Buckcherry has blown us off for an interview three times and normally I don't give them the opportunity to blow me off a fourth time. However, they released their fifth studio album today (Aug 3rd, 2010) entitled All Night Long. They are also gearing up for a tour with Three Days Grace and Nickelback and I just had to ask them "What the fuck they were thinking?" Here is our exclusive interview with Buckcherry's lead guitarist Keith Nelson.

At the turn of the century, Buckcherry fell apart for various reasons. However, since reforming the band has really exploded and you have garnered more success and a loyal following that surpasses your previous success. What do you attribute this success to?

Nelson: A couple of things. Band harmony has a lot to do with it - the relationship between the five guys in the band. Work ethic that rivals anyone's work ethic on the planet. We have worked our asses off in every aspect, from making the records, promoting them, playing the shows, and staying out on the road for extended periods of time. I think we got a great team with us from our managers, our record label, our road crew, and the people we are involved with. It is all really positive and pointed in the right direction. It is a lot of positive momentum moving forward.

How is the relationship of the band different now?

If you consider that the first wave of the band there were five guys and three of them had quit at certain points. At a certain time the only guys left in the band were Josh and myself. When we decided to put the band back together, it was really focused on getting guys involved that really wanted to do this regardless of outcome. We wanted guys into this for the right reasons and we found guys, that happened to be our friends, and the vibe was great from the start. I think that is something I have never experienced in a band before. It is subtle things, but it goes a long way.

Subtle things? What would you classify that as?

You know just the whole team outlook on the day to day life. You have to remember we have five guys living in close quarters on the road. We see more of each other than we see of our families and our loved ones. Those relationships are subject to the pressures that any other relationship goes through. We are five dudes in a tour bus. We find out a lot about each other and maintaining those relationships is very important.

You just released your fifth studio album All Night Long, probably named after the Lionel Richie classic. This album is different from any other Buckcherry album because it lacks the themes that have been central to your music - sex, drugs, explicit language. Why the change in direction?

I wouldn't necessarily agree with that. Oh My Lord is a song about sex. Recovery is definitely about drugs. But I also think it is important for us not to be so obvious and literal with our songwriting and our subject matter. We have already done Crazy Bitch and Lit Up and I don't think there is any desire on our end to make the same record over and over again.

It was a press release saying that Josh tried to remove the explicit lyrics from the songs.

I know in a few interviews Josh has said that it was important when writing the lyrics to try and do a record where instead of reaching for the obvious expletive, he tried to come up with another way of saying it. It was a way to push himself as a lyricist.

How have you pushed yourself as a guitarist on this record?

I was trying to listen to different music - stuff that I wouldn't normally listen to. Having Stevie as my co-conspirator on the guitar has been great. He is a wonderful guitar teammate to have. Trying things I wouldn't normally try in an effort to spur creativity.

You are about to go on tour with the awful Nickelback and the slightly worse Three Days Grace. Why are you touring with Nickelback?

You know, it was an opportunity that was presented to us. It was an opportunity to get in front of a bunch of people that we wouldn't normally have an opportunity to get in front of. Like them or not, Nickelback has a huge following and a fantastic audience. They have been really successful and it was a really good opportunity that presented itself. We decided to take it. I am not keen on being the guy in the band that hates on other bands because every band is different and people like what they like.

You said you were trying to listen to different music. What bands are you currently listening to that influenced your guitar work on this latest record?

When we started making this record, I was listening to a lot of Cheap Trick. A lot of Rush, believe it or not. A lot of Who. They are a bit different from my usual Rolling Stones and ZZ Top, who I listen to all the time. We had just gotten off tour from KISS and I hadn't listen to KISS that much since my high school days. I revisited some of my old KISS records.

That was a fun tour. Did you feel that you had to bring your A-Game because you had KISS following you every night?

KISS is in a league of their own. I don't think you go out there and compete with them. I don't look at it that way. I think we have to go out every night and own our hour out there and do our best because you are going up against platform boots, fire breathing, and guys flying through the air. You don't really compete with that, you just try to hold your own and do what you do.

I wanted to talk to you a bit about your charity work. Buckcherry is a big charity minded band and you recently donated the proceeds from the single Our World to the National Resources Defense Council for the Gulf Coast Recovery Fund. Are you still involved with the recovery fund?

We are still collecting money from our download. We had a week break in the tour and a few of us TRIED to volunteer and go down there and do whatever was needed. We just wanted to show up and get involved. It was almost impossible for a civilian to donate their time and resources to help out with the clean up. It was really shocking to me and it was really a bummer that able bodied people couldn't go down and help. I don't know if it was the state government or the federal government or the oil company themselves. We were ready willing and able to help out, booked flights to New Orleans and we just couldn't find anyone willing to let us help out.

Philadelphia was named one of the fattest cities in America.

It is because you hang out on South Street and suck down all those cheesesteaks.

Well maybe, but every time I am at a bar and Crazy Bitch comes on, it has become a fat chick anthem.

I think it is a chick anthem. Don't segregate. The inspiration for the song is the women you have a great physical chemistry with and it doesn't work in any other areas of life [laughs]. As far as you put it, the bigger girls anthem, I think women of all shapes and colors are sexy. It doesn't matter. It matters how you carry it and how you work it.

We want to thank Keith for taking time out to talk with us. You can pick up Buckcherry's fifth studio album All Night Long through iTunes or Amazon.