Born: February 8th
Where: Pennsylvania, PA
Instrument: Guitar

“A bad day at rock-n-roll is better than a good day at work….” That pretty much sums up the lifestyle and chain of events that brought small-town Pennsylvania born Keith Nelson to the city of Los Angeles, the birth place of Buckcherry. After years of cover-bands and ill-fated music projects, Keith moved to Los Angeles in the fall of 1993, only to discover, as he puts it “It looks a lot better on TV.”

“Those first few years in LA, coming from a small east coast town, were tough. It was culture shock for sure. It took me a few years to figure out where I fit in, only to realize I didn’t really fit in at all.” With the Lilith Fair selling out sheds across America and the popularity of rap/rock turning “rock and roll” in to a seemingly underground scene, the frustration took it’s toll. “It seemed that rock and roll bands… people who could actually play and sing and write songs, we were in the minority. I was losing faith that what I did as a musician and a songwriter actually had a place in modern music.” That all changed in the spring of 1996 when Nelson met Josh Todd. “He was the first guy I met in LA that had any of the same ideas I had about music and a band. We knew pretty early on that we were on to something.” After of string of miss-starts with a loose revolving band line up, Sparrow, as they were previously known, was born. Finally, a lineup was solidified and a string of high-profile shows that bore a major label record deal would follow. That band would go on to be re-christened Buckcherry in 1997 and record their self titled debut for Dreamworks records, released in 1998. “The core of that first record is material that Josh and I wrote when we were just broke musicians in Hollywood, holding down shitty day jobs, dreaming of being on the road and playing shows. We would get together at Josh’s apartment, and write songs into his cassette 4-track recorder, very primitive stuff and ideas, that’s where the genesis of the music was born. We never knew where it would end up, but that wasn’t the point. We were making OUR music.”

Anybody reading this probably knows the following success and eventual demise of that original band. During the self imposed hiatus, Keith took the opportunity to explore numerous other musical projects and ultimately explore other facets of writing and producing music with other artists. “It’s been fun to be involved with other people’s projects, to come into a situation that is someone else’s ‘baby’ and offer a different perspective” Nelson co-wrote, played guitar, engineered, and produced 3 songs with LA country-rocker Johnny Kaplan, set to be released on a forth-coming record this year, as well as writing, playing ,engineering, and producing the majority of the material for Detroit native Huck Johns debut record slated for a February release on Capitol Records. He has also been on hand lending his skills to sessions for artists such as My Chemical Romance, Papa Roach, All-American Rejects, Theory of a Deadman, POD, Head Automatica, Vendetta Red, and Hoobastank to name a few. “I enter every situation looking to learn more… more about what makes great records, great producers, great engineers, and great songs. Howard Benson and Mike Plotnikoff gave me an opportunity to be a part of their sessions for the past few years and I really learned a lot… sometimes what NOT to do! Having creative input and being regarded for my opinion has given me the confidence to go beyond just being a guitar player in a band.” While Keith continues to work with other artists, his first priority is Buckcherry. “It’s really about the band, THIS BAND, and taking whatever experiences you have, even non-musical, and putting them into the band. I love making this music and the people I’m making it with.”

The BC Express just keeps rollin'.... Just wanted to check in with you all
and give you an update on our progress. Thanks to an outstanding rhythm
section of Xavier and Jimmy we knocked the basic tracks out in three days.
Damn! And we still had time to crown Jimmy the king of the ping-pong table
as well.

Everybody's been in high spirits and the record is just flowing flawlessly.
We started overdubs a few days later and are almost halfway through, we
should have this baby wrapped up in the next 10 days even though we added 2
extra songs that we hadn't anticipated including. We can't wait until this
record hits the open air, and I'm sure you'll be getting a few sneak
previews when we hit the road in July. Ok, back to work, catch ya very soon.

Keef



Today is the day. We started writing and rehearsing for these recording
sessions a few months back and now the time has come to put this baby on
wax! we have so many songs now, the biggest challenge is what NOT to
include on the record. A quality problem. True to form we work quick,
afterall we did "15" in fifteen days. We're shooting for the same vibe with
this one, but maybe adding an extra week. Will we call it "21"? Ummm... No.
But, part of what made that record so much fun is we just captured the raw
essence of the band without over-thinking the recording process, and that's
exactly how we're making this one.

Stay tuned for more updates as I'll be taking the time to let you know
what's going on here and how everything is progressing a little more
frequently than before. We can't wait for everyone to hear this new music.
Keep the faith and stay tuned!

Keith