When Buckcherry co-founders Josh Todd and Keith Nelson re-formed the band in 2005 after a three-year hiatus, they got an opportunity to basically start from scratch.
Buckcherry comes to the i wireless Center on Tuesday with Avenged Sevenfold and will be celebrating the release that day of Black Butterfly, its fourth studio album. It will also be showcasing a band that has learned from its mistakes.
Buckcherry hasn't abandoned its candy-coated hard/classic rock - recalling everything from the Stones to AC/DC to '80s hair metal to Soundgarden, with an emphasis on hooks more than distinctiveness - but it has learned more about the business side of things, as well as the realities of band life.
As Nelson, the band's lead guitarist, said in an interview last week, the members of a band that finds sudden regional or national success might not actually know each other very well - until they spend a few months on tour.
"You learn a lot about each other," he said. "And I guess we learned probably too much about each other with the old lineup."
The band released two albums on Dreamworks but collapsed in 2001 and 2002, with Todd's departure leaving only Nelson in the band.
Nelson and Todd weren't done with each other, though, as they were invited to play with Slash in the band that would become Velvet Revolver. That didn't work out, but Nelson got a songwriting credit for "Dirty Little Thing" from that band's Contraband record.
Todd released a solo album in 2004, and then he and Nelson decided to give Buckcherry another try. "We realized that we really did have a great chemistry that was really hard to find again," Nelson said. "We thought that maybe we hadn't made our last Buckcherry record."
So they called three friends - guitarist Stevie D., bassist Jimmy Ashhurst, and drummer Xavier Muriel - and asked them to be in the band, and they said yes. In 2006, the quintet released 15 on an indie label, and it went platinum backed by two years of touring.
"There wasn't really an auditioning process," Nelson said. He and Todd knew the guys well enough both personally and musically, and the dynamic of the band has improved in the band's second incarnation: "It isn't three hired guys. It's three band members. ... It's a lot easier when you like the guys on your tour bus."
For Black Butterfly, the band is back on a major label: Atlantic. The album isn't a radical departure, Nelson said, but like 15, it covers a lot of territory.
"There's so many different flavors on the record," he said. "The scope of the sound of the band, the lyrical content, and the melody - I think it's just a step forward for us. But it's still a rock-and-roll record by a rock-and-roll band."
The album runs from the country elements of "Rose" to the epic "Cream" to the funky "Too Drunk ... ," and Nelson said the band is trying to branch out without alienating its fans or abandoning its roots.
"We just pushed the envelope a little with some of the songwriting and some of the arranging and some of the instrumentation," he said. "We don't want to make the same record over and over again. Then again, we're not trying to play 'Stump the Listener.'"
While the guitarist said he was pleased with the band's artistic development, he also said that it learned the ropes of the business side the first time through and is trying to avoid the pitfalls of the music industry.
"One of the mistakes we made the first time was that we didn't make any money," he said. "We let somebody else make the money. ...
"We're definitely a lot more informed. ... Out of necessity you have to learn how to be a businessman and handle your affairs."
Buckcherry and Avenged Sevenfold will perform at the i wireless Center on Tuesday, September 16. The show starts at 6:30 p.m., and the concert also features Shinedown and Saving Abel. Tickets are $32.50. For more information, visit iwirelessCenter.com.
