Editor’s Note: It was a pleasure sitting down with two of the members of Buckcherry, Josh Todd and Stevie Dacanay to discuss how Josh Todd & The Conflict came to fruition and the ideas behind it. Josh Todd & The Conflict was co-headlining with Hinder at a show in Iowa with special guests Adelitas Way and Wayland. I’ve always felt like Josh Todd was one of the more charismatic frontmen in active rock as he really knows how to engage an audience and he sounds absolutely clean live! “Year Of The Tiger” was one of the more interesting releases in 2017 as Josh Todd wanted his fans to show what he’s really like when he’s unhinged and unleashed. Special thanks to Amy and Russell for setting this up! Fans can find Josh Todd & The Conflict at the following locations:
www.facebook.com/joshtoddandtheconflict
www.instagram.com/joshtoddconflict
Stevie: What’s going on man?
Madness To Creation: Not much, what’s going on with you?
Stevie: You know, another day in paradise!
Josh: How’s it going today?
Madness To Creation: Pretty good, how are you doing?
Josh: Fair to midland. Good ticket sales tonight, so it’s going to be raging.
Madness To Creation: How has the co-headlining tour with Hinder been going so far?
Josh: It’s been going great. It’s been a great package tour, all of the bands are awesome. Adelitas Way, Wayland, and Hinder, we’re having a good time.
Stevie: The crowd has been really receptive, we’re going out there with a new band, and a lot of times we don’t know what we’re walking into, last night, the show was at capacity, and they’re really connecting with the music.
Madness To Creation: Is this a different situation for you all as opposed to Buckcherry?
Josh: Absolutely! That’s the idea of it, do something different and offer up something different, and tour with both.
Madness To Creation: Since we’re at a historical venue here, I’m sure it won’t be for awhile, but how do you want people to remember you all when it’s all said and done?
Stevie: That’s a great question. Just for writing great songs, great energy, and great performances.
Josh: Just the inspiration, I hope that they’re inspired and to pursue whatever they want to do, follow your dreams.
Madness To Creation: In your performance, the crowd can only do one thing, whether it’s moshing, crowdsurfing, or singing along, what do you prefer?
Josh: That’s a tough question. Moshing would be fun.
Stevie: I like an intense crowd, I don’t like just onlookers watching us perform, I like it when they’re participating, like what we’re putting into it.
Josh: If it was all of the above, that would be the most ideal situation. Singing, dancing, and moshing.
Madness To Creation: Since you’re not a fan of onlookers, does people being constantly on their phones during your performance bother you?
Stevie: If they’re just watching, that’s fine because some people do that, but if they’re right on the rail and they’re texting, that bugs me.
Josh: It’s like I don’t understand why some people want to be up front at a rock show and just not even paying attention, they’re so concentrated on their phones that, I just think they should go to the back.
Stevie: If they’re somewhere else on their phone, they should just not be in the front.
Madness To Creation: I really enjoy the song “Rain” by Josh Todd & The Conflict, it has a backwoods bluesy kind of feel to it. Can you take us into that song and video?
Josh: The song is just about an outlaw, a guy who really takes no shit, he doesn’t really have to make amends or give anybody an excuse for his behavior, and that’s what I loved about it. The video is really about trying to recreate “To Live Or Die In L.A.”, it’s about these gangsters getting ripped off by these fake DEA agents and everybody dies in the end, and karma.
“Rain” Josh Todd & The Conflict
Madness To Creation: I dig the album the “Year Of The Tiger”, just has that vibe of you guys completely cutting loose, how has the response to the album been so far?
Josh: It’s been great, we’re still in the first quarter, it’s an unknown thing really as much as we want to think “oh, everybody loves it” right out of the gate, it’s like we have learned a lot about launching a new product, that’s what it is, not a lot of people know about it, so it’s been a lot of hard work and we have been working at it for a long time, it all kind of started last year when Stevie and I launched this electronic project called Spraygun War, so we’re learning as we go, we’re learning a lot about our audience, trying to make the most of it.
Madness To Creation: What have you learned about the audience so far?
Josh: We’ve learned that it’s a younger demographic than some of the older Buckcherry fans, we’ve got a lot of fans of Buckcherry that are into The Conflict, but we’ve noticed that when we’ve been in front of other people’s fans, I don’t know if you want to use the word “recruited”, but we recruited some of the younger generation.
Stevie: Basically, it’s a brand new band, it’s a whole new day and age, we’re taking what we thought would be parlaying some of our stuff from Buckcherry, no it’s a more narrow scope as far as rock music. Pop music is always going to be huge, hip-hop is bigger now, so introducing something new, it wasn’t as easy as some people think, and when we’re bringing it out to the people, it seems to be connecting with people, it’s a heavier project, it’s a heavier band with heavier music, it’s connecting more with people that are under 35 whereas Buckcherry is more of a rock and roll type of band that connects with an older crowd.
Madness To Creation: What did Erik Kratz of Stone Temple Pilots bring to the table for this record and have you heard their new frontman?
Stevie: We saw him at a rehearsal in Hollywood and I think what they did was try to get a guy with the goal of somebody that could do the catalog and also bring something new to the table as far as new music goes, and I think they found a guy that could do exactly that. It’s going to be tough because he’s going to be living in the shadow of Scott Weiland for awhile he did some legendary music. He wrote a lot of big songs, he’s going to have to contend with that for awhile, but I think the new single is great, I think he has a great tone in his voice, we will see how he does live, I think they have some tours coming up, that’s where it’s going to really show.
Madness To Creation: What does 2018 look like for Josh Todd & The Conflict?
Josh: After we finish this tour, we’re going to break for the holidays, and next year, we’re going to start touring back with The Conflict in February.
Madness To Creation: One reason why people should come out to your show.
Josh: It’s definitely where we shine, it’s a live experience, we’ve based our reputation on our live show with Buckcherry, so coming into this, that’s what we wanted to make the record feel like, like a live record, we tracked the whole record in 11 days. What you see at The Conflict show is exactly what you hear on the record.
Stevie: It’s even bigger. You’re coming for the power, you’re coming for the musicianship, you’re coming for the live show.
Josh: It’s very organic, no tracks or anything like that, it’s just a live rock and roll band.
Madness To Creation: I know you have a meet and greet coming up real quick, so anything else you would like to add?
Josh: Go pick up “Year Of The Tiger” Go to www.joshtodd.com for all of the info on the band, tour dates, and for merchandise, and come out to the show and be a part of it.
And there you have it! Go pick up a copy of “Year Of The Tiger” at their official website, the band signs copies of the album and check out the video to their title track below!
“Year Of The Tiger” by Josh Todd & The Conflict
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