Buckcherry
Glasgow Arches, 10th June 2011
So here we are, in the Arches, and it feels as if we're watching LA rockers Buckcherry playing at the end of a very long tunnel. Still, the band are up for a party at this pre-Download warm up and so are we. And nobody pulls a party out of the bag quite like tattooed lean machine Josh Todd and cohorts.
Steaming in with 'Rescue Me', they treat us to a tight night of stripped down, punchy, melodic rock'n'roll with sex on the side. (The third review is traditionally the time I start recycling adjectives so apologies if you feel as if you've read this before – I'll throw in 'high octane', 'ass-kicking' and 'exuberant' too if you like.)
Culling material from across their five albums, the set spans the debauchery of the early years ('Whiskey in the Morning' and 'Lit Up' – probably one of the most honest songs about drugs ever written – think 'Perfect Day' on, well, cocaine) to the more measured hedonism of new album 'All Night Long', with my faves 'Everything', 'Sorry' and 'Next 2 You' thrown in for good measure.
Are they sick of playing breakthrough hit and rock dance floor favourite 'Crazy Bitch' yet? Well, if they are, they're hiding it well (even if Todd does describe it as 'nasty sh*t' – harsh but fair). I'll ask them again in twenty years time...
Consistently on form, the band are the epitome of sleazy, good time party rock'n'roll, fronted by one of the hottest vocalists around. (Although while in the past I've compared him to Mick Jagger, Iggy Pop, and, er, Cillian Murphy, Viggo Mortensen and Willem Dafoe, this time round its chisel-cheekboned man of mayhem Roger Daltrey who springs to mind – odd. Perhaps it's the tambourine...)
If the light at the end of the tunnel really is an oncoming train, let's hope Buckcherry are on board.
Buckcherry + Backyard Babies, 21st March 2007
