Buckcherry’s Josh Todd on Passion, Surfing, and Rocklahoma: 27 Years of Rock and Roll

0:04 Hi, you're listening to Adventure on W4CY Radio. This is Pipe Man here on the Adventure's Pipe Man W4CY Radio, and I'm here with Josh Sodbuck, Sherry. Nice, here at Rock, Oklahoma. How many times have you played Rock, Oklahoma? Wow, I don't know. Lost count, huh? Everything's a blur at this point. We celebrated 27 years in this game this year, dropped our 11th record last year, so I don't know. I just show up one day at a time.

0:45 It all swirls in your head, right? 27 years. Does that blow your mind? It does, yeah. It blows my mind when I put it into perspective, but I'm just grateful, yeah. What do you think has changed in how you do things when it comes to live shows, writing music, now compared to 26 years ago? Oh, wow. Everything's changed, man. I just have so much more knowledge, you know, of the business, of the touring game, of songwriting. So I've just gotten better.

1:27 And that's the way it should be. Yeah. And a lot of times your old school fans, they want you to stay like you were back then. But I think as a musician, you want to learn your craft, experiment, evolve, and get better at it. Of course. Yeah, that's the name of the game. And the thing that hasn't changed is I'm still very passionate about songs and performing and So as long as that's still there, I'm happy. See, that's key to me because I see a lot of bands and there's bands like you that you can tell you're still way into it. And then there's other bands that they look like, oh, I got to do this again. And that's tough to do if you're in this industry. You should be having fun.

2:10 I think bands are like that when they don't like each other, you know? Yeah. You got to like each other. And we've made a lot of changes over the years so that we continue to stay excited about being around each other. And that's really important. And, um, so, you know, I think change is good, you know, when it's needing needed to be, you know, so. I think after that many years, you do have to change in order, just like any friendship relationship, what have you to get along. Absolutely. Communication is key. I always say that all the time. I even say proper communication. Yeah. Because sometimes we speak different languages. So understanding that other person. And I think that's the coolest thing about music, too, is it's a way to communicate. And it's a way, like, it's the best therapy there is for you, the artist, and me, the listener. Because you're getting to get your stuff out in your music. And I'm getting to get what I get out of it.

3:08 Yeah. I think that would solve all the world problems. Music. Well, it's going to take more than music to solve the world's problems at this point, but, um, it's true. Can't get into all that, but, uh, that's a loaded one. Um, but, uh, you know, I see what music does worldwide to people. Like you're saying, um, I see how people react and, um, it's really special. You know, people that don't even know the English language will react to our songs in a way that's very touching. And, um, And I know that they're inspired by it, you know. And so that right there is like icing on the cake for us, you know. Yeah, it must be like such a feeling when you go to another country and they don't know English at all, but they're singing your lyrics back to you and they know what it means.

3:56 Yes. Yeah. And, you know, we've been to Japan many times and the reason they like rock and roll so much is because it helps them learn English. That's how they learn how to speak. to understand English, to speak English because of the big chanting choruses and melodies that rock brings. And, uh, I thought that was always really interesting and cool. That is pretty cool. What are your passions outside of music? I, I. Am, well, I spent a lot of time with my son, you know, and my, my kids when I'm home, mostly my son, because we have a lot of the same interests. Um, he's going to be 18 here in, uh, December and we, we surf together a lot, you know, when I'm home, I've been surfing since I was a kid and then he got into it. And now that's our thing. We, we go and, and we go to a spot in Newport beach where I served as a teenager. So it's really special for me, you know? So I do that with him a lot. I'm going to be doing that next week, which I can't wait. And then we, I play a lot of tennis. So, um, and he, he picked up tennis too. And so we play that together.

5:01 Both those sports probably keep you in shape to do these live shows. Absolutely. Absolutely. It's funny because... Tennis is an incredible game. Yeah. And surfing. You have to be in great shape. I surf too. It's cool though. Like what you're saying, I've brought my kids surfing and I've taught my grandkids how to surf. It's more of everything around the surf trip. So we have to drive about 45 minutes on the freeway. Yeah. And we listen to records and we talk about music the whole way you know and he'll pick a record and we'll listen to a record and we'll talk about it and and then we get in the water and we see like you know all the wildlife you know the seagulls the seals while we're surfing and it's like it's just really beautiful experience you know with him.

5:47 Totally because surfing in and of itself is that kind of experience and to be able to share it with your kid like It's not often that parents and kids have the same hobbies, so that when you do have that, and I think that's probably, music and surfing are probably the two best ones to share, I think. Yeah. There's like this camaraderie with both of them, right? Yeah, it's a lot of fun, and you know, I live in Los Angeles, so in order to get to the beach quickly, we have to get up very early to beat the traffic, and I get up really early when I'm home. I'm up at five when I'm home, and My son hates it. That's the only part he hates about it. But I love waking him up at that time.

6:27 It is true too. Like there's some places I go, like I go to Costa Rica a lot and like different places I go, you have to be there like early or else you're fucked. I mean, when I was a kid, that's what we all did. We all get there. It's called Dawn Patrol. You get there right at You're in the water at 7 a.m. because that's when the water is the glassiest. The waves are really great at that point in time, and there's nobody there, you know, so it's a lot of fun. Yeah, I remember being in high school at Agora High, and we used to ditch class and hitchhike through Canaan to get to the surf. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We don't... We don't surf over there. I surf like Newport, like South Beach beaches, but I've surfed Zuma and Malibu many times.

7:11 Yeah, I used to surf Zuma and all that area, but I've also surfed down like Huntington. Yeah, yeah. I've done Huntington, San Onofre, San Clemente, uppers and lowers. It's a lot of fun. See, I think that's a cool outlet outside music too because like even me, Like, I go on tour and I do these festivals, like, all over the world, just like you do. And, you know, I come home and that's my chilling out, is going out and getting on the water. Nice. That's great. You know? Yeah. So, what got you into surfing first? I wanted to be a pro surfer before I got into music. So, I surfed religiously. I lived inland, though.

7:55 I didn't live by the beach. So, I would take... three transfers on the on on the bus and they let you put your surfboard on the bus and it dropped off at 32nd street in newport beach and i surfed there religiously every week and i got you know pretty good for at that point in time in my life and uh everybody i knew surfed so you know it was uh It was a big thing. And there was a drummer that was a surfer. We were out in the water and it was the only band that was at my high school. And he's like, hey man, we need a singer. You want to audition? I don't even know why he asked me because I wasn't singing. But I was big into music and I had a knack for writing words. I did a lot of poetry and creative writing. And I said, yeah. And I just got in there and that was it. Once I started that rehearsal... At the end of it, I was like, this is it. This is all I want to do. See, that's pretty cool. Yeah.

8:50 You know, and then combining both worlds there. Yeah, it was really cool. So, how do you top everything you've done now? Like, you've done this for so many years. What's your vision moving forward for Buckjerry? You know, everything is changing so rapidly with technology and everything and the way people get music, so... we're learning as we go and making decisions in the moment, you know, but there's one thing that's not changing and it's the live show and it's what happens when you go see a Buck Sherry show, you know, and then thank God for that. Cause we built our reputation on our live show and, uh, and we just keep doing what, uh, a lot of bands don't do anymore. We put out a great rock and roll record every two years and we tour for two years on a record cycle. And, And we're going to continue to do it until, you know, we don't want to do it anymore.

9:43 And that's what I love about what you do, because it is true. It's like, you know, some bands, five, ten. I just saw a band, I got a press release, a band first album in like 43 years or some shit like that. Yeah, I could not imagine that. And I couldn't imagine it being that long. Great. I miss the times where every band was like doing exactly what you're talking about. You did the cycle, you put out the album, you toured it, you know? Yeah, I mean, I'm a firm believer you got to work the muscle or the muscle gets weak, you know? And so I'm constantly... you know, learning more about vocals and learning more about melody and challenging myself and writing and me and Stevie, you know, so, um, yeah. And I learned a lot from Marty Fredrickson, who is a big component in this whole thing too, you know, nice when we make records.

10:32 And, and so speaking of, you know, vocals, what kind of things do you do to warm up for a gig? Oh, I have a whole regiment of, uh, warmups. I, I worked with this vocal coach, Mark Baxter, who's amazing. You can look him up online. He's an incredible guy and, uh, really taught me a lot. And, um, you know, he taught me that, you know, doing scales is not singing, it's vocalizing, you know? And so I vocalize every day, even though I'm not singing every day. And, um, it's important for me to always vocalize, you know, I don't I always tell people, the older you get, don't do less.

11:14 You've got to do more. Right. You know what I mean? In order to keep everything on point. Exactly. I always think about for singers, doing festivals like this where you've got the festival dust, how hard it is to sing. I even have it. And I found this cool thing you probably know about, but most here in America don't. Like over in the UK, they gave me this shit called Vocal Zone. You know about it? Yeah. Everybody's tried to give me all kinds of shit. Right? The one thing that I do, it's room temperature water, nothing else. That's the best thing. And I don't drink any water on stage at all. I hydrate way before, and then once I start singing, that's it.

12:00 Is it like something you learned about that you shouldn't drink water while you're singing? No, I just always feel like I have to reset a little bit when I drink anything because it tightens up your vocal folds just a little bit, and that's not good, you know, for me. Yeah. It works for other people. I don't know. Everybody's got their thing, but that's just the way I do it. Hey, whatever works to do what you do. Yep. Well, I'm glad you're here at Rock, Oklahoma. You guys are badass. Thank you. I hope you do it for another 26 years. It's going to be fun. Main stage, let's see, 4 o'clock, something like that? Yeah. That's going to be a hot one. Looking forward to it. Yeah, it is.

12:40 My heart's with you on that, but you'll kick ass anyway. Yeah, I like the heat. So there you go. Let's have fun. Thanks for being on the Adventures of Pikeman. Yeah, thank you. Thank you for listening to the Adventures of Pikeman on W4CY radio.