BUCK MILD

For nearly 25 years, Buckcherry have been keeping Sunset Strip’s neon flame burning, scoring unlikely pop hits from salacious choruses like “I love the cocaine,” “You’re a crazy bitch but you fuck so good,” and “I’m sorry but I have to say, I’m too drunk to fuck.” This year they released their 10th album, Vol. 10, proving that black-clad, tattoo-dappled sleaze rock may never die as long as there are hips to sway and beer cans to thrust.

But despite the L.A. filth that oozes from his songs, Buckcherry lead singer Josh Todd is no stranger to the pleasures of the wholesome, the healthful, and the downright virtuous. Sober for decades, Todd gets his kicks through a competitive streak that has him racing go-karts and slamming tennis balls. He’s a proud dad, a Lionel Richie fan, and—as of the pandemic—a certified phlebotomist who spent four months taking blood at a downtown Los Angeles COVID clinic. Here we present a new type of Hollywood vampire: He doesn’t want to suck your blood, he wants to test it.

So, how did you become a certified phlebotomist?

I get my blood taken at this place called Quest Diagnostics every year. And basically, if you’re a phlebotomist, that’s like the gig. Because the best phlebotomists are there because they’re literally taking blood, like, 60 times a day. This tall guy with all these tattoos came in and he took my blood and I was just watching his whole process. And I literally didn’t feel any pain, he was so good. And I was like, “Man, you’re so good at this. How’d you get started in this?”... [So] I did a two-week school with all these young people. And we were literally sticking each other like six, seven times a day. Like, from day 2. It was crazy.... You’d come home looking like a dope fiend.

You’ve been sober for almost 30 years. What are your nutrition tips to stay healthy and skinny and on your game?

I don’t eat super great. I'm skinny by nature, first of all. So genetics play a big factor in it. But I also work out a lot. I work out on show days, and then I do a show. So on my Apple Watch, I’m putting in over 11 miles on a show day. That’s five days a week, so do the math.... I eat really whatever I want to eat. I stay away from sugar, drink a lot of water. But I mean, I just had three slices of pizza, y’know?

You’ve gotten into tennis recently.

I started getting into it on TV. And then I just started grinding. I would get home and I would watch YouTube videos and I would apply the form. And then I would take a lesson here and there. And then I started playing matches. And now I’m a 3.5, 4.0 player, right on the cusp there. People who play tennis know what I’m talking about.

What do you like about tennis?

It’s a chess game. You go in and play a singles game, and you gotta figure somebody out really quick, especially if you’ve never seen them before. And you have to just kind of figure out their weaknesses and improve your game along the way. It takes all my concentration. I don’t think about music or anything else when I’m on that court.

Have you played any fellow musicians yet?

I’ve heard that there’s a guy in Fall Out Boy that plays, but I don’t know him. I want to do a musician tournament, like, create a tournament where it’s musicians that play tennis and all battle each other. I heard that Gavin Rossdale is a really good tennis player. What I do, too...I’ll say, “I got a day off in this city. If anybody wants to battle and you’re a 3.5, 4.5 player, hit me up on the Universal Tennis app.” And I play matches with just random people who play tennis, out here on the road all the time.

When did you get into go-karting?

I wasn’t young. I started carting, like, early 40s. I mean, the whole time I was doing indoor driving, which was these little arrive-and-drive places where they’re battery-operated and they don’t go that fast, but you learn race craft going to these places. I was driving there one time with my brotherin-law, and one of the employees, he could see how competitive we were. He goes, “You guys can go faster in these.” And I was like, “What? Where?” And he goes, “Yeah, there’s [places where] you do outdoor carting, and they’re all over the world.” I looked up a place, it was about an hour away from me. It was like a quarter-mile track. And these are lOOcc engines, and they are fast. They’re like little Indy cars. Then I got the bug. I was like, “This is it. This is what I want.”

I know you like Hall & Oates. What’s the wussiest music you listen to on a regular basis?

I just like really great songs, you know? I like Lionel Richie. I like Willie Nelson. I can listen to Kenny Rogers and the Eagles. I listen to a lot of pop music, Apollonia 6 and Prince and the Time and Yaz, all those records were big for me. My sister listened to all that shit, so I would sneak in her room and listen to her records.

I’m guessing the most wholesome tattoo you have is maybe your Marvin the Martian tattoo.

Wholesome? Yeah. It’s an old tattoo. I think I was in Laguna Beach. I was really young. I wanna say 18, 19. And I don’t know why I got it. It’s actually stood the test of time. I mean, the color and everything has stayed pretty well all these years. I just wanted to be tattooed. I really just didn’t give a shit what it was, so I just picked something off the wall. And I loved Marvin, so that was it.

You’re a dad. Do you end up in situations where you’re at a PTA meeting and some dude comes up to you like, “Hey, I love that song where you’re like, ‘I’m a bigdick motherfucking porno star’”?

You know, my kids go to a private school, and when I walk in the room none of the parents talk to me. They’re friendly and everything, but they can’t figure me out.