Buckcherry has message for Kelly Pavlik

By John Benson

The band has something in common with hometown hero Kelly Pavlik.

From one up-and-comer who experienced a temporary setback to another, Buckcherry singer Josh Todd has a message for Youngstown boxer Kelly Pavlik.

“I just want to give a shout out to Kelly and tell him, ‘Don’t worry about [Bernard] Hopkins,’” said Todd, calling from Jasper, Wyo. “That this is what champions are all about. Just come back and start knocking people out again.”

While Todd admits he never met Pavlik, he’s quite familiar with his career.

“I’m a boxing fanatic, and I think he’s great,” Todd said. “And if Kelly ever wants to come to our shows, he’ll have a free pass anytime.”

That next time for Pavlik and Youngstown will be Saturday, when Buckcherry – along with Avenged Sevenfold, Shinedown and Saving Abel – comes to Chevy Centre.

It’s been quite an interesting decade for Buckcherry, which shot out of the hard rock cannon in the late ’90s with train-wreck-waiting-to-happen abandon. After two studio albums, the Los Angeles band broke up, with Todd and guitarist Keith Nelson initially appearing in an early incarnation of Velvet Revolver featuring ex-Guns N’ Roses members Slash, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum.

Long story short, Scott Weiland joined Velvet Revolver (and after two albums was fired), while Todd and Nelson revived Buckcherry with the band’s 2006 album “15” going platinum based on the success of its two hit singles “Crazy Bitch” and “Sorry.”

Now comes perhaps the most important release of the band’s career, its follow-up “Black Butterfly,” which the group hopes will add a new component – longevity – to its resume. In talking to Todd about the success of “15” and the optimism surrounding “Black Beauty,” he said it all comes down to maturity.

“When we were younger, like on our first record, we were really closed-minded to having a third party come in outside of our band and kind of work with them,” Todd said. “We co-wrote a couple of songs with Marti Frederiksen on ‘15’ and this time we had him co-produce it with Nelson and we also co-wrote about four songs with him. That just shows maturity on our side of things because on our first, and even second, record we just thought, ‘We write great songs and we can figure this out on our own.’

“I think now looking back I wish we had been a little bit more open-minded. We had to go through what we went through, and now we understand that we can’t go out and tour on a record that’s not great. It’s such a waste of time for us, so we have to make sure that we have the best record we can possibly make, and in order to do that, sometimes we have to step outside of ourselves.”

Maturity is one thing, but we are talking about Buckcherry, whose biggest hit to date is “Crazy Bitch,” which narrowly received FCC-approval for radio airplay. The band appears to have used the same formula for “Black Butterfly” lead single “Too Drunk…,” which goes into great detail regarding the problems associated with consuming alcohol and consummating a relationship.

“I think there’s an art to simplicity,” Todd laughed. “AC/DC kind of built an empire on that, and it’s not easy to write simple rock ’n’ roll songs that relate to a lot of people.”

Speaking of not only relating to but remembering their fans, Todd said he hopes the upcoming Buckcherry concert is similar to past wild shows in Northeast Ohio.

“Ohio as a whole has been amazing for us as far as the turnout for crazy Buckcherry fans,” Todd said. “We just can’t wait to get back there because Ohio rocks. So we’re going to bring thunder and put on a show that’ll give you your money’s worth.”