Buckcherry's Josh Todd says that Keith Nelson's 2017 departure was three years in the making. During an interview with The Crash Report, Todd said, “We'd already been through a few departures from bandmembers. So, at that point, we got really got at kind of — our radar was up. All of us — not just Keith. All of us have our radars up now because we've dealt with a few transitions in that department. And we had been on the road. And when you're on the road, you're in close quarters with people, and so you just know when things are about to go down.”
He continued, “I feel like Keith's departure was three years in the making to actually happen. And I'm sure it was a hard decision for him to make. But everything happens for a reason, and people have to do what they've gotta do for themselves to be happy. And I think that's ultimately what happened.” He added, “But you'd have to ask him about all his reasons and why he wanted to do what he had to do.”
He went on, “That being said, I've known Stevie Dacanay, a.k.a. Stevie D. since I was 19, way before I even met Keith. Stevie never was in a position to where he got to be a part of a lot of the songwriting, so for him to take over that role was really exciting for him, and for me, because we have a really good friendship on top of it. And we did the JOSH TODD & THE CONFLICT record 2017's 'Year Of The Tiger' first before we even did a BUCKCHERRY record, and that was a lot of fun. So by the time we got to the 'Warpaint' songwriting sessions, we were in what I like to call full song, and it was just a labor of love at that point. And so it was pretty smooth transition — honestly.”
