June 4, 2025 • 29 mins
Josh Todd discussed his unique pre-show routine, emphasizing hydration and physical preparation. He shared experiences from touring with Skid Row and Steel Panther, highlighting the challenges of close quarters and personal space. Todd reflected on his 30-year sobriety and coping mechanisms like tennis. He praised AC/DC's hospitality during their tour and shared insights into his songwriting process, influenced by true crime and pandemic books. Upcoming shows include a residency in Vegas with Scorpions and dates with Kid Rock. Todd's new album releases on June 13, with videos for "Roar Like Thunder" and "Set It Free" already out.
00:00 - Intro
00:20 - Josh Todd's Pre-Show Routine and Hydration
01:42 - Touring with Skid Row and Band Dynamics
03:54 - Evolution of the Music Industry and Band Busses
05:12 - Josh Todd's Role in the Saints of Los Angeles Music Video
06:05 - Steel Panther Tour
07:34 - Josh Todd's Experience with AC/DC
11:02 - New Album, Songs, Influences, Drugs & Pain
15:12 - Josh Todd's Sobriety and Coping Mechanisms
19:23 - Making Songs For Fans Or Yourself
20:51 - Josh Todd's Songwriting Process and Inspirations
23:58 - Upcoming Shows and New Album Release
26:27 - Challenges of Touring and Band Dynamics
28:18 - Final Thoughts and Future Plans
29:20 - Outro
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Chuck Shute link tree:
Thanks for Listening & Shute for the Moon!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Unknown (00:09):
What's up?
Chuck Shute (00:21):
Hey, Josh, thanks for doing this. Yeah, how are
you good? Good? Yeah, I'm just,uh, trying to, trying to get the
mindset you must have that as amusician, like, you gotta, like,
get your mind right for theshow, right? You have, like, a
routine that you do, of course.
Yeah, do you? Can you share sometips for me,
Josh Todd (00:42):
um, you know, I mean, my process is probably much
different than yours, becauseit's more of a physical job for
me. But, yeah, I have all, allthe, all the check marks. I
gotta do that. You know, I'm abit I'm a creature of habit,
first and foremost. So I gottado, you know, my process is, you
(01:04):
know, I have a regimen as faras, like, how I get my mind
right, my voice right, andeverything before I walk on, for
sure,
Chuck Shute (01:11):
yeah, cuz I remember last time we talked,
you told me that you you don'tdrink any water. And then that
was, like, a huge headline,which I thought, Okay. I mean,
it was interesting, but I was,like, I was surprised. That was
the part of the interview thatthe press ran away, ran away
with. I guess that's kind ofunusual.
Josh Todd (01:27):
Yeah. I mean, I don't drink any water while I'm
performing, but I hydrate a lotbefore I get on stage, you know.
But, yeah, that's part of myprocess, you know. It doesn't
work for everybody. But, yeah,
Chuck Shute (01:39):
well, I saw you guys recently. I mean, I mean, I
seen you before, like, I thinkit was a festival or something,
but then I saw this last tourwith with Skid Row, and it was
so awesome. That was a greatpackage.
Josh Todd (01:50):
Yeah, a lot of fun.
Yeah, you did okay, yeah. I wasjust
Chuck Shute (01:53):
curious, like, what your experiences was, did you I
mean, I'm assuming you hang withthose guys and stuff, right?
Josh Todd (01:58):
See everybody, everybody thinks that
everybody's palling around, andit's just not that. It's not
that, not that way, you know. Imean, both of us are, you know,
veterans. We've been doing it along time, you know. So
everybody has their own, youknow, way to handle touring, you
know. And nobody really bothersanybody. And everybody does
their own thing, you know,especially us older guys, you
(02:21):
know, we have our own littlething that we got to do during
the day. And you know, honestly,you know, you spend so much time
together in small spaces that,you know you just want to just
kind of chill and, you know, beby yourself sometimes. And you
know those moments are youcherish on the road, for
Chuck Shute (02:39):
sure. Yeah, it's tough because you, you have, I'm
assuming you have a bus, andthen you share that with your
band and and
Josh Todd (02:44):
crew. Yeah, okay, right, yeah, it's a lot of
people. I
Chuck Shute (02:48):
think Tracy guns was telling me, when I had him
on, he said, like, I mean, thatwill sometimes make or break
decisions in the band, like theyhad to fire somebody because he
was snoring too loud. It woke upthe whole bit, the whole band,
the whole crew. Oh, yeah,
Josh Todd (03:00):
there's that. There's a lot of guys with hygiene
issues, you know, grown ass men,you know, that just they don't
want to take showers and theydon't want to brush their teeth
and they, you know, they stinkand stuff like that, you know. I
mean, you gotta, you gotta workthrough all that kind of stuff.
But, um, yeah, that's life onthe road, you know? Yeah,
Chuck Shute (03:20):
I think it's just like, this stuff is so
interesting. I don't know ifthat's good or bad, just seeing
behind the curtain now, with allthese interviews and podcasts
and stuff, you kind of see, youknow, kind of how the sausage is
made, I guess. Whereas back inthe day, everyone just assumed
everything was so glorious, andthere's just, it's girls
backstage and party and fun and,like, there's no but like, for
you, it's, it's a job, it'swork,
Josh Todd (03:41):
yeah, and it was a job back then, too. I mean, it
was just a different timeperiod, you know, and there was
a lot more money being thrown atpeople, as far as, like, when
you when you were in thisbusiness, as far as what you
could make, you know, just fromthe record, people were selling
crazy amounts of records, and,you know, getting huge returns.
And, you know, I mean, so itwas, it was a lot crazier. And
(04:04):
so bands back then probably hadband busses where they were
just, there was just the band onthe bus, and then they had crew
bus, you know. So two differentbusses, you know. So it's now,
it's different. You gottabudget, invite your budget
smaller,
Chuck Shute (04:17):
right? And then, like these bands that kind of,
allegedly don't get along.
They'll, if they're big enough,they get their own bus. And it's
like, I think, I mean, that'swhat I you hear these stories
like, oh, Vince Neil has his ownbus, and Nikki says, yeah, they
all get their own busses and,and, no, no, we get along. We're
great, you know, they put theirarms around each other, but then
they all go to their separatebusses. So,
Josh Todd (04:37):
yeah, but that's a lot, a lot of money. It's a lot
of money, right?
Chuck Shute (04:41):
And I think you're like, and maybe they do get
along fine for a workingrelationship, but it's like,
it's like you said, like youwant your own time at the end of
the I mean, I think, like, evenif it was my best friend, I
don't really want to spend everywaking moment with them. I want
to have my own time, to be aloneand relax. And,
Josh Todd (04:57):
yeah, but, I mean, you know, like. Said, I've been
sober almost over 30 years. So,um, you know, I have my own,
like, spiritual, like, littleregimen that I do to, you know,
just to be able to deal witheverybody in close quarters.
And, you know, we all have ourlittle things that we do to to
cope and good communication iskey, all that kind of stuff. You
(05:18):
know what? I mean, yeah.
Chuck Shute (05:20):
Well, speaking of Motley Crue, was interesting
going through, you've beeneverywhere, you've done so many
cool things, but I forgot thatyou were in, weren't you in the
saints of Los Angeles? Musicvideo for Motley Crue,
Josh Todd (05:30):
yeah, it was, you know, I don't know, I it was
very quick. I, you know,nobody's brought that up for a
long time. But, yeah, I don'teven remember it, honestly, like
I was in it, but I think it wasvery quick.
Chuck Shute (05:47):
Okay, you're not close with those guys, or, like,
guys I know Nikki, you know,he's big on the sobriety things.
I don't know if you guys had,like, a bond with that or
anything. We're all very
Josh Todd (05:55):
friendly when, you know, when we have something
going on where it involves bothof us. But you know, I mean,
other than that, everybody's gottheir own lives and does their
thing, you know?
Chuck Shute (06:03):
Sure, yeah, now, so now you're touring with, are you
still doing shows with? StillPanther? You still have some
coming up, right?
Josh Todd (06:10):
We just did a huge tour with Steel Panther in
Canada. We did a we did overfour weeks in Canada, which is a
lot of dates up there. We wecovered all of Canada, all the
West Coast, through the middleto the very farthest east, Nova
Scotia. So it was crazy. We hada lot of fun. They're great
guys. We We've toured with thembefore, and, yeah, it was a lot
(06:32):
of
Chuck Shute (06:32):
fun. Yeah, I love that. I've seen them so many
times. I think what's sointeresting about seal panther
is they had this like comedystick, and I used to go in
Vegas, and when it started, itwas free, and you could go and
just watch them. Was like, Oh,this is for me. Of course, you
got to pay for beverages orwhatever. But what was
interesting is that every nightI would see them, it was a
different shtick, like theynever repeated the same jokes. I
(06:55):
was like, did they just think ofthis stuff on the spot, or they
they just prep it the nightbefore, like, and they change
it. Or is it so interesting? Iprobably seen him 15 or 20
times, and it's never been thesame jokes, you
Josh Todd (07:06):
know, it's funny.
Those guys are just funny.
They're funny off stage, youknow. And they just, they're
just quick with that. And I'msure a lot of it is improvised,
like you're saying, you know.
And I'm sure they have, youknow, a bag of tricks, of shtick
that they can pull out wheneverthey need to. They've been doing
it for years and years andyears. So, you know, repetition
is the mother of skill, youknow, they they got that, they
(07:29):
got that show down, you know.
And it's really great. It's alot of fun to watch.
Chuck Shute (07:35):
Yeah, I saw some article the other day about how
Michael star was on a plane andsomebody was like, harassing him
and saying that he looked likeBon Jovi or something. I was
just like, wow, that sucks.
Like, if I saw him, I'd want topicture it with him. But hey,
that's just me. He's asweetheart. Yeah, he seems like
a really nice guy. So you'vedone so that show. You did the
Skid Row, and you did shows withAC DC. You said that was the
(07:56):
best experience, rock experienceof your life.
Josh Todd (08:00):
Absolutely. Yeah, you know, I'll never forget when I
first got back in black, youknow, that record was, was
changed me, you know. And I wasso into that record, I used to
put it in my back pocket, youknow, like a cassette at that
point, you know. And I go to,like, house parties and hijack
the stereo, and I just put it inand just like, watch people
(08:21):
react to it, you know, and justloved it. And then, you know, of
course, I got into their wholecatalog and, and I just think
they're the greatest, you know,hard rock band of all time, you
know. And so cut to when we did,we did five shows with them
during the time bomb tour, whichwas our second record. And, and
we got to after Madison SquareGarden Show, they said, Oh, you
(08:44):
can go meet the guys and hangout with them for a second in
their dressing room after theshow. And we're like, really,
and it was amazing. They wereall in one dressing room. I'll
never forget it. I sat next toAngus and and everybody was just
chilling on the couch, justtelling jokes, and, you know,
Brian was walking around cuttingjokes and like, he's super funny
(09:08):
and sweet. And they didn't careabout taking pictures or
anything. They gave us fullsound for our show. You know
what I mean? They didn't, theydidn't clip the sound to make
us, you know, not as loud asthem. You know, like a lot of
bands do on the road andheadliners do and, you know,
Angus, his wife, was like,making hot tea for everyone. It
was, it was really a neatexperience.
Chuck Shute (09:31):
Hmm, that is interesting. Do you find that
some of the bigger people likethat, like AC DC and Alice
Cooper and stuff? Do they do?
They kind of make fun of arethey self deprecating sometimes,
because I had this actor on theshow, and he's he worked with,
like George Clooney. And hesaid, he said, all the people
like that. He said, GeorgeClooney, he always makes fun of
himself. He talks about how hewas fired from Roseanne and and
(09:51):
he talks about all his badacting experiences. Do you ever
find musicians where they talkabout their bad shows or bad
albums?
Josh Todd (09:59):
Oh. I don't know.
Maybe that is a, maybe that'ssomething they throw out, you
know, like a defense mechanism.
I have no idea. But now Ihaven't experienced that, you
know, like, Angus was just likea sweetheart, you know, and I
just asked him a lot ofquestions about his career, and
he answered them honestly. And,you know, it was like, it was
really neat. And then I just, Igot comfortable, and I just hung
(10:22):
out, and it was nice, you know,and I just listened. And there's
a part of the, you know, thejust the camaraderie. And then
we left, yeah,
Chuck Shute (10:32):
I think they're back on. I need to see that. I
saw them in 95 on the ballbreaker tour. I don't if you
remember that one, but they, itwas so cool. It was one of the
coolest openings I've ever seenfor a concert. They had this big
ball, and it knocked down thiswall, and then they came out,
and I was like, wow, that wasone of the coolest entrances
I've ever seen for a rockconcert. That's
Josh Todd (10:50):
cool. No, I didn't see that particular tour, but,
uh, like a wrecking ball, yeah,yeah, yeah. Cool. I think I've
seen it on, you know, footage ofit,
Chuck Shute (11:00):
yeah. So this new album you've got, you guys have,
I thought I was so clever,because I was like, you know,
putting my little notes for thesongs. And I was like, come on.
I was like, Oh, that kind ofsounds like AC DC. And then I
heard all these otherinterviews, and everyone said
that, and I was like, Yeah,well, I guess I'm not that
original. So everyone's sayingthat, though, but that is a good
song.
Josh Todd (11:18):
Yeah, thank you.
Yeah. The music definitelysounds like ACDC. But we've been
doing ACDC sounding songs sinceour first record. You know? I
mean, we're huge fans and butonce you throw my voice on it
and melodies and all of it, it'sjust, it turns into a Bucha
song. But, um, yeah, a lot ofpeople have been referencing AC
DC on that song. It's funny,yeah,
Chuck Shute (11:38):
well, it's interesting because you're, you
were saying, like, the back inblack but what year was that?
Because initially you werereally into, like, punk music,
right? And then you got intomore the classic rock, like,
initially you didn't even heardBlack Sabbath or any of these
guys. And this shit is prettycool, too, you
Josh Todd (11:54):
know? It's funny you bring up Black Sabbath because
I, I surfed with my son thismorning, you know? And the first
time I heard Sabbath was aftersurfing. I was a teenager. I was
stoned. You know, I'd smoked ajoint and fucking I had a friend
who had this, this bug, and theonly thing that had money in it
was, was the stereo system. Iwas like, literally sitting on
(12:15):
two giant speaker boxes in theback, in the back seat, stoned
and war pigs, he turned up. Heput on war pigs and turned it
up. And I was like, what mythought? My fucking brain was
melting. I was like, What thefuck is this, man? This is dope.
And, you know, that's that wasmy introduction to Black
(12:36):
Sabbath, you know. Because, likeyou said, you know, all my early
records are independent PunkRock Records, you know. So
that's why, when I heard back inblack, that was the first AC DC
record that I'd heard, I didn'tknow that there was all these
ones before that with adifferent singer, you know. And
I just, I just was down, youknow. I liked it because it had
(12:56):
grit, you know. It was notpolished, in my opinion, you
know, and I could relate to it,and it was cool, yeah.
Chuck Shute (13:05):
I mean, you reflect back, I mean, like you said, 30
years, or whatever, sobriety,but you reflect back on some of
that stuff, like the song youhave on the new record,
Blackout. I mean, you're talkingabout when you would black out
when you were drunk in the day.
Josh Todd (13:18):
Yeah, I was a blackout drinker. I could not
hold I'm a very skinny guy, andjust by nature, always have been
and couldn't hold my liquor. Iwas a blackout drinker. And so
those are about more of the funstories of blacking out, like
when I was really young, andthen it got pretty dark, you
know? But, yeah, that's why Ilove that song. That's my
(13:38):
favorite song on the record,really.
Chuck Shute (13:40):
Okay, so some of the memories of the drug and
alcohol, they some of it waspositive that you can look back,
you don't
Josh Todd (13:48):
want to go back, of course. No, I had a lot of fun
drinking and using for a lot ofyears, and then it just, it
started becoming not fun andjust wrecking my life and and
had to do something
Chuck Shute (13:59):
about it. Yeah.
Well, that's what's interesting.
Like, in the song, roar likethunder, you have a lyric like,
time as a teacher, how will Ichange? And if I had a choice,
I'd feel no pain, but pain ateacher too. Like, isn't that
how we learn to change? I mean,you wouldn't have gotten sober
if you hadn't had pain. Yes,
Josh Todd (14:17):
tremendous amount of pain. And we've written a song
called pain. It's, I love thatsong. That's the best song you
ever wrote. I think, in myopinion, thank you. Yeah, it's a
great song. But, you know,listen, I nobody likes going
through pain. You know what Imean, even though you know that
you're going to get to a newlevel and all that
intellectually, you know, youcan think about it that way, but
you know, deep down inside, ah,since I was a kid, all I wanted
(14:41):
to do was have fun and party.
You know what? I mean, I justwanted to that. I wanted to die
young, and, like all of that, Iwanted to go out in a fucking,
you know, ball of flames andburn it down. And, you know,
just, I just had a lot going oninside of me, and I just thought
that was like going to be the.
The most fun for me, you know, Inever thought I would live to
(15:02):
30, honestly. So, you know that,being said, I didn't want to
feel any pain. I wanted tofigure out a way to not feel
pain for the rest of my life,you know, and and I just
couldn't figure it out.
Chuck Shute (15:15):
So how did you so what shape? Because I'm assuming
you still have that. Like Nikkisix talks about, you know, like,
how he's sober now, but he'slike, I still burn. So that's
why they, I think they weredoing, at one point, he was
doing, like, skydiving and shitlike that. Like, right? You play
tennis and you're dirt bikes. Isthat how you kind of use that
fun energy that you want to justdo crazy shit?
Josh Todd (15:36):
Well, I've, I, I've loved competing since I was a
kid. You know what? I mean, Iwas in a lot of sports, and Pop
Warner sports, Pop Warner,football, soccer, baseball, you
know, when I was a kid, and Ijust like to I like to win. I
like to figure out how to win,you know. And at one point I was
(15:57):
racing go karts, and it was justtaking so much time away from my
family, and already have enoughtime away. And, you know,
because it take me an hour todrive out to the track, and it
was starting to become a moneypit as well. It's a lot of money
to start to race go karts andand so I'm like, fuck this. I
sold all my shit. And I'm like,I gotta find some something, you
know, and I had a friend whoplayed tennis when I was a kid,
(16:18):
and I just remember that, and Ijust started working on it. And,
you know, tennis is so greatbecause there's literally so
many aspects to the game thatyou gotta figure out to get
really good, and it's a chessmatch, and, you know, it's very
physical. I can't think ofanything else when I'm when I'm
on court, than winning andtrying to figure out how to beat
(16:41):
my opponent and and that is sotherapeutic for me, because I
have to get away from life, therat race. I gotta get away from
that, and I gotta get away frommusic, you know, and it's so,
it's really, it's really goodfor me.
Chuck Shute (16:54):
Yeah, I'm a big Seahawks I know if you're I
don't think you're sports fan,but I'm a Seahawks fan. I know
their old coach, Pete Carroll,talked about, there was some
book about tennis and about howto and it's like, he used that
for coaching, like hisphilosophy, it was like, yeah,
it was, I forget what it'scalled, but I don't know if are
you familiar with that? You knowI'm talking
Josh Todd (17:11):
about, no, but I I can understand why. You know,
anybody would say that abouttennis. It's, it's, it's a very
humbling sport too. Like, nomatter how great you get, you
win a match, and you just think,like, I'm gonna start just
killing I'm gonna be winning allthe time. And then the next
match, you'll be, you know,knocked right down to, you know,
(17:32):
size again. And you'll have tofigure out, like, Why did I lose
that? What was I not puttingtogether? You know, tennis IQ is
all is a huge thing. Like, youcan, you I can go on and on
about tennis. I mean, you can,you can have a great forehand
and backhand and volley and agreat serve, but if you don't
put it all together the rightway, you'll get beat, you know,
by a clever opponent, you know.
So that's why I love it. It'sreally challenging. Yeah, no,
Chuck Shute (17:57):
that's just interesting. I'm just like, when
I hear you say that it almostbrings parallels to, well, for
me podcasting, because I couldhave a really good interview, a
good podcast, and the next onewill bomb. But I'm assuming
that's similar for music, right?
Like, it's strategy, likethere's ups and downs, like you
can have a great album or two,or whatever show, and you think
you're on top of the world, andthen the next one might not go
as well.
Josh Todd (18:20):
Well, yeah. I mean, listen, at some point when
you're making a record, you gotto say, as an artist, this is
it. This is the record. We gotto shut the door on this and
call it a day, you know, androll the dice and see what
people think you know. But youknow, after all these years, we
know what a bad a bad songsounds like we know when
(18:41):
something isn't working, youknow, and we're not going to put
it out. And, or, or, you know,just carry on without when we're
feeling like that. So we justcontinue to work until we feel
like we got the we got therecord, you know. And, and that
comes with experience and andbeing consistent. You know what
(19:02):
I mean? I don't know how bandsgo years and years and years
without dropping records. Youknow? I gotta be working that
muscle every two years, like wehave a we have a cycle, you
know, we we put out a recordevery couple of years. I've
noticed
Chuck Shute (19:14):
that, yeah, because I think the last time we talked,
it was like almost exactly twoyears ago, 2023 with the with
the last album. So do you feellike with when you say you make
a great record? Are you making agreat record for the fans or for
yourself or something inbetween? Because that's what
I've noticed with podcasts likesometimes I think there's a
(19:34):
really good interview, and I'mlike, oh my god, the world needs
to hear this. This is thegreatest interview ever, and it
gets like 40 views. And so it'slike, people want certain
things. And like, I know whatpeople want. They want, the
drama, they want, the gossip,they want that that's the shit
they want. But it's like, but Iwant something deeper. Like, do
you ever feel that way? Like,you probably know if you make
crazy bitch part two, that'sgonna be the biggest thing. But
(19:56):
maybe you want to write a songlike pain, because it's fucking
deeper. And. It's like, a moreIt's more meaningful to, you
know,
Josh Todd (20:02):
whatever you think is gonna work out is always the
opposite, you know, it's youdon't want to, you don't want to
chase crazy bitch, because itcan, you can never get anything
that's going to be that big. Youknow what? I mean, like, you
have to just accept that thatwas the peak right there, as far
as, like, you know. And you canget a peek like that, but you
have to, you know, have adifferent subject, different
(20:24):
song, or whatever, you know.
What I mean? It's got to befresh, you know. And what I've
learned over the years is that,first and foremost, I did this
because it was the only thingthat continuously made me happy,
you know what I mean. So I dothis for myself because I really
love music to this day. And Ilove coming up with a great
melody. And I love, you know,I've, I've written all the words
(20:46):
in on Bucha records, you know.
So I really enjoy that, youknow, creating a, you know,
where you know songs are likeshort stories, emotions, you
know. And it's a documentary ofmy life, really, but I you have
to take a little bit of yourpersonal life, and then you have
(21:07):
to listen to the lives aroundyou, and you have, you know, I
have to read books, and I haveto do all kinds of things to
study storytelling andsongwriting. And, you know,
anyways, that being said, youknow, I do it for myself and for
the audience, you know, it's notjust one of the other. You know,
I think about our audience whenI'm writing songs and what's
(21:27):
going to resonate with them.
And, you know, and subjectmatters and all that stuff. And,
you know, simplicity is also anart form. You want to make it
simple so that people can, youknow, remember it, you know,
very quickly and, and that's howyou get hit songs.
Chuck Shute (21:45):
Yeah, oh, that's really fascinating. I'm more I'm
interested in what you saidabout, you know, your
songwriting process. Like youread books. What kind of books
do you read that inspire you towrite music? Always
Josh Todd (21:55):
true crime. I read so much. Yeah, I'm a true crime
fanatic, you know, so or I'llread books on pandemics before,
before COVID 19, I read a lot ofbooks on pandemics. There's a
book called the hot zone. It wasabout the Ebola virus. And I
really love that book. I mean, Ijust, I love reading, you know.
I mean, especially on the road,it's, it's fun to just sit and
(22:17):
be quiet and go, you know, andcreate a whole, you know, visual
storyline in your head whenyou're reading. It's it's great,
Chuck Shute (22:25):
yeah. So are some of these songs on this new
record inspired by books thatyou wrote about stories. Well,
Josh Todd (22:31):
some of the songs in the past, like broken glass, was
inspired by the art of war.
Let's see on on one of theserecords, volume 10, I think, was
inspired by true crime. I wantedto write from like, you know, a
perspective of, like, asociopath, you know. And because
I always liked that song, EveryBreath You Take that the police
wrote, you know, it's about astalker, you know, I, when I
(22:56):
first started, I thought it wasthe love story, but it's not.
It's a, it's a stalker. And Ithought,
Chuck Shute (23:02):
yeah, one way, love story, not both ways. Yeah.
Josh Todd (23:05):
I thought it was a, you know, a very clever way to
approach a song. And, you know,people can interpret and attach
themselves to a song any waythey want to. That's what's
wonderful about songs, you know.
But the person writing it, thatwas his perspective. And I love
that, you know. So I wanted todo that, you know. Yeah,
Chuck Shute (23:23):
I think it's interesting too, that. So
originally, the first single onthis record was going to be let
it burn, but then, oh, it waslike, the fires are going on,
let's Yeah, but until you gotthat at the end of the record.
But that is a really cool song,I could see that does sound like
a single.
Josh Todd (23:41):
Yeah, it's a great song. We wrote it way before the
fire started, and it just wasn'tan appropriate time to drop it,
you know. And we just did avideo for it, actually a live
video that came out really good,and we'll be dropping that some
somewhere down the line.
Chuck Shute (23:55):
Okay, yeah, okay, that's so, so that'll be a it
just won't be the first single,but it could be a future single?
No,
Josh Todd (24:01):
the first thing I'll already drop is, yeah, yeah,
yeah. So,
Chuck Shute (24:05):
okay, yeah, awesome. So this album comes out
June 13. No, wait, there 13th.
June 13. Yeah, June 13. Andthey're saying, I think there's
the video for roar, like, I justwatched that. That was fun too.
Is that? Yeah, there's
Josh Todd (24:18):
two videos out right now. Roy like thunder and set it
free. And there's also a lyricvideo to come on and you get all
three of those songs. You preorder the record right now, and
it's a great record. Gonna loveit?
Chuck Shute (24:28):
Yeah, is it? Can you get the vinyl and all that
stuff too? Because that's a bigthing that some people are
really into the vinyl. Yeah,
Josh Todd (24:35):
there's there's vinyl. You just got to go to
bucha.com for all that, and youcan pre order the vinyl and all
that.
Chuck Shute (24:42):
Yeah, let's say, what else do you guys got any
other show, big shows thatyou're excited about coming
Josh Todd (24:47):
up? Lots of shows. We got a residency in Vegas coming
up in August with the scorpions.
We're really excited about that.
We're going to be playing withKid Rock coming up. That's
that's very going to be a lot offun. And we're. We're putting
together some package toursright now. I don't want to
mention until it's done, butyeah, we'll be, we're going to
be touring a lot with a lot ofother great acts as well. Yeah,
Chuck Shute (25:09):
I saw that you're coming. I'm in Arizona here, and
I saw you're coming to play inParker. And I'm really intrigued
by that show because it's on, Idon't know if you've ever been
there, but this is going to be agreat show for you, because it's
on the river and it's gonna justbe, it's like, there's gonna the
stage is, like, partly a dock,and then there, I think there's
boats, and there's pool CD,there's all these different
(25:30):
places you can watch it from,like, a great idea. Whoever put
this together?
Josh Todd (25:34):
Yeah, I think we've played out there before. We've
done a lot of shows in Arizona,you know. So that'll be nice.
Hopefully it'll be the one timewe walked on stage in Arizona.
It was 110 Yeah, it's crazy. I'm
Chuck Shute (25:47):
trying to think of, I think this is in is it July or
but Parker's a little bitcooler, and if it's in the
water, people will be like, inthe pool and stuff. I don't you
guess?
Josh Todd (25:56):
Yeah, hopefully we'll get a little breeze off the
water. That'd be nice at
Chuck Shute (25:59):
night. Yeah, it's not because 110 that's more like
Havasu or like Phoenix. Yeah, soParker's a little bit cooler,
but yeah, do you like doing theoutdoor shows as opposed to the
I mean, if the weather's nice,
Josh Todd (26:11):
I like it all, you know, I don't. I don't care.
It's all the same process for meand the span, you know, we just
want to be the best we can befor that moment of time.
Chuck Shute (26:21):
Yeah, I just, my problem with the indoor show
sometimes is they got to havegood acoustics, because I
noticed that if it's echoey, I'mlike, Dude, this is not sound
good, and it's not the band'sfault. It's the venue, right,
Josh Todd (26:33):
right? Yeah, there's nothing we can do about that,
you know, it's, it's like, wegot to just concentrate on what
we're doing and hope that, youknow, people are having a good
experience.
Chuck Shute (26:44):
Yeah, no, for sure, that's all like you have a
manager that takes care of allthat shit. I would, I would
think I would hate as a music Iwould hate doing all that crap.
Like
Josh Todd (26:54):
we have a tour manager, I have a manager. I
also have, you know, a bookingagent. We have it all that's
Chuck Shute (27:00):
nice. So you can just focus on writing songs,
singing and doing all the funstuff. Yeah? I
Josh Todd (27:05):
mean, you know, I have to put my business hat on a
lot as well, you know, but I'mused to that at this point,
yeah?
Chuck Shute (27:12):
Like, with, with, uh, with lineup and stuff like
that. Like, that's, that's allyou, right? You're deciding
who's going to be in the bandand all that sort of thing,
right? Absolutely.
Josh Todd (27:23):
Yeah, it's not all me. I listen to I listen to my
team, I listen to me and Stevie,we talk about everything. And
yeah, we make, we make sounddecisions together. But yeah,
ultimately, do you have advice
Chuck Shute (27:37):
for younger bands with things like that, with with
lineups and things like, Do youever think that you trusted the
wrong people? Because you seemlike a pretty nice guy, and I
feel like sometimes nice guysget taken advantage
Josh Todd (27:49):
of. I'm not a nice guy. I'm not, you're not. I'm
not. I'm not. I'm not anasshole. I'm just, I like to
work, you know? I'm definitely aworkaholic. And sometimes this
band wears people out, you know,and you got to make changes, you
know. Listen, you're only asstrong as your your worst link
in the chain, you know what Imean. So you gotta, you have to
(28:11):
make changes. Did I know it wasgonna go this way? You know?
Yeah, I'd have been nice to havethe same lineup for your the
whole, our whole career, butit's very hard to sustain that,
you know, over two decades,which is what's going on, you
know. And and anytime we've madea personnel change, you know,
it's always gotten better. Andthat's always the goal. It's
like, well, this isn't working.
Let's figure out why it's notworking, and let's make some
(28:35):
changes. And yeah, it's going tobe uncomfortable for a second,
and then, you know it's going toget better.
Chuck Shute (28:42):
Yeah, and so, I mean, do you keep in touch with
former members, or you keeppeace with them? Or do you have
bad blood with some of them, orI
Josh Todd (28:49):
don't keep in touch with them, because there's
nothing really to talk about,and there's no it's nothing
personal. It's just that, youknow, we parted our ways for a
reason, and everybody goes onwith their lives. It's not, it's
not like,
Chuck Shute (29:02):
it's nothing personal, yeah, gotcha. Okay,
cool. Well, this album is, likeI said. It's out June 13. You're
gonna be on the road. You gotawesome shows coming up, and I
hope to catch you in thatParker, one that looks like fun
absolutely
Josh Todd (29:15):
see on my rock show.
It's gonna be great. Thanks somuch. Bye. Bye, take it easy,
buddy. Bye, from the rocketship. Kind, from the rockets to
the wise men soon and Fauci.
What's up?
Chuck Shute (00:21):
Hey, Josh, thanks for doing this. Yeah, how are
you good? Good? Yeah, I'm just,uh, trying to, trying to get the
mindset you must have that as amusician, like, you gotta, like,
get your mind right for theshow, right? You have, like, a
routine that you do, of course.
Yeah, do you? Can you share sometips for me,
Josh Todd (00:42):
um, you know, I mean, my process is probably much
different than yours, becauseit's more of a physical job for
me. But, yeah, I have all, allthe, all the check marks. I
gotta do that. You know, I'm abit I'm a creature of habit,
first and foremost. So I gottado, you know, my process is, you
(01:04):
know, I have a regimen as faras, like, how I get my mind
right, my voice right, andeverything before I walk on, for
sure,
Chuck Shute (01:11):
yeah, cuz I remember last time we talked,
you told me that you you don'tdrink any water. And then that
was, like, a huge headline,which I thought, Okay. I mean,
it was interesting, but I was,like, I was surprised. That was
the part of the interview thatthe press ran away, ran away
with. I guess that's kind ofunusual.
Josh Todd (01:27):
Yeah. I mean, I don't drink any water while I'm
performing, but I hydrate a lotbefore I get on stage, you know.
But, yeah, that's part of myprocess, you know. It doesn't
work for everybody. But, yeah,
Chuck Shute (01:39):
well, I saw you guys recently. I mean, I mean, I
seen you before, like, I thinkit was a festival or something,
but then I saw this last tourwith with Skid Row, and it was
so awesome. That was a greatpackage.
Josh Todd (01:50):
Yeah, a lot of fun.
Yeah, you did okay, yeah. I wasjust
Chuck Shute (01:53):
curious, like, what your experiences was, did you I
mean, I'm assuming you hang withthose guys and stuff, right?
Josh Todd (01:58):
See everybody, everybody thinks that
everybody's palling around, andit's just not that. It's not
that, not that way, you know. Imean, both of us are, you know,
veterans. We've been doing it along time, you know. So
everybody has their own, youknow, way to handle touring, you
know. And nobody really bothersanybody. And everybody does
their own thing, you know,especially us older guys, you
(02:21):
know, we have our own littlething that we got to do during
the day. And you know, honestly,you know, you spend so much time
together in small spaces that,you know you just want to just
kind of chill and, you know, beby yourself sometimes. And you
know those moments are youcherish on the road, for
Chuck Shute (02:39):
sure. Yeah, it's tough because you, you have, I'm
assuming you have a bus, andthen you share that with your
band and and
Josh Todd (02:44):
crew. Yeah, okay, right, yeah, it's a lot of
people. I
Chuck Shute (02:48):
think Tracy guns was telling me, when I had him
on, he said, like, I mean, thatwill sometimes make or break
decisions in the band, like theyhad to fire somebody because he
was snoring too loud. It woke upthe whole bit, the whole band,
the whole crew. Oh, yeah,
Josh Todd (03:00):
there's that. There's a lot of guys with hygiene
issues, you know, grown ass men,you know, that just they don't
want to take showers and theydon't want to brush their teeth
and they, you know, they stinkand stuff like that, you know. I
mean, you gotta, you gotta workthrough all that kind of stuff.
But, um, yeah, that's life onthe road, you know? Yeah,
Chuck Shute (03:20):
I think it's just like, this stuff is so
interesting. I don't know ifthat's good or bad, just seeing
behind the curtain now, with allthese interviews and podcasts
and stuff, you kind of see, youknow, kind of how the sausage is
made, I guess. Whereas back inthe day, everyone just assumed
everything was so glorious, andthere's just, it's girls
backstage and party and fun and,like, there's no but like, for
you, it's, it's a job, it'swork,
Josh Todd (03:41):
yeah, and it was a job back then, too. I mean, it
was just a different timeperiod, you know, and there was
a lot more money being thrown atpeople, as far as, like, when
you when you were in thisbusiness, as far as what you
could make, you know, just fromthe record, people were selling
crazy amounts of records, and,you know, getting huge returns.
And, you know, I mean, so itwas, it was a lot crazier. And
(04:04):
so bands back then probably hadband busses where they were
just, there was just the band onthe bus, and then they had crew
bus, you know. So two differentbusses, you know. So it's now,
it's different. You gottabudget, invite your budget
smaller,
Chuck Shute (04:17):
right? And then, like these bands that kind of,
allegedly don't get along.
They'll, if they're big enough,they get their own bus. And it's
like, I think, I mean, that'swhat I you hear these stories
like, oh, Vince Neil has his ownbus, and Nikki says, yeah, they
all get their own busses and,and, no, no, we get along. We're
great, you know, they put theirarms around each other, but then
they all go to their separatebusses. So,
Josh Todd (04:37):
yeah, but that's a lot, a lot of money. It's a lot
of money, right?
Chuck Shute (04:41):
And I think you're like, and maybe they do get
along fine for a workingrelationship, but it's like,
it's like you said, like youwant your own time at the end of
the I mean, I think, like, evenif it was my best friend, I
don't really want to spend everywaking moment with them. I want
to have my own time, to be aloneand relax. And,
Josh Todd (04:57):
yeah, but, I mean, you know, like. Said, I've been
sober almost over 30 years. So,um, you know, I have my own,
like, spiritual, like, littleregimen that I do to, you know,
just to be able to deal witheverybody in close quarters.
And, you know, we all have ourlittle things that we do to to
cope and good communication iskey, all that kind of stuff. You
(05:18):
know what? I mean, yeah.
Chuck Shute (05:20):
Well, speaking of Motley Crue, was interesting
going through, you've beeneverywhere, you've done so many
cool things, but I forgot thatyou were in, weren't you in the
saints of Los Angeles? Musicvideo for Motley Crue,
Josh Todd (05:30):
yeah, it was, you know, I don't know, I it was
very quick. I, you know,nobody's brought that up for a
long time. But, yeah, I don'teven remember it, honestly, like
I was in it, but I think it wasvery quick.
Chuck Shute (05:47):
Okay, you're not close with those guys, or, like,
guys I know Nikki, you know,he's big on the sobriety things.
I don't know if you guys had,like, a bond with that or
anything. We're all very
Josh Todd (05:55):
friendly when, you know, when we have something
going on where it involves bothof us. But you know, I mean,
other than that, everybody's gottheir own lives and does their
thing, you know?
Chuck Shute (06:03):
Sure, yeah, now, so now you're touring with, are you
still doing shows with? StillPanther? You still have some
coming up, right?
Josh Todd (06:10):
We just did a huge tour with Steel Panther in
Canada. We did a we did overfour weeks in Canada, which is a
lot of dates up there. We wecovered all of Canada, all the
West Coast, through the middleto the very farthest east, Nova
Scotia. So it was crazy. We hada lot of fun. They're great
guys. We We've toured with thembefore, and, yeah, it was a lot
(06:32):
of
Chuck Shute (06:32):
fun. Yeah, I love that. I've seen them so many
times. I think what's sointeresting about seal panther
is they had this like comedystick, and I used to go in
Vegas, and when it started, itwas free, and you could go and
just watch them. Was like, Oh,this is for me. Of course, you
got to pay for beverages orwhatever. But what was
interesting is that every nightI would see them, it was a
different shtick, like theynever repeated the same jokes. I
(06:55):
was like, did they just think ofthis stuff on the spot, or they
they just prep it the nightbefore, like, and they change
it. Or is it so interesting? Iprobably seen him 15 or 20
times, and it's never been thesame jokes, you
Josh Todd (07:06):
know, it's funny.
Those guys are just funny.
They're funny off stage, youknow. And they just, they're
just quick with that. And I'msure a lot of it is improvised,
like you're saying, you know.
And I'm sure they have, youknow, a bag of tricks, of shtick
that they can pull out wheneverthey need to. They've been doing
it for years and years andyears. So, you know, repetition
is the mother of skill, youknow, they they got that, they
(07:29):
got that show down, you know.
And it's really great. It's alot of fun to watch.
Chuck Shute (07:35):
Yeah, I saw some article the other day about how
Michael star was on a plane andsomebody was like, harassing him
and saying that he looked likeBon Jovi or something. I was
just like, wow, that sucks.
Like, if I saw him, I'd want topicture it with him. But hey,
that's just me. He's asweetheart. Yeah, he seems like
a really nice guy. So you'vedone so that show. You did the
Skid Row, and you did shows withAC DC. You said that was the
(07:56):
best experience, rock experienceof your life.
Josh Todd (08:00):
Absolutely. Yeah, you know, I'll never forget when I
first got back in black, youknow, that record was, was
changed me, you know. And I wasso into that record, I used to
put it in my back pocket, youknow, like a cassette at that
point, you know. And I go to,like, house parties and hijack
the stereo, and I just put it inand just like, watch people
(08:21):
react to it, you know, and justloved it. And then, you know, of
course, I got into their wholecatalog and, and I just think
they're the greatest, you know,hard rock band of all time, you
know. And so cut to when we did,we did five shows with them
during the time bomb tour, whichwas our second record. And, and
we got to after Madison SquareGarden Show, they said, Oh, you
(08:44):
can go meet the guys and hangout with them for a second in
their dressing room after theshow. And we're like, really,
and it was amazing. They wereall in one dressing room. I'll
never forget it. I sat next toAngus and and everybody was just
chilling on the couch, justtelling jokes, and, you know,
Brian was walking around cuttingjokes and like, he's super funny
(09:08):
and sweet. And they didn't careabout taking pictures or
anything. They gave us fullsound for our show. You know
what I mean? They didn't, theydidn't clip the sound to make
us, you know, not as loud asthem. You know, like a lot of
bands do on the road andheadliners do and, you know,
Angus, his wife, was like,making hot tea for everyone. It
was, it was really a neatexperience.
Chuck Shute (09:31):
Hmm, that is interesting. Do you find that
some of the bigger people likethat, like AC DC and Alice
Cooper and stuff? Do they do?
They kind of make fun of arethey self deprecating sometimes,
because I had this actor on theshow, and he's he worked with,
like George Clooney. And hesaid, he said, all the people
like that. He said, GeorgeClooney, he always makes fun of
himself. He talks about how hewas fired from Roseanne and and
(09:51):
he talks about all his badacting experiences. Do you ever
find musicians where they talkabout their bad shows or bad
albums?
Josh Todd (09:59):
Oh. I don't know.
Maybe that is a, maybe that'ssomething they throw out, you
know, like a defense mechanism.
I have no idea. But now Ihaven't experienced that, you
know, like, Angus was just likea sweetheart, you know, and I
just asked him a lot ofquestions about his career, and
he answered them honestly. And,you know, it was like, it was
really neat. And then I just, Igot comfortable, and I just hung
(10:22):
out, and it was nice, you know,and I just listened. And there's
a part of the, you know, thejust the camaraderie. And then
we left, yeah,
Chuck Shute (10:32):
I think they're back on. I need to see that. I
saw them in 95 on the ballbreaker tour. I don't if you
remember that one, but they, itwas so cool. It was one of the
coolest openings I've ever seenfor a concert. They had this big
ball, and it knocked down thiswall, and then they came out,
and I was like, wow, that wasone of the coolest entrances
I've ever seen for a rockconcert. That's
Josh Todd (10:50):
cool. No, I didn't see that particular tour, but,
uh, like a wrecking ball, yeah,yeah, yeah. Cool. I think I've
seen it on, you know, footage ofit,
Chuck Shute (11:00):
yeah. So this new album you've got, you guys have,
I thought I was so clever,because I was like, you know,
putting my little notes for thesongs. And I was like, come on.
I was like, Oh, that kind ofsounds like AC DC. And then I
heard all these otherinterviews, and everyone said
that, and I was like, Yeah,well, I guess I'm not that
original. So everyone's sayingthat, though, but that is a good
song.
Josh Todd (11:18):
Yeah, thank you.
Yeah. The music definitelysounds like ACDC. But we've been
doing ACDC sounding songs sinceour first record. You know? I
mean, we're huge fans and butonce you throw my voice on it
and melodies and all of it, it'sjust, it turns into a Bucha
song. But, um, yeah, a lot ofpeople have been referencing AC
DC on that song. It's funny,yeah,
Chuck Shute (11:38):
well, it's interesting because you're, you
were saying, like, the back inblack but what year was that?
Because initially you werereally into, like, punk music,
right? And then you got intomore the classic rock, like,
initially you didn't even heardBlack Sabbath or any of these
guys. And this shit is prettycool, too, you
Josh Todd (11:54):
know? It's funny you bring up Black Sabbath because
I, I surfed with my son thismorning, you know? And the first
time I heard Sabbath was aftersurfing. I was a teenager. I was
stoned. You know, I'd smoked ajoint and fucking I had a friend
who had this, this bug, and theonly thing that had money in it
was, was the stereo system. Iwas like, literally sitting on
(12:15):
two giant speaker boxes in theback, in the back seat, stoned
and war pigs, he turned up. Heput on war pigs and turned it
up. And I was like, what mythought? My fucking brain was
melting. I was like, What thefuck is this, man? This is dope.
And, you know, that's that wasmy introduction to Black
(12:36):
Sabbath, you know. Because, likeyou said, you know, all my early
records are independent PunkRock Records, you know. So
that's why, when I heard back inblack, that was the first AC DC
record that I'd heard, I didn'tknow that there was all these
ones before that with adifferent singer, you know. And
I just, I just was down, youknow. I liked it because it had
(12:56):
grit, you know. It was notpolished, in my opinion, you
know, and I could relate to it,and it was cool, yeah.
Chuck Shute (13:05):
I mean, you reflect back, I mean, like you said, 30
years, or whatever, sobriety,but you reflect back on some of
that stuff, like the song youhave on the new record,
Blackout. I mean, you're talkingabout when you would black out
when you were drunk in the day.
Josh Todd (13:18):
Yeah, I was a blackout drinker. I could not
hold I'm a very skinny guy, andjust by nature, always have been
and couldn't hold my liquor. Iwas a blackout drinker. And so
those are about more of the funstories of blacking out, like
when I was really young, andthen it got pretty dark, you
know? But, yeah, that's why Ilove that song. That's my
(13:38):
favorite song on the record,really.
Chuck Shute (13:40):
Okay, so some of the memories of the drug and
alcohol, they some of it waspositive that you can look back,
you don't
Josh Todd (13:48):
want to go back, of course. No, I had a lot of fun
drinking and using for a lot ofyears, and then it just, it
started becoming not fun andjust wrecking my life and and
had to do something
Chuck Shute (13:59):
about it. Yeah.
Well, that's what's interesting.
Like, in the song, roar likethunder, you have a lyric like,
time as a teacher, how will Ichange? And if I had a choice,
I'd feel no pain, but pain ateacher too. Like, isn't that
how we learn to change? I mean,you wouldn't have gotten sober
if you hadn't had pain. Yes,
Josh Todd (14:17):
tremendous amount of pain. And we've written a song
called pain. It's, I love thatsong. That's the best song you
ever wrote. I think, in myopinion, thank you. Yeah, it's a
great song. But, you know,listen, I nobody likes going
through pain. You know what Imean, even though you know that
you're going to get to a newlevel and all that
intellectually, you know, youcan think about it that way, but
you know, deep down inside, ah,since I was a kid, all I wanted
(14:41):
to do was have fun and party.
You know what? I mean, I justwanted to that. I wanted to die
young, and, like all of that, Iwanted to go out in a fucking,
you know, ball of flames andburn it down. And, you know,
just, I just had a lot going oninside of me, and I just thought
that was like going to be the.
The most fun for me, you know, Inever thought I would live to
(15:02):
30, honestly. So, you know that,being said, I didn't want to
feel any pain. I wanted tofigure out a way to not feel
pain for the rest of my life,you know, and and I just
couldn't figure it out.
Chuck Shute (15:15):
So how did you so what shape? Because I'm assuming
you still have that. Like Nikkisix talks about, you know, like,
how he's sober now, but he'slike, I still burn. So that's
why they, I think they weredoing, at one point, he was
doing, like, skydiving and shitlike that. Like, right? You play
tennis and you're dirt bikes. Isthat how you kind of use that
fun energy that you want to justdo crazy shit?
Josh Todd (15:36):
Well, I've, I, I've loved competing since I was a
kid. You know what? I mean, Iwas in a lot of sports, and Pop
Warner sports, Pop Warner,football, soccer, baseball, you
know, when I was a kid, and Ijust like to I like to win. I
like to figure out how to win,you know. And at one point I was
(15:57):
racing go karts, and it was justtaking so much time away from my
family, and already have enoughtime away. And, you know,
because it take me an hour todrive out to the track, and it
was starting to become a moneypit as well. It's a lot of money
to start to race go karts andand so I'm like, fuck this. I
sold all my shit. And I'm like,I gotta find some something, you
know, and I had a friend whoplayed tennis when I was a kid,
(16:18):
and I just remember that, and Ijust started working on it. And,
you know, tennis is so greatbecause there's literally so
many aspects to the game thatyou gotta figure out to get
really good, and it's a chessmatch, and, you know, it's very
physical. I can't think ofanything else when I'm when I'm
on court, than winning andtrying to figure out how to beat
(16:41):
my opponent and and that is sotherapeutic for me, because I
have to get away from life, therat race. I gotta get away from
that, and I gotta get away frommusic, you know, and it's so,
it's really, it's really goodfor me.
Chuck Shute (16:54):
Yeah, I'm a big Seahawks I know if you're I
don't think you're sports fan,but I'm a Seahawks fan. I know
their old coach, Pete Carroll,talked about, there was some
book about tennis and about howto and it's like, he used that
for coaching, like hisphilosophy, it was like, yeah,
it was, I forget what it'scalled, but I don't know if are
you familiar with that? You knowI'm talking
Josh Todd (17:11):
about, no, but I I can understand why. You know,
anybody would say that abouttennis. It's, it's, it's a very
humbling sport too. Like, nomatter how great you get, you
win a match, and you just think,like, I'm gonna start just
killing I'm gonna be winning allthe time. And then the next
match, you'll be, you know,knocked right down to, you know,
(17:32):
size again. And you'll have tofigure out, like, Why did I lose
that? What was I not puttingtogether? You know, tennis IQ is
all is a huge thing. Like, youcan, you I can go on and on
about tennis. I mean, you can,you can have a great forehand
and backhand and volley and agreat serve, but if you don't
put it all together the rightway, you'll get beat, you know,
by a clever opponent, you know.
So that's why I love it. It'sreally challenging. Yeah, no,
Chuck Shute (17:57):
that's just interesting. I'm just like, when
I hear you say that it almostbrings parallels to, well, for
me podcasting, because I couldhave a really good interview, a
good podcast, and the next onewill bomb. But I'm assuming
that's similar for music, right?
Like, it's strategy, likethere's ups and downs, like you
can have a great album or two,or whatever show, and you think
you're on top of the world, andthen the next one might not go
as well.
Josh Todd (18:20):
Well, yeah. I mean, listen, at some point when
you're making a record, you gotto say, as an artist, this is
it. This is the record. We gotto shut the door on this and
call it a day, you know, androll the dice and see what
people think you know. But youknow, after all these years, we
know what a bad a bad songsounds like we know when
(18:41):
something isn't working, youknow, and we're not going to put
it out. And, or, or, you know,just carry on without when we're
feeling like that. So we justcontinue to work until we feel
like we got the we got therecord, you know. And, and that
comes with experience and andbeing consistent. You know what
(19:02):
I mean? I don't know how bandsgo years and years and years
without dropping records. Youknow? I gotta be working that
muscle every two years, like wehave a we have a cycle, you
know, we we put out a recordevery couple of years. I've
noticed
Chuck Shute (19:14):
that, yeah, because I think the last time we talked,
it was like almost exactly twoyears ago, 2023 with the with
the last album. So do you feellike with when you say you make
a great record? Are you making agreat record for the fans or for
yourself or something inbetween? Because that's what
I've noticed with podcasts likesometimes I think there's a
(19:34):
really good interview, and I'mlike, oh my god, the world needs
to hear this. This is thegreatest interview ever, and it
gets like 40 views. And so it'slike, people want certain
things. And like, I know whatpeople want. They want, the
drama, they want, the gossip,they want that that's the shit
they want. But it's like, but Iwant something deeper. Like, do
you ever feel that way? Like,you probably know if you make
crazy bitch part two, that'sgonna be the biggest thing. But
(19:56):
maybe you want to write a songlike pain, because it's fucking
deeper. And. It's like, a moreIt's more meaningful to, you
know,
Josh Todd (20:02):
whatever you think is gonna work out is always the
opposite, you know, it's youdon't want to, you don't want to
chase crazy bitch, because itcan, you can never get anything
that's going to be that big. Youknow what? I mean, like, you
have to just accept that thatwas the peak right there, as far
as, like, you know. And you canget a peek like that, but you
have to, you know, have adifferent subject, different
(20:24):
song, or whatever, you know.
What I mean? It's got to befresh, you know. And what I've
learned over the years is that,first and foremost, I did this
because it was the only thingthat continuously made me happy,
you know what I mean. So I dothis for myself because I really
love music to this day. And Ilove coming up with a great
melody. And I love, you know,I've, I've written all the words
(20:46):
in on Bucha records, you know.
So I really enjoy that, youknow, creating a, you know,
where you know songs are likeshort stories, emotions, you
know. And it's a documentary ofmy life, really, but I you have
to take a little bit of yourpersonal life, and then you have
(21:07):
to listen to the lives aroundyou, and you have, you know, I
have to read books, and I haveto do all kinds of things to
study storytelling andsongwriting. And, you know,
anyways, that being said, youknow, I do it for myself and for
the audience, you know, it's notjust one of the other. You know,
I think about our audience whenI'm writing songs and what's
(21:27):
going to resonate with them.
And, you know, and subjectmatters and all that stuff. And,
you know, simplicity is also anart form. You want to make it
simple so that people can, youknow, remember it, you know,
very quickly and, and that's howyou get hit songs.
Chuck Shute (21:45):
Yeah, oh, that's really fascinating. I'm more I'm
interested in what you saidabout, you know, your
songwriting process. Like youread books. What kind of books
do you read that inspire you towrite music? Always
Josh Todd (21:55):
true crime. I read so much. Yeah, I'm a true crime
fanatic, you know, so or I'llread books on pandemics before,
before COVID 19, I read a lot ofbooks on pandemics. There's a
book called the hot zone. It wasabout the Ebola virus. And I
really love that book. I mean, Ijust, I love reading, you know.
I mean, especially on the road,it's, it's fun to just sit and
(22:17):
be quiet and go, you know, andcreate a whole, you know, visual
storyline in your head whenyou're reading. It's it's great,
Chuck Shute (22:25):
yeah. So are some of these songs on this new
record inspired by books thatyou wrote about stories. Well,
Josh Todd (22:31):
some of the songs in the past, like broken glass, was
inspired by the art of war.
Let's see on on one of theserecords, volume 10, I think, was
inspired by true crime. I wantedto write from like, you know, a
perspective of, like, asociopath, you know. And because
I always liked that song, EveryBreath You Take that the police
wrote, you know, it's about astalker, you know, I, when I
(22:56):
first started, I thought it wasthe love story, but it's not.
It's a, it's a stalker. And Ithought,
Chuck Shute (23:02):
yeah, one way, love story, not both ways. Yeah.
Josh Todd (23:05):
I thought it was a, you know, a very clever way to
approach a song. And, you know,people can interpret and attach
themselves to a song any waythey want to. That's what's
wonderful about songs, you know.
But the person writing it, thatwas his perspective. And I love
that, you know. So I wanted todo that, you know. Yeah,
Chuck Shute (23:23):
I think it's interesting too, that. So
originally, the first single onthis record was going to be let
it burn, but then, oh, it waslike, the fires are going on,
let's Yeah, but until you gotthat at the end of the record.
But that is a really cool song,I could see that does sound like
a single.
Josh Todd (23:41):
Yeah, it's a great song. We wrote it way before the
fire started, and it just wasn'tan appropriate time to drop it,
you know. And we just did avideo for it, actually a live
video that came out really good,and we'll be dropping that some
somewhere down the line.
Chuck Shute (23:55):
Okay, yeah, okay, that's so, so that'll be a it
just won't be the first single,but it could be a future single?
No,
Josh Todd (24:01):
the first thing I'll already drop is, yeah, yeah,
yeah. So,
Chuck Shute (24:05):
okay, yeah, awesome. So this album comes out
June 13. No, wait, there 13th.
June 13. Yeah, June 13. Andthey're saying, I think there's
the video for roar, like, I justwatched that. That was fun too.
Is that? Yeah, there's
Josh Todd (24:18):
two videos out right now. Roy like thunder and set it
free. And there's also a lyricvideo to come on and you get all
three of those songs. You preorder the record right now, and
it's a great record. Gonna loveit?
Chuck Shute (24:28):
Yeah, is it? Can you get the vinyl and all that
stuff too? Because that's a bigthing that some people are
really into the vinyl. Yeah,
Josh Todd (24:35):
there's there's vinyl. You just got to go to
bucha.com for all that, and youcan pre order the vinyl and all
that.
Chuck Shute (24:42):
Yeah, let's say, what else do you guys got any
other show, big shows thatyou're excited about coming
Josh Todd (24:47):
up? Lots of shows. We got a residency in Vegas coming
up in August with the scorpions.
We're really excited about that.
We're going to be playing withKid Rock coming up. That's
that's very going to be a lot offun. And we're. We're putting
together some package toursright now. I don't want to
mention until it's done, butyeah, we'll be, we're going to
be touring a lot with a lot ofother great acts as well. Yeah,
Chuck Shute (25:09):
I saw that you're coming. I'm in Arizona here, and
I saw you're coming to play inParker. And I'm really intrigued
by that show because it's on, Idon't know if you've ever been
there, but this is going to be agreat show for you, because it's
on the river and it's gonna justbe, it's like, there's gonna the
stage is, like, partly a dock,and then there, I think there's
boats, and there's pool CD,there's all these different
(25:30):
places you can watch it from,like, a great idea. Whoever put
this together?
Josh Todd (25:34):
Yeah, I think we've played out there before. We've
done a lot of shows in Arizona,you know. So that'll be nice.
Hopefully it'll be the one timewe walked on stage in Arizona.
It was 110 Yeah, it's crazy. I'm
Chuck Shute (25:47):
trying to think of, I think this is in is it July or
but Parker's a little bitcooler, and if it's in the
water, people will be like, inthe pool and stuff. I don't you
guess?
Josh Todd (25:56):
Yeah, hopefully we'll get a little breeze off the
water. That'd be nice at
Chuck Shute (25:59):
night. Yeah, it's not because 110 that's more like
Havasu or like Phoenix. Yeah, soParker's a little bit cooler,
but yeah, do you like doing theoutdoor shows as opposed to the
I mean, if the weather's nice,
Josh Todd (26:11):
I like it all, you know, I don't. I don't care.
It's all the same process for meand the span, you know, we just
want to be the best we can befor that moment of time.
Chuck Shute (26:21):
Yeah, I just, my problem with the indoor show
sometimes is they got to havegood acoustics, because I
noticed that if it's echoey, I'mlike, Dude, this is not sound
good, and it's not the band'sfault. It's the venue, right,
Josh Todd (26:33):
right? Yeah, there's nothing we can do about that,
you know, it's, it's like, wegot to just concentrate on what
we're doing and hope that, youknow, people are having a good
experience.
Chuck Shute (26:44):
Yeah, no, for sure, that's all like you have a
manager that takes care of allthat shit. I would, I would
think I would hate as a music Iwould hate doing all that crap.
Like
Josh Todd (26:54):
we have a tour manager, I have a manager. I
also have, you know, a bookingagent. We have it all that's
Chuck Shute (27:00):
nice. So you can just focus on writing songs,
singing and doing all the funstuff. Yeah? I
Josh Todd (27:05):
mean, you know, I have to put my business hat on a
lot as well, you know, but I'mused to that at this point,
yeah?
Chuck Shute (27:12):
Like, with, with, uh, with lineup and stuff like
that. Like, that's, that's allyou, right? You're deciding
who's going to be in the bandand all that sort of thing,
right? Absolutely.
Josh Todd (27:23):
Yeah, it's not all me. I listen to I listen to my
team, I listen to me and Stevie,we talk about everything. And
yeah, we make, we make sounddecisions together. But yeah,
ultimately, do you have advice
Chuck Shute (27:37):
for younger bands with things like that, with with
lineups and things like, Do youever think that you trusted the
wrong people? Because you seemlike a pretty nice guy, and I
feel like sometimes nice guysget taken advantage
Josh Todd (27:49):
of. I'm not a nice guy. I'm not, you're not. I'm
not. I'm not. I'm not anasshole. I'm just, I like to
work, you know? I'm definitely aworkaholic. And sometimes this
band wears people out, you know,and you got to make changes, you
know. Listen, you're only asstrong as your your worst link
in the chain, you know what Imean. So you gotta, you have to
(28:11):
make changes. Did I know it wasgonna go this way? You know?
Yeah, I'd have been nice to havethe same lineup for your the
whole, our whole career, butit's very hard to sustain that,
you know, over two decades,which is what's going on, you
know. And and anytime we've madea personnel change, you know,
it's always gotten better. Andthat's always the goal. It's
like, well, this isn't working.
Let's figure out why it's notworking, and let's make some
(28:35):
changes. And yeah, it's going tobe uncomfortable for a second,
and then, you know it's going toget better.
Chuck Shute (28:42):
Yeah, and so, I mean, do you keep in touch with
former members, or you keeppeace with them? Or do you have
bad blood with some of them, orI
Josh Todd (28:49):
don't keep in touch with them, because there's
nothing really to talk about,and there's no it's nothing
personal. It's just that, youknow, we parted our ways for a
reason, and everybody goes onwith their lives. It's not, it's
not like,
Chuck Shute (29:02):
it's nothing personal, yeah, gotcha. Okay,
cool. Well, this album is, likeI said. It's out June 13. You're
gonna be on the road. You gotawesome shows coming up, and I
hope to catch you in thatParker, one that looks like fun
absolutely
Josh Todd (29:15):
see on my rock show.
It's gonna be great. Thanks somuch. Bye. Bye, take it easy,
buddy. Bye, from the rocketship. Kind, from the rockets to
the wise men soon and Fauci.
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