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Interview with
STEVIE D.
from
BUCKCHERRY

(15th May, 2021)

Interviewer – Brandon Valentine

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HOUSTON, 24th Sept 2016: Stevie D., guitarist with Buckcherry, performing at Houston Open Air, Houston, Texas

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Buckcherry has always been a name that has evoked a specific feeling of bad arse rock & roll and the best kind of sexy riffs, non stop for the last 20 years.

I caught up with guitarist Stevie D. to discuss their new album, HELLBOUND, and his approach to his art.

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About HELLBOUND

Buckcherry will release their 9th studio album Hellbound on June 25th.  The 10-track record was produced by Marti Frederiksen, who previously produced the band’s 4th album, Black Butterfly, and co-wrote one of their biggest hits ‘Sorry.’ Frederiksen co-wrote the majority of the album along with vocalist Josh Todd and guitarist Stevie D.  The album was recorded in Nashville in November 2020. 

The first video from Hellbound, ‘So Hott’ is out now below.

The video, directed by KasterTroy, was filmed in Los Angeles and Las Vegas. The track will be available for streaming and digital download at all DSPs HERE

Hellbound represents the first album released by Buckcherry and their new label partners, Round Hill Records in North America, Earache Records in the UK, Europe, and Australia, and Sony Japan in Japan. Pre-Orders for Hellbound with multiple bundle options including exclusive new merch designs and limited-edition smoke vinyl: HERE

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Brandon Valentine: So I’m going to jump right in to it. We are here to talk about your new album HELLBOUND.
With all the craziness and turmoil of the past 18 months, are there any songs on HELLBOUND that you feel are representative of the times? A track that you have poured your visions of the world into?
Stevie D: Sure. I would say that historically Buckcherry has not been a politically fuelled lyrical band. But we started this whole album during the pandemic and everything was locked down here in the States, the tensions were high and the country was divided… it still is… in a sense.
Right and left, racism, we were coming up on another election AND we had to stay inside.
That’s where 54321 was born, it came from a punk rock angst guitar riff and Josh just put on top what he was feeling then.
But that’s about as close as we would get to any kind of social commentary on 2020.

What does this album represent to you personally?
Personally, I think it shows growth as a songwriter and growth as a musician and also for producing and engineering. Josh and I wrote 20 songs before we even got to work with Marti Frederikson, our producer. But we were going through a lot personally, I lost my father in May of last year so it was a lot of growing and understanding why I do a lot of stuff, just growing as a human being.

That’s beautiful. All musicians can find inspiration in the people they work with and for this album you again have joined forces with the ever brilliant song writer, Marti Frederikson.
Is there something he brings out of your work that you love?
Yeah, I think he does all that and we connect with him without even really talking. He understands our potential, he understands our capabilities and he really connects with that and brings it out of us.
If there are two parts that are having trouble segwaying into each other, he is a master song writer and really knows how to really make verses go seamlessly into chorus’ and then going to a bridge and chorusing out. And also as far as tones (in the studio and engineering) he is really intuitive with us and brings that out in the studio.

Well that is the dream situation you want with a producer?
IT IS! It’s the dream team. Nothing against Mike Plotnikoff, who we have seen a tonne of success with the album ’15, his strengths are more behind the recording desk and I think Marti is a songwriter first. He has done top ten hits with Aerosmith, Ozzy, Mick Jagger and even Carrie Underwood. We had a song that crossed over into pop radio that went to number 6 called ‘Sorry’ and that was co-written with Marti Frederikson.    

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Your favourite song to play live once upon a time was ‘Back Down’, off War Paint. You get to do some open G tuning slide. Is there anything off Hell Bound that has taken it over, a new track you are looking forward to playing live?
Well we have only played a few songs of this album live so far. We tested the waters with ‘So Hott’ & ‘The Way’, a piano song. Which is something I hadn’t done before, the show comes to a point, the lights get low and the spotlight goes over to a piano. And I’m like “Ok, I’m playing an instrument that I don’t normally play live, I can’t fuck up in front of all these people because I don’t have the band to hide behind so HERE WE GO!”
It’s not like it’s a Bach concerto but it’s definitely not my first instrument.
But back to your question; ‘So Hott’ I love to play, it’s a groover, it moves me and so much fun to play live.
I would imagine in the future ‘Here I Come’ will be fun to play. Usually the more uptempo and groovier one I love to play live.

Would you say that you get a lot of progressive excitement when you are forced to be on an instrument that is not your home instrument, out on the edge?
Yeah. It’s exhilarating for sure, you know what I mean, and I can’t wait till I get to the point where it gets automatic.
I’m thinking about every note that I’m playing, it’s like a huge Cadillac bumper on your shoulders. We have done thousands of shows and I’ve never had to concentrate on anything like this. It’s an easy song, it’s not a difficult progression but I can’t wait to improvise throughout it.

With that ‘on the edge’ feeling in mind, Buckcherry has always had a very organic rock sound with some sassy funk influences (particularly in the picking patterns) but are there any new influences you drew upon for Hellbound?
For Hellbound, hmm. You know, guitar for me, I still love it like I did when I was a teenager. I still go to YouTube, well not still… BACK IN MY DAY THEY DIDN’T HAVE YOUTUBE hahaha. But I’m still after knowledge and new things to play and new styles to play. For example, in 2020 I was producing this other artist and they were a psychobilly artist and so to make sure I had the chops, I dived into Brian Setzer. I never realised the genius of him as a player and I just got lost in it. So for the last three or four months, Travis picking has been all I’ve been doing. I didn’t necessarily bring that to the Hellbound sessions but it will be in the live shows.

And also, it’ll just become a great part of your repertoire as an artist.
As an artist and a producer I co-wrote nine or ten songs that were based in rockabilly, that was with an artist named Jack Cash, check him out.

I will, I’m always needing new suggestions.
As artists, is there something you want people to take away from this album? A feeling or ideal?
Yeah, I think that Josh and I were going through a lot personally. The older you get the more life stuff you have happening. All of us did go through our own thing in 2020 but a lot of what we carried on our shoulders during 2019 and 2020 comes out on this album. Even though there’s lock stock Buckcherry riffs, 4 on the floor head banging riffs. There’s that for sure but there is also a lot of emotional detours in this body of work. 

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Oh for sure and with that theme of growth and new experiences, Hellbound is going to be your first album after moving to your new record labels, Round Tree, Earache & Sony. How are you feeling about this shift and what has Buckcherry’s relationship with the Music Industry been like?
It’s changed a lot, back at the album 15 we were on 11 7 and that segwayed into Atlantic and the label has changed over the years. I am super grateful that we are still able to put out new music. There’s a lot of bands that are out there playing off of their first couple of albums. Our relationship with our labels makes me grateful for the opportunity to do this for a living. I get to do what I love and make a living, I have a family and I get to buy new shoes and Deadpool t-shirts.

I can fully understand that. We talked about your new video clip ‘So Hott’. That video clip deals with —
***Stevie D noticed Brandon’s ear piercings ***
Just a second… What gauge is in your ears, son?

My stretchers?
Yeah

50mm, so 2 inches.
WOW! I just had to ask, holy shit. You could park a small car in there. Sorry. As you were.

Hahahaha! Well as I was saying, the video clip for ‘So Hott’ depicts scenes of social media based vapidity and I got to thinking. What shifts in the music industry have you seen due to social media during your tenor?
It’s crazy, before, the standard was, you get the album then the tour and then you work out how you’re going to promote that album, usually starting with radio. But 2020 seemed to clean the slate and hit the reset button for everything. Our manager was like “We are not going to radio” and I was thinking “Are you sure about that?”.
But everything is on social media, terrestrial radio has taken the back seat to Facebook, TikTok, Instagram… all that. That is where everyone gets their news and music.
So we did a social media blitz for ‘So Hott’ and the radio stations started to call our manager.
In two days we got 100 thousand views and that’s a huge win. We are getting more traction from social media, I mean vinyl pre orders are sold out and we are about to do a second run of vinyls. Social media has been a game changer for us.

That’s great to hear because there will always be the market and audience for rock or metal around the world. The internet gives us that wonderful ability to find each other as a community.
Yeah. Instantly, even these types of interviews. There is no delay.
There is no delay in social media either so on the flip side of the coin, when something bad happens it’s like “Here today, gone later today”. Like “Oh man, did you see what Brandon did” and by later that day they don’t remember.

In an interview with Metal Insider: you said that the most important thing you have learned about recording over your illustrious career, is to leave your ego at the door.
But what is something you would tell your younger self as a piece of advice, not just as a musician but as a person?
Yeah:
     – Do a lot of listening.
     – Leave all ego out of decisions.
     – Always try someone else’s idea before saying no.
But that all ties in with leaving your ego at the door. Be flexible, like Bruce Lee said “Be Water”.

A common theme I see with Buckcherry is that you always like to look forward once you are done with a record, looking toward the tours and the next releases. What do you see as the immediate next steps for not just the band but also yourself?
Ya know, I think after what happened last year, it’s important to just keep on writing good music. At the end of the day it all boils down to that. Marketing decisions and tours, that is all a lot of cooks in the kitchen. But it all starts with good music, that’s the part I do have control over… well only a part of control over, there are four other guys contributing. So I have to suit up and show up and continue to do the best I can and stay out of the results. I can’t look at the charts; I can’t look at how many views something is getting.
I do what I can and hope for the best

That’s brilliant advice to end on my man.

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Follow BUCKCHERRY
Website – Facebook – Twitter – Instagram
Spotify

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AMNPLIFY – DB