News on buckcherry @ www.Buckcherry.info

 California rockers Buckcherry are giving their fans a chance to appear in the band’s video for the song “Talk To Me”. Go to www.buckcherrytalktome.com and follow instructions on how to upload your video to YouTube for submission. You can enter as many times as you want.

Buckcherry has donated an acoustic version of its song “Rescue Me” for use in a public service announcement aimed at fighting child abuse. The spot’s premiere this month is part of an awareness campaign stretching through April — which is National Child Abuse Prevention Month — that will culminate with a benefit show on May 15 at Irving Plaza in New York City to benefit Childhelp, a leading national non-profit organization dedicated to helping child abuse victims.
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Singer Josh Todd said in a statement, “If we can reach and save just one child or even their abuser from joining the terrible cycle of violence and abuse, then I will do whatever I can to support them. As a father, I can’t bear to think of children being abused, and knowing that we will help point them in a direction where they can get help is very important to us.”

Buckcherry has recorded a special PSA for its Rescue Me Campaign and National Child Abuse Prevention Month. The spot features an acoustic version of the band’s “Rescue Me” and is up on buckcherry.com

They’ll also play a fundraising concert to benefit Childhelp on May 15th at the Fillmore New York.

“Rescue Me” and “A Child Called It” (also from Black Butterfly) were inspired by the book “A Child Called It,” a children’s reader about child abuse. “We were on vacation and my oldest daughter was reading [the book],” said Buckcherry frontman Josh Todd. “I was really, really inspired by this guy’s perseverance to get through all that and have somewhat of a normal life. I just wanted to do the book justice and draw some attention to it.”

Todd says Childhelp is “the best web site I’ve found as far as helping kids that have been through [abuse]…[Buckcherry] just hope that maybe people will donate money and help the people who are helping out these kids…so they have a shot at a good life.”

Credit: Billboard.com

California rockers Avenged Sevenfold first achieved success with their 2005 album “City of Evil,” which included the singles “Burn It Down,” “Bat Country,” “Beast and the Harlot” and “Seize the Day.” Also listen for the singles “Critical Acclaim,” “Almost Easy,” “Afterlife,” “Scream” and “Dear God” from their most recent self-titled album Saturday at Hershey’s GIANT Center.

Grammy-nominated Buckcherry will be opening for the metal core act. Hopefully they’ll be playing their most popular song “Crazy Bitch” at the show.

The first band takes the stage at 6:30 p.m., and tickets are $39.75.

Below is the video for “Almost Easy.”

Are you a fan of rockers Buckcherry, who’ll visit Hershey’s Giant Center March 21 with Avenged Sevenfold, Papa Roach and Burn Halo?

You’re not the only one: Horror writer Stephen King likes them, too. In fact, he put their latest album, “Black Butterfly,” at No. 1 on his Top 10 Albums of 2008 list in Entertainment Weekly, calling it “the best hard rock album I heard this year.”

Buckcherry guitarist Keith Nelson was stunned at the news.

“I had no idea (he was a fan) — it was a complete shock,” he said. “I am such a fan of his. ‘The Stand’ is one of my favorite books ever.”

He said he doesn’t know if the author has ever seen the band live.

“We’ve actually been outside of Bangor (Maine), which is where he lives, but I never saw him,” he said.

Tickets for Buckcherry’s show with Avenged Sevenfold are $39.75. They’re available at the Giant Center Box Office or by calling 717-534-3911, 800-745-3000 or at Ticketmaster or Hershey’s Web site.

To help celebrate the release, Fuse TV is airing a pair of special shows, Loaded: Motley Crue and Loaded: Crue Fest. It’s a solid hour of Motley Crue, beginning at 9:00 PM EST on Monday, March 16.

Also, tomorrow is Motley Crue’s performance at Madison Square Gardens. According to the band’s website, a press conference will be held at the Fuse TV studios prior to the performance to announce the lineup of CrueFest 2, which begins in July.

One of many bands that’s had second, third and fourth leases on life thanks to VH1 Classic, Motley Crue is embarking on a 40-city tour in support of “Saints of Los Angeles,” the first album to feature all four original members since 1997’s “Generation Swine.” The songs on “Saints” were reportedly inspired by the Crue’s bestselling autobiography, “The Dirt,” which may mark the first time in history that a band has made an entire album based on mythologized versions of their younger selves. The “Cruefest” tour will also feature Buckcherry and several other bands who probably owe their existence to ripping off “Girls, Girls, Girls” and “Dr. Feelgood.” With Hinder and Theory of a Deadman

Baltimore-based rock group Charm City Devils will perform with Buckcherry and ZZ Top at this year’s Preakness celebration.

Remember these guys from the video?

I wonder if they were chosen because of the choice quotes I gave about them.*

“We are so excited to be part of such an extraordinary event,” said John Allen (pictured), front man for the group, in a release …

“To share the stage with rock legends ZZ Top and the incredible Buckcherry is an honor for us. We hope to make our city of Baltimore and the Maryland Jockey Club proud for having us open 2009’s InfieldFEST!”

PITTSBURGH — The last time through town, they warmed a stage for Motley Crue.

Now L.A. hard-rockers Buckcherry are co-headliners on a tour that visits Pittsburgh on Wednesday. Initially, the tour, also starring Avenged Sevenfold, was scheduled to finish at the Petersen Events Center on the University of Pittsburgh campus, but demand for the bands keeps growing, so additional dates were added.

These are heady times for Buckcherry, which has appeared on Jay Leno’s show, been nominated for a Grammy and watched their 2006 power-ballad “Sorry” reach Billboard’s Top-10, with the follow-up album, “Black Butterfly” supplying the singles “Too Drunk” and “Rescue Me,” the Nos. 2 and 8 songs, respectively, on iTunes’ 2008 rock chart.

In his Entertainment Weekly column, horror master Stephen King hailed “Black Butterfly” as the best album of 2008.

“Well, he’s got impeccable taste,” deadpanned Buckcherry guitarist Keith Nelson, a North Sewickley Township native and Riverside High grad. “No, seriously, we’re fans of his writing and his movies, and so to get the nod from someone like that, who’s not on the payroll, means a lot.”

With a growing stature resulting in greater expectations from fans, Buckcherry has kicked its stage show up a notch.

“We’d always been the band that sets up on the floor and played with no big light show or stage props. We always wanted our music to do the talking,” Nelson said. “But now we’ve got big screens and lighting effects. It’s been really exciting.”

They haven’t passed the extra costs onto fans, though, as ticket prices for this tour were capped at $40.

“We wanted to make sure in these economic times that we were making it super affordable and giving everyone true value,” Nelson said.

The four-band tour also includes Ozzfest alums Papa Roach and Mississippi rockers Saving Abel with the Top-20 song “Addicted.”

One of Buckcherry’s few days off recently came on Super Bowl Sunday, for which Nelson made sure the Buckcherry tour bus dropped him off at his California home so he could watch his beloved Steelers (in a phone interview two days before the game, he accurately predicted Pittsburgh would win by four points).

Nelson said he can see himself moving back to Beaver County someday “after the smoke clears.”

But what would he do here?

“Ride my motorcycle, hang out,” he replied. “I’ve been working so hard for so long I’m looking forward to doing nothing.”

But guided by his western Pennsylvania-hewed work ethic, that day probably won’t come for a long, long time.

“Being from that area that’s certainly something you take with you, a strong work ethic,” Nelson said. “There’s also a sincerity and loyalty that you learn being there in a small town like Beaver Falls.”

Sure, he’s now a Hollywood rock star, though Nelson said he’s still a Beaver Valley boy at heart.

He said, “I like being an L.A. hick.”

By Scott Tady, Times Entertainment Editor

Buckcherry singer JoshTodd tells how reading inspired songwriting on Black Butterfly’
Friday, February 20, 2009
by John Soeder
Plain Dealer Pop Music Critic

Fresh from a stint on last summer’s Crue Fest tour, Buckcherry is on the road again behind “Black Butterfly,” the hard-rocking quintet’s fourth album. Lead singer Josh Todd, 37, checked in by phone before a concert in Yakima, Wash.

Q: I have to warn you: It’s a lot colder here than it was when you guys came through with Crue Fest.

A: That’s what they tell me.

Crue Fest was a blast. We had a lot of fun. There were really great after-show parties.

Everybody was friends, so it was really effortless and easy and cool.

Crue Fest, we were only doing a 45-minute set. [Now] we’re doing an hour every night. We get to play a lot of songs.

We really love our new record, “Black Butterfly.” It has so much ammunition on it. It’s just great playing these songs live.

Q: How does “Black Butterfly” stack up against your previous albums?

A: I think it’s our best record to date, and it’s not just because we’re out here promoting it.

We’ve matured a lot. We’re writing the best songs of our career.

It just really came out really well. I’m so proud of it.

Q: What’s the story behind the opening track, “Rescue Me”?

A: “Rescue Me” is just basically about dealing with the crossroads in your life and having to come to believe in something greater than yourself.

It just really came out really well. I’m so proud of it.

Q: What’s the story behind the opening track, “Rescue Me”?

A: “Rescue Me” is just basically about dealing with the crossroads in your life and having to come to believe in something greater than yourself.

I wrote “Rescue Me” and a song called “A Child Called It’ ” after I read this book, “A Child Called It.’ ” It’s about this horrible child-abuse case.

I felt like the book found me. I was kind of obsessed with it.

The guy the book was about, David Pelzer, he actually heard the song and liked the song. That’s all that matters for me.

Books really influence my lyric-writing. . . . When I’m reading, I write better lyrics.

Q: What are you reading these days?

A: Right now I’m reading a Michael Crichton book, “Rising Sun.”

I came across it in Wal-Mart. I needed a book, so I just got it when we were in some remote area.

I just finished “The Appeal,” a John Grisham book. I’ve read a lot of John Grisham books.

Before that, I read “The End of Oil,” which was nonfiction. That was kind of scary — our energy situation.

Q: Do you have any new tattoos?

A: I just got my throat tattooed, which I’ve been wanting to do for a long time. I got an old-school sparrow [with] lightning bolts and stuff around it. It looks really good.

Q: Is getting a tattoo on your throat more painful than on other body parts?

A: It’s horrible. Horrible! I put it off for as long as I could.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:

jsoeder@plaind.com, 216-999-4562