Buckcherry have just released there aptly titled 7th studio album Rock n Roll. We were lucky enough to chat with the Californian bands guitarist Keith Nelson before the new album dropped about all things Rock n Roll.

SCENEzine
How’s your American summer going? What’s Buckcherry up to this week?

Keith Nelson.
Well Buckcherry are about to hit the road for our new record. We are very excited about that.

SCENEzine
Your new album is titled Rock n Roll. Speaking of Rock n Roll how does it make you feel when people look to Buckcherry to carry on the legacy of classic bands like Motley Crue and Guns n Roses?

Keith Nelson
It’s very flattering to be spoken of in the same sentence as those bands. But we are just looking at what’s in front of us. We never said we were saving Rock n Roll. We certainly didn’t invent Rock n Roll. We just love doing it and it’s great to have people turning up supporting live Rock n Roll. We really think that’s what it’s about.

SCENEzine
You’ve recently released the video for “Bring it on back”. Was that fun to shoot? Can you tell us a bit about the location for the shoot?

Keith Nelson
We just got the idea together to get Xavier and I on our motorcycle’s and have Stevie, Josh and Kelly in their cars then have some fun. Just wanted to really keep it loose and shoot it. We wet out in the middle of the desert in California and took our helmets off and rolled the camera. The director was hanging off the back of a fucking pick up truck with a camera and got what you see. It was pretty simple.

SCENEzine
For the new album you guys teamed up again with pledge music. Do you these days it’s more important to let fans have access to the album writing process and being able to get exclusive items and experiences?

Keith Nelson
Yeah. There a endless ways to connect with your fans and we wanted to give them something we thought was fun. We started doing those cover songs not as a joke but kind of like hey lets just record a song. After we lied what was going on we did it on pledge and offered some special things to people. That way they could get to know the band better and partake in some activities. I certainly wish that was going on with Aerosmith and AC/DC when I was growing up. It’s fun for us and it’s fun for the fans and suits everybody involved.

SCENEzine
Are you stoked to be having the new album released on vinyl since they are back with a vengeance worldwide?

Keith Nelson
Yeah we make our records very analog. I am a big fan of vinyl records. I have a very big vinyl record collection. It’s cool to see people buying vinyl and listening to it appreciating the sound quality.

SCENEzine
Can you tell us a bit about Buckcherry’s song writing process?

Keith Nelson
It really comes from so many different angles. Sometimes Josh will call me up with a melody for something but not really have any music for it yet. He will then give me freedom to do whatever I want to on the song. Or sometimes I’ll have a riff and we will be jamming on it at as a band then Josh will have something for it or Stevie will have a riff.
There is really no set way.

SCENEzine
After hearing the new album our favourite track is “Wish to carry on”. Did that song come easily in the writing process?

Keith Nelson
It’s a fun song. It’s one of those songs where Josh had the idea for the chorus. He just sang it to me and I recoded it on my iphone then I went back to the studio and came up with some music that I hoped he would like. He came into the studio the next day and loved it. Then the whole band showed up and it all just fell into place. So it was a really easy song to write and came really fast.

SCENEzine
Another stand out track from the album is the beautiful ballad “The feeling never dies”. Did you always have a slower style track in mind for the album?

Keith Nelson
Josh came up with the chorus because he wanted to do a song he could sing with one of his kids. So he came up with the melody and four chords and said I’ve got this little part of a song lets finish it. So I came up with the rest of the music and it started to have kind of a country flavour. It came out great. We actually have another version of that song where Gretchen Wilson sings with Josh as well.

SCENEzine
On the new album tracks like “Tight pants” and “Wood” still have Buckcherry’s signature sexy swagger to them.
How do you feel about being known as the sexy rock band?

Keith Nelson
Well I personally don’t think that I am sexy. But to me part of being in a rock n roll band is making music that makes people want to fucking shake their ass. Sometimes it’s about aggression but sometimes it’s about being a bit more slinky and on the back beat. I don’t hear a lot of that in modern bands honestly. Modern rock bands are all cut up on a fucking computer and all of the feeling and swagger is taking out of it. We don’t make records like that.

SCENEzine
Going way back in time a huge crowd favourite is “Crazy bitch”. When you wrote that did you realise you had something special?

Keith Nelson
When we wrote that song we thought it was really fucking cool. But we also had a lot of people from the outside telling us there’s no way a song with those lyrics could ever be a hit. People were telling us to change the lyrics and we were kinda just like fuck you it’s our song and is what it is. If you don’t like it then don’t play it. Then in the United States radio stations started playing it without us even asking them to. So it really just took off on it’s own and the rest is history.

SCENEzine
The “Crazy bitch” video is one of our all time favourites. Surely that was a lot to make?

Keith Nelson
There’s two videos which one are you referring to?

SCENEzine
The strip club version

Keith Nelson
That was the original video that we made and was a lot of fun to make. We made that video really cheap in about three hours and it just took off all on it’s own.

SCENEzine
As a guitarist growing up who were your main influences?

Keith Nelson
All the usual suspects AC/DC the young brothers are a huge influence. Keith Richards and everything by Rolling Stones the Mick Taylor era and Ronnie Wood era. Paul Kossoff from Free doesn’t get enough recognition but he’s one of my favourite guitar players. Also Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top and Jimmy Page.

SCENEzine
The big question for Australian fans is when do you think you will be back down here?

Keith Nelson
We are working on getting down there for this record. So if not by the end of the year then hopefully in early 2016.

SCENEzine
You’ve been to Australia a few times now. Most recently with Steel Panther and Fozzy. Do you have a favourite Australian tour memory?

Keith Nelson
One time it was one of the first tours we ever did we were down in Australia and I think I had the flu. All the guys in our road crew went to a brothel and one of the guys couldn’t afford to pay for what was going on. It created all this drama and was pretty fucking crazy. So that’s one of my favourite memories.

SCENEzine
Bukcherry live shows can get pretty crazy with a lot of female nudity. What’s the craziest thing you’ve seen happen at a Buckcherry show?

Keith Nelson
We’ve had people having sex in the crowd during our shows. It can get a little nuts especially in some of those dark corners.

SCENEzine
Lastly can you leave us with a message for your Aussie fans?

Keith Nelson
We are so excited for you to hear our new album Rock n Roll and we look forward to seeing you in Australia very soon.

(Interview by Christian Ross)