BUCKCHERRY's JOSH TODD On Being In A Rock Band In 2025: 'If You Wanna Make A Living At This, You Have To Be On Stage'

In a new interview with Randy Crews of Springfield, Missouri's Q102 radio station, BUCKCHERRY frontman Josh Todd was asked what changes he has seen in the music industry since he formed the band 30 years ago. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Everything. [Laughs] I mean, when we started, it was a controlled marketplace. Rock radio was much bigger at the time. You could sell records. There was no streaming. As soon as technology ramped up and the streaming and everything, it's like… I was just talking to my mother today. She's, like, 'How's the record doing?' And I'm, like, I go, 'Mom, nobody sells records anymore.' It's a promotional tool now. And it's really sad that it's come down to that. And now pop artists and hip-hop artists are feeling it, but it affected the raw genre at the beginning the worst, so we got hit the worst with it. So it's just a different thing. The cool part about streaming is that there's playlists and people find your music and then they get really into your catalog. And so we're getting a whole lot of young people that are just getting into BUCKCHERRY for the first time because they heard a song on one of their streaming playlists, which is cool. And then they come out to the show and that. But now, as far as being a rock artist, if you wanna make a living at this, you have to be on stage. It's just touring and merchandise."

Back in November 2023, Todd was asked by Classic Album Review about KISS bassist/vocalist's Gene Simmons's much-repeated lament that "rock is dead." Josh responded: "I understand what he means by that as far as the bigness of what rock used to be, and I think that's what he means. But [rock is] alive and kicking. There's tons of rock bands putting out records and. But I understand what he means… I think it's just a much different platform for everybody. Information is just so spread out now. There's no controlled marketplace. There's no radio-driven stuff anymore. It's just everywhere. And so it's very hard for people to focus on you. So, yeah, what he's saying is completely correct."

He continued: "Let me just tell you something. I don't know if it was [around the release of BUCKCHERRY's] 'Hellbound' or 'Warpaint' [albums]. At 'Warpaint', we got sat down and said, 'Okay, you've got 20 seconds to get somebody's attention, and then that's it.' I'm, like, 'What? 20 seconds?' 'Yeah.' Guess what it is now. It's like five seconds. And so that's crazy. People are just flipping through stuff, and they just only watch what they see. So many people don't even know you put a record out. It's insane."

Todd added: "Everything's on streaming. In the States, there's no rock radio anymore. It doesn't mean anything. And so it's just a whole different thing. So it's all about promoting your stuff online, for sure, and streaming and all that, but it doesn't mean what it used to mean. And I think that's what he means."

Four years ago, Todd lamented the state of the rock genre, telling Australian journalist Steve Mascord of the "White Line Fever" podcast: "As far as rock is concerned, I think since the 2000s, it's been forgettable. Not that the bands aren't good and that they're not putting out songs. There's definitely been careers started after the 2000s in rock music, but it's just kind of, like, faceless. There's no rock stars, there's no guitar stars, there's no rock singers.

"If you look in the Nineties, look at all the great frontmen," he continued. "You had Chris Cornell and Layne Staley and Eddie Vedder and Zack De La Rocha and Jonathan Davis and so on. And then the 2000s and on? I couldn't even tell you who a singer is. It's so weird. I think it's because it became this Active Rock movement, where everything is tuned down and cut to grid and … everybody's playing the samples live, and the singers, they all sing the same. So you listen to Active Rock radio and it sounds like the same band for 45 minutes. There's no dynamics between bands. There's no, 'Oh, that's this band and that's that band,' and they all have their own little flavor. It's just not that way anymore. And I think that's why nobody is talking about rock music in the mainstream.

"There's literally one band that they go to commercially if they wanna fill that rock slot on some awards show or anything, and it's the FOO FIGHTERS," Todd added. "That's it. That's what you get for the entire rock genre. And that's good for them, but if you are a rock musician, it's tough."

BUCKCHERRY's eleventh album, "Roar Like Thunder", came out in June. As with 2023's "Vol. 10" and 2021's "Hellbound", "Roar Like Thunder" was recorded in Nashville at Sienna Studios and helmed by producer and songwriter-for-hire Marti Frederiksen, who has previously collaborated with AEROSMITH, DEF LEPPARD, Jonny Lang and Sheryl Crow, among many others. All 10 tracks were written by Todd, BUCKCHERRY guitarist Stevie Dacanay (a.k.a. Stevie D.) and Frederiksen.