist of the Project headed up by Slash, Duff McKagan, and Matt Sorum. Josh Todd spent a month in the studio, reportedly completing 10 songs, but was abruptly dropped from the project by Slash. Todd was quoted as saying, "It was amazing, the band was slamming, and then Slash just came in one day and just shit-canned the whole thing". In his autobiography, Slash says the reason was because he was displeased with how Todd's voice sounded when they played the material back. Scott Weiland of the Stone Temple Pilots was eventually chosen to helm the band that would become known as Velvet Revolver. Keith Nelson was given a songwriting credit on Velvet Revolver's track "Dirty Little Thing". Nelson then went on to write and produce on various records including Capitol Records artist Huck Johns single "Oh Yeah" on Huck released in 2006.

Reformation, 15, and Black Butterfly: 2005-2009

Back on September 11, 2006, another lawsuit had been filed against the band, their current record label, and other related companies on behalf of a sixteen-year-old girl who claimed she was coerced into appearing topless and in various sexual scenarios at a concert while the band was playing a sexually-related song. According to sources, however, all participants in the video had to show proof that they were over eighteen years old and sign a release form further reaffirming their age. Band attorney Skip Miller is quoted in several news stories as stating, "This woman filled out a release form with false information. And once it was determined this woman was underage, the video was removed." ^[4]

On April 15, 2008, Buckcherry announced they would be touring as part of Mötley Crüe's Crüe Fest, along with Papa Roach, Sixx:A.M.., and Trapt.^[5] The tour began July 1, 2008, in West Palm Beach, Florida.^[6]

On September 16, the band released their fourth album, Black Butterfly, which debuted at number 8 on the top 200 charts. It was the number one rock album that week. That year, Josh Todd was featured on the album This War Is Ours by Escape the Fate. He sang co-lead vocals in the song "10 Miles Wide" and backing vocals on "Harder Than You Know". In 2009, he was featured in the music video for "10 Miles Wide".

In May 2009, KISS announced that Buckcherry would be the opening band in their 2009/10 US and Canadian tour. On July 30, Buckcherry was featured in the Kerrang! Week Of Rock Tour with The 69 Eyes and Dear Superstar at the HMV Forum in London. Other bands in the Week Of Rock included Limp Bizkit, Youmeatsix, and Lacuna Coil. DragonForce was also supposed to play during the Week Of Rock, but pulled out.

On September 29, Buckcherry released their first live album, Live & Loud 2009, which they played some of their biggest songs such as "Sorry", "Lit Up", "Crazy Bitch", and much more. The album was recorded in May 2009 during their Canadian tour in Edmonton, Calgary, and Medicine Hat.

All Night Long and touring: 2010-present

It was announced on February 22, 2010 that Buckcherry would be a part of Rocklahoma 2010 in Pryor, Oklahoma.

Bassist Jimmy Ashhurst is one of the characters in the book Sex Tips from Rock Stars by Paul Miles to be published by Omnibus Press in July 2010.^[7]

Buckcherry will release their fifth studio album, titled All Night Long, on August 3, 2010.^[8] The first single from the album, "All Night Long", was originally going to be released to rock radio on May 3, but was pushed back to May 24.^[9] It was released as a free download to all fans who posted a pre-defined "tweet" on Twitter or a similar message on Facebook on May 4.

Other projects

In April 2008, Buckcherry founding member Jonathan Brightman entered the studio to record a new record with producer Dave Cobb (Shooter Jennings, Waylon Jennings, Michael Johns), former Buckcherry members Devon Glenn and Yogi Lonich and Detroit singer Huck Johns. Using the name Black Robot, it features tracks written & performed by JB, Devon, Yogi, Dave, Huck and guitarist Andy Andersson. Executive produced by JB, Black Robot blends musical influences from AC/DC, The Black Crowes, and Led Zeppelin. Guitarist's Andersson and Staffan Osterlind as well as former Hot Sauce Johnson drummer Possum Hill round out the current line-up of the band. The first self-titled Black Robot record, featuring the singles "Baddass", "Girls Kissing Girls", "I'm In Love", and a cover of the Eric Clapton/JJ Cale classic "Cocaine", was released independently on May 5, 2009 via Amazon.com and iTunes. The band returned to the studio in November of 2009 and recorded bonus tracks to add to the record which was re-released on June 8, 2010 on Formosa Records/Rocket Science Ventures.

BitTorrent leak controversy

On July 2, 2008, the first single off of the Black Butterfly album "Too Drunk..." was leaked through BitTorrent. Shortly after the track was leaked, the band issued a press release and blamed pirates for the leak saying "Honestly, we hate it when this shit happens, because we want our FANS to have any new songs first."

However, this claim was investigated by the site TorrentFreak. The IP address that was seeding the track had only uploaded one torrent, the track in question. Using WikiScanner they found out that the person uploading the torrent had also edited the Buckcherry wikipedia entry, as well as an entry adding band manager Josh Klemme's name. After emailing Klemme with their findings, they found that his IP-address was the same as the torrent uploader. This led TorrentFreak to the conclusion that the song had been leaked intentionally for publicity purposes.^[10]

Band members

Current members

• Josh Todd – lead vocals, occasional guitar, piano (1995–2002, 2005–present)
  
• Keith Nelson – lead guitar, backing vocals (1995–2002, 2005–present)
  
• Stevie D. – rhythm guitar, backing vocals (2005–present)
  
• Jimmy "Two Fingers" Ashhurst – bass guitar, backing vocals (2005–present)
  
• Xavier Muriel – drums, percussion (2005–present)
  

Former members

• Yogi Lonich – rhythm guitar, backing vocals (1999–2002)
  
• Jonathan Brightman – bass guitar, backing vocals (1995–2002)
  
• Devon Glenn – drums, percussion (1995–2002)
  

Discography

Main article: Buckcherry discography

• Buckcherry (1999)
  
• Time Bomb (2001)
  
• 15 (2006)
  
• Black Butterfly (2008)
  
• All Night Long (2010)