08-25-2006, 09:27 PM
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#1 (permalink)
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Insane
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Buckcherry fans
As you long time Buckcherry fans know, the current lineup only features 2 original members, singer Josh Todd and guitarist Keith Nelson. The other 3 members were guitarist Yogi, bassist JB, and drummer Devon Glenn. During the tour to support their second album, Time Bomb, JB abruptly left the band one night and headed home. Yogi and Devon followed soon after and the band broke up. It was never fully disclosed what actually caused the breakup. I was lucky enough to hang out with the band on numerous occasions and became friends with some of the guys. I have managed to keep in touch with JB, but have avoided the topic of Buckcherry for the most part because I knew it was a sore subject for him. Then today, I get this message from JB:
"Yeah, check out my new blog. My old bandmate Keith talked a mouthful of shit in this month's Revolver magazine so I'll blog my response to my friends."
I go to Revolver's website to see what Keith said, but they don't have their articles online. They do have this description as to what is in this month's issue:
BUCKCHERRY
After a three-year layoff and no small amount of dispiriting dues paying, they reverse their fortunes with a saucy strip-club anthem and its totally topless video.
I then go to check out JB's blog and what I found was pretty interesting. It's long, but a great read. I've only done a little grammar, formatting, and spelling editing to make it easier to read. Check out what he had to say:
Quote:
As some of you may already know, I am one of the founding members of the group Buckcherry. I played bass and collaborated on two Dreamworks releases between the years of 1996-2001. As most bands start off, we were good friends and had a lot of the same ambitions and musical interests. In the beginning, we were very connected and dedicated to creating music that satisfied us as a band. We all worked low paying day jobs and had the dream of one day bringing our music to large audiences around the world. We rehearsed every night of the week after our day jobs and used pawn shop funds to record demos. We even did mini tours up the coast of California and sold t-shirts to pay for gas. Eventually our hard work paid off and we landed a major record deal with Dreamworks Records. Our A&R guy, Michael Goldstone, was not only a partner of the company, his track record included Pearl Jam and Rage Against the Machine. You can say we had the "golden ticket".
Within a year of the release of the record, Buckcherry was awarded a gold record. With new found success and money, the innocence and purity of the band's intention was quickly slipping away. With the stress of constant touring the band would bicker at times like brothers, but were still able to deliver great live performances five times a week. In the height of the first record's success, between tours we were called into our Attorney's office to review a partnership agreement that Josh Todd (singer) and Keith Nelson (guitarist)were the architects of. Prior to that day, the band was operating under the agreement that it was an equal band that made decisions by majority and we were equal in every way. The first draft proposed that Josh and Keith would be 51 percent the band. It was later changed to majority vote, only if Josh and Keith were both in agreement, which is just another way of saying they had full control. The contract also gave immunity to Josh and Keith. It also stated that leaving members would forfeit their share of royalties and would have no claim on trademark rights to the name in the future. This new contract would give Josh and Keith the ability to dismiss another member of the band and leave them high and dry, no matter how much time and creative effort they invested. The contract even stated that Keith would have to appear every time Josh did in interviews or press. The contract bound Josh and Keith sole proprietors of the name Buckcherry and no matter what personnel changes were made there could be no Buckcherry unless Keith was involved. The question was even raised, what if Keith died? Would we all be out of a way to make a living? Considering the fact that the band had Yogi, one of the world's best guitar players, we could surely move on and make Buckcherry Records. But the contract cemented Josh and Keith together and created two unequal factions. The contract laid out Keith and Josh's intention to take over a band that was once equal. This dynamic changed the relationship to a strictly business relationship. If you've ever played in a band, you would know that playing music is an itimate thing that works best when there is trust and respect. The brotherhood was no longer there.
The two years prior to the first album coming out the band was so close we shared Thanksgiving together and even cooked a big spread when we were on the road. Suddenly, we wind up in Connecticut on tour on Thanksgiving day and find Josh and Keith eating Thanksgiving in the hotel restaurant with the tour manager.
With the completion of the first record campaign, we came home to rest and begin work on a second record. At this point, most of our advance money was gone and we would be able to get another advance when we turned in record two. Within a week of being home from tour, we were called to a meeting with our manager. In the meeting, Josh and Keith declared the publishing splits on the second record as follows: Josh-35 percent, Keith-30 percent, Yogi-20 percent, JB -10 percent, and Devon 5 percent. Famous music promised an advance of 350,000 upon completion of the record. Let's do the math: Josh $122,500, Keith $105,000, Yogi $70,000, JB $35,000, Devon $17,500.
On the first record, we just got in a room and whatever sounded good became a song. Regardless of who's idea it was there was no motivation to fight for whose idea would make the cut. Josh and Keith would write behind closed doors and it was clear our creative input was reduced by their greed. With a mad dash to the publishing cash, we turned in a lackluster record. Our A&R guy asked if we would be able to chose a cover song, in case the singles didn't test well. Josh and Keith refused to entertain the idea, even though many bands were having huge success breaking records with a cover. Recording a cover song would mean the artist who wrote the song would get the royalties and the publishing splits would change appropriately. (figure it out)
I was actually able to get one of my songs on the record (Underneath). The song was a critics pick and was chosen by Dreamworks as a second single. It was remixed and serviced to radio, until Josh forced the label not to go with the song. They used a song called "Porno Star".
After paying Uncle Sam, Devon and I were forced to live out of a storage unit for the next 15 months while touring on a lackluster record. We did however find out through the Grapevine that Josh bought a house in the Hollywood Hills. After all, he was taking acting gigs on the side and modeling for Calvin Klein.
As far as the live show goes, nobody can deny Josh's intensity and stage presence. Unfortunately, at some point I was directed by Josh and Keith never to advance the front of the stage. If fans in the front row were to wave me to come to the front, I was forced to stand in the black abyss in the background next to the drum set. As phenomenal as Yogi was to watch live, Josh challenged Yogi to a fist fight after a gig because he took a center stage solo. Yogi did not back down. Josh and Keith even edited frames in video and instructed camera crews at live events and television appearances to favor keith and Josh. It's assumed the cameras love the singer but they took the extra measures to make sure there was limited visibility of their band mates. They were trying to create an artificial Keith and Mick thing...or Steven Tyler/Joe Perry thing. Which as a team player, I gave all this behavior the benefit of the doubt and ignored it when possible.
With all this going on we had to try to make the best of things and remember the responsiblity to the fans. We signed every autograph and did everything to keep the appearance of a unified group for the fan's sake. For many of these reasons, going broke and other injustices from my two control freak band mates...I had to leave tour abruptly. Yogi left two months later after securing his end of pay from a Japan tour. Then Devon left. It was clear that Josh and Keith were set to continue shrinking the roles and earnings of their band mates. Chalk it up to self preservation. I found out after Devon left the band, Josh and Keith would not let Devon have his drum set back. They actually sold his drums! That's like asking someone to help you build a house and stealing his hammer when it's done! They hid behind the sorry excuse that they have kids and it's just business.
Part One.
Coming Soon: Response to Revolver interview Oct 06 issue with Keith Nelson
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I will post more as I get it. |
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