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Turning Up The Juice
04/27/1999 9:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Ken Micallef
At a time when rock artists are receiving extreme criticism for any lyric that promotes sex, drugs and general debauchery, a song which chants "I love the cocaine, I love the cocaine" is a perfect target for the Bill Bennet-Jerry Falwell coalition of self-righteous do-gooders. L.A. noiseniks Buckcherry offer just such a theme in their chart assailing hit, "Lit Up," one of many immoral, sin-laden songs on their self-titled debut.
Led by Axl-Rose-come-lately Joshua Todd, Buckcherry's ferocious, grating rawk explosions embody all the cultivated, self-serving forms of rock living, such as endless nights playing crummy bars, or traveling all day to reach a venue where you might make 20 dollars per band member, and, of course, let's not forget all that fabulous road food...and yes...THE DRUGS!!
"I have said it before," states guitarist Keith Nelson. "We turn down more drugs than other bands think about doing. That is for sure. If we did all the drugs we were offered, we'd be dead. But when you have a song that says 'I love the cocaine,' every idiot that knows how to buy it is walking up to and wants to turn you on. It comes from young girls, young guys, not-so-young guys, whatever."
So, Mr. Nelson, you refute the claim that you and Buckcherry members Joshua Todd, Jonathan Brightman, and Devon Glenn are damnable drug users intent on corrupting America's youth with your hellion ways?
"It's really hard to play nights six nights a week and do press all day when you are getting really f--ked up. The most important thing for us is playing the live shows and making it happen."
A band born of the usual L.A. tale of happenstance, luck and hard work, Buckcherry, along with such East Coast bands as Honky Toast, do embrace the traditional kill-your-idols approach to rock 'n' roll. Party animals? For sure. But lazy, drug-addicted, and a danger to your children? Forget about it. Buckcherry, who Nelson says are "old enough to know better," are twenty- to thirtysomethings, some of whom have steady girlfriends, van payments, parents who love them. Now, regarding all that drug use...
"I can't speak for Josh," says Nelson, "but I know he writes from experience. Regardless of what is going on in our lives now as far recreational drug use, that is something that has got us where we are at, whether it's good or bad. It is definitely a part of past. But we are not going to tell anyone how to interpret 'Lit Up.'"
And also, like AC/DC-ish heathens Honky Toast (who, like BC, received a two-star review from that credible rock journal, Rolling Stone), Buckcherry have taken a critical beating for their Guns N' Roses-style party-rock. Theirs is the sound of smoke, fury, and razor-sharp guitars and vocals that could peel paint at 20 paces. With a tattoo of the word "Chaos" on his scrawny torso, vocalist Todd comes off as a doofus rock animal, part ambitious Perry Farrell, part doltish country bumpkin.
"Josh is an interesting animal," cites Nelson. "I am really close with him, so I get to see the persona change. If that guy onstage was the same guy I had to spend time with, it would be really rough."
Buckcherry: Acid causalities or ambitious rock 'n' roll choirboys? A band with a past or a band with future? You decide, 'cause Nelson et. al. have to go to work.
"Anything that gets in the way of the show has got to go," he concludes, "whether it's a guy on the crew or some kind of habit. I don't know what the guys have gone through before but it has taken a huge amount of hard work and for us, there is no such thing as a day off."
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