By: Rob Cavuoto
Prior to a sold out show at the Best Buy Theater in NYC, I had a chance to speak with guitar Keith Nelson of Buckcherry while out on tour with HellYeah for the Jägermeister Music Tour. We talked about what fans can expect on this tour and even gave us the inside scope on the very beginnings of a new Buckcherry CD.
Keith Nelson Photo: Rob Cavuoto
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Rob Cavuoto: How’s the tour going so far with HellYeah?
Keith Nelson: It’s going really good. One of the things I like about this tour is the four different types of rock bands on it. They’re all rock bands, but HellYeah and All That Remains are more metal, Damn Things is a heavier rock band and we’re more of a straight forward rock and roll band. It’s a good cross section of rock bands.
Rob: Buckcherry is a very diverse band, where you can be out on tour with Nickelback and then go out with HellYeah. Is that strategy to expand your fanbase?
Keith Nelson: Let me put it to you this way, how many real rock and roll bands are really out there these days? Just a few, right. It’s really about finding the similarities between bands rather than the differences. Its focusing on that and hoping that fans of commercial music or heavier music will still be able to identify with our music. It’s really not about us trying to diversify our fan bases, it’s just us wanting to go out and play with great bands.
Rob: How long does it take Buckcherry to get ramped up for a tour?
Keith Nelson: We only had two rehearsals before this tour! We didn’t even do it in a sound stage. We just went up to my studio and played through 20-30 songs. Some of that stuff we haven’t played in years.
Rob: How do you pick the set lists?
Keith Nelson: It’s hard now since we have five CDs to choose from. You have certain songs that you have to play every night. If we don’t go out and play “Crazy Bitch” or “Lit Up” we’re leaving some people disappointed. Ultimately, how the set comes together is the pacing of the vocals, which is of primary importance. Then we want to make a set with a beginning middle and end. We try to keep all those factors in mind.
Keith Nelson Photo: Rob Cavuoto
Rob: What is your favorite aspect of touring?
Keith Nelson: The show of course. My least favorite aspect is traveling from place to place. That gets old quick. The shows are great and it’s the best job in the world. Missing home is tough and you can’t maintain all the relationships that you would like when you’re never there. Your list of friends gets shorter and it takes a very understanding family to stand by you.
Rob: Do you ever get pressure from management to step away for the edgier songs and go more main stream in order to get radio air play?
Keith Nelson: When we did 15, nobody in our camp ever said you might want to rethink “Crazy Bitch”. They just said let it ride. There was pressure from the record label when we did “Lit Up.” They wanted us to take out the word cocaine. We stood our ground and did it. For us it’s kind of “it is what it is” approach.
We’ve had many managers over our career and the one we’ve had now for the past five years is very supportive. I think you’ll also notice that All Night Long is a clean record and doesn’t have the Warning Sticker on it. Josh really challenged himself on this record to say all the things he wanted to say without being as overt as in the past. I applauded him for that because he really didn’t have to do it.
Rob: When we last spoke, you mentioned that when things quieted down with Buck cherry that you wanted to produce more bands. Have you been able to produce anyone?
Keith Nelson: I had a few weeks off our after our European tour and I worked with a new band. I wrote and recorded with them. I don’t know if the song will make the record. I’m also not sure what the band will be called as they’re in the middle of a name change.
It was a lot of fun to maximize the opportunity. I’m always checking for holes in my schedule and trying to make things work. I have a feeling that at this juncture, all my free time will be used making another Buckcherry record.
Rob: Can you tell me more about the new record?
Keith Nelson: We’re touring for the remainder of the year, but we’ll have some long stretches off. By long I mean 3 or4 weeks. We’ll probably get together in a causal, no pressure vibe, and start writing.
Rob: In that type of situations, do you have some riffs already written or do you start from scratch?
Keith Nelson: Actually there’s a kernel of an idea, which starts first with a vocal thing that Josh has or a riff that I’ll record with a drum machine and send over to Josh. It could be a bass riff from our bassist or Steve may have a great riff. Than we take the ideas to the band and start to play it. We know pretty quickly if it’s going to work.
