Page 22 - Black Velvet Issue 95

BV95 pg21-23 Josh Todd & The Conflict_BV95 pg22 19/12/2017 22:59 Page 3

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a loveable guy and a really great player, great on stage,
great live performer. It was just a good fit. And he knew
Sean really well, so… it’s a great live show and I can’t wait
to do it worldwide, it’s going to be amazing.”

he band played a handful of one-off shows before
Tgetting on a tour with Hinder. One of the first
shows they did was supporting Bush. At that time, Josh
says, “We had two videos out on the web. We did a whole
Conflict set. There were no BC songs, so with a lot of peo-
ple staring at something they’d never seen before, they
were like ‘Wow,’ and getting people going, I really enjoy
that. I like to go out and win over an audience. I love going
into hostile environments and coming out victorious; that’s
one of my favourite things. I remember we had to do a lot
of that with BC, building it on the first record, especially in
Europe too. I remember our first tour in Europe was with
KISS; opening up for KISS, it was just a very hostile en-
vironment going out on stage every night, so I was pretty
used to that. We won over everybody and by the end of
the set everybody was just rocking.”
The band have incorporated a few Spraygun War
songs into the Conflict set. Josh tells us, “They sound re-
ally great now. ‘Fury’, ‘Turn Out The Lights’ and ‘OMG’.
‘OMG’ is one of the highlights of the night and it’s not even
on the Conflict record.”
He tells us about a new Conflict song that they wrote
just before the tour that he says is “Fucking amazing”. “It’s
called ‘I Kill You, You Kill Me’. We hit a stride. I go, “We
need one more song,” Stevie sent me this music. We ac-
tually went in with two ideas and this was the one that
came out really great. It’s really heavy, along the lines of
the ‘Tiger’ record and where we’ll probably go in the fu-
ture.”
He says, lyrically, “I just figured out, with all this killing
going on all over the world, I feel like the people who are
actually doing the killing aren’t really accomplishing much,
y’know. They do it and then they don’t want to go to prison
because they’re afraid and then they kill themselves, so
that’s kinda where the idea came. It was a title that I had
kind of logged away. I accumulate titles because I read a
lot of books, and I got the music and looked at it, and I
was like, “This is perfect,” and I started writing lyrics.”

oing back to Josh’s earlier musical years, we
Gonce saw him fronting Slamhound in Hollywood.
This was actually before Black Velvet existed as a mag,
but we were in LA on holiday. We were impressed with
Slamhound back then, and knew Josh had what it takes
to be a success even then. “Slamhound was really rough
around the edges, I was fucked up, I was really young. I
was really underdeveloped. That was some of the charm
of Slamhound, but also, I needed a lot of growth. I was
very passionate about that band. I was in that band for
five years. We made a record and it all fell apart at the
end, which was a blessing in disguise, but looking back it
was a lot of fun.”
Josh and Stevie have known each other since back lot of things; with people, and situations, and they just become despicable some-
then. He says they’ve changed both as musicians and and I’m trying to find that balance, and I times. So that’s really where it came from.
people over the years. “When we first met we were really never can seem to find a balance, so I had a lot of disarray in my life. A lot of
fucked up!” he laughs. “I got clean before him and then that’s kind of where it comes from. It’s people I’ve known for a long time just be-
he eventually got sober, so that was a huge change. It frustrating. I’m frustrated. I wake up with came full of shit, and so I had that music
didn’t change as far as us getting along. He’s kind of the a committee in my head every day and and that’s what came out.”
only guy in my life who really knows me, that male in my it’s trying to find that balance to really The same song sees him sing about
life, so we’ve always had that connection. When I first met enjoy being alive, honestly. It’s not suici- feeling alone. He opens up and tells us,
Stevie, he was kind of doing his own thing; singer/song- dal or anything like that; it’s just that, “I feel like I’m always fighting for my ca-
writer. He was really into Prince and his stuff kind of there’s only a few things that are consis- reer all the time and I hate that. But I also
sounded like that and I was in the rock world, but we were tent with me, that make me happy and care about what I do, it’s a labour of love
great friends and we hung out a lot and we liked all the music is definitely my saving grace.” for me. It’s a long, drawn-out answer to
same kind of music. There was an opportunity in 2005 to In ‘Fucked Up’, he sings, ‘The pres- the question but I just get frustrated, I
get him in BC and ever since then it’s been fantastic to sure is building and burning a hole that’s want it all to be happening very easily and
be working together.”
inside of me’. We ask about the pressure my career has been a lot of peaks and
that he feels. “It’s related to human be- valleys, y’know. I’m just getting old and
n ‘The Conflict’, Josh sings, ‘This time I’ll slay the ings,” he replies. “I really don’t enjoy hu- grumpy!”
Idragon, this time I’ll get it right’. Black Velvet asks if
We talk about the state of the music
there’s anything he’s doing differently this time, with Josh mans that much. There are a few good industry and how tough it now is to have
ones; I can count them on one hand, y’-
Todd & The Conflict? know, as far as my life. Everybody’s kind a successful career in it. “That’s what
“I’m always conflicted in my mind,” he replies,”with a
of on the make, that I find out over time, people don’t know,” says Josh. “A lot of
JOSH TODD & THE CONFLICT