The Gauntlet: You spent the summer on Crue Fest, was it amazing?

Josh Todd: Yea, it was a lot of fun, you know. Crazy aftershow parties and just watching the Crue everynight with their big production and their hits was really inspiring.

The Gauntlet: You've been friendly with the Crue for some time now, right?

Josh: We did the whole Japanese tour with them prior to this one, so yea we’ve been acquaintances for awhile.

The Gauntlet: Were they your heroes as teenagers growing up in LA?

Josh: Definitely one of them, yea for sure.

The Gauntlet: What about the younger bands on that tour (Papa Roach, Trapt), did you get along with them? Do you like their music?

Josh: Yea, we’ve done a lot of touring with Papa Roach, they’re friends of ours, and we had just met Trapt, but they were really nice guys.

The Gauntlet: "Black Butterfly" hit #8 in the Billboard charts, which I believe was your top charting album to date.

Josh: Yea it was the highest we've ever charted. You know, it's a great record, we’re really proud of it. The whole camp was really excited about that.

The Gauntlet: When you put the band back together in 2005, were you nervous that people might have forgotten about you?

Josh: I knew we had a lot of work to do. We all did. We just really focused on the task at hand and didn't really think about the results or any of that kind of stuff. Just about making a great record, you know?

The Gauntlet: You wrote lyrics based on a book called "A Child Called 'It'" by David Pelzer for two songs on the album ("Rescue Me", "A Child Called 'It'"). What was so inspiring about the book to you?

Josh: This kid was abused at the hands of his mother. He had other siblings, but she singled him out, and it was only him that was abused. I thought that was crazy from a psychological standpoint. What he endured during that time and how he persevered after is what was so inspiring. There’s actually three books and I read the first two.

The Gauntlet: That's obviously some pretty dark subject matter, but you definitely strike a balance with lighter songs like "Too Drunk…" Is that sort of a goal of the band?

Josh: I just think that if it’s all one-sided it gets a little monotonous, you know? We've always had that on our records - a lot of dynamics and different subjects. That’s what was great about "15," it finally got promoted the right way because we have a lot of flavors and we have had on all of our records up to that point. It just was never presented to the public right. Now “Black Butterfly” has even more ammunition in that regard and everyone is starting to see that now.

The Gauntlet: As far as “Too Drunk…” (originally titled “Too Drunk To Fuck”) goes, were you aware of the Dead Kennedys’ “Too Drunk To Fuck” song?

Josh: I wasn’t aware of it until we put the song out. I mean I love the Dead Kennedys but I didn’t remember that song. I always remembered “Holiday In Cambodia” and stuff like that but I didn’t know they had a song like that.

The Gauntlet: Would you have put it out with that title if you’d known?

Josh: Of course. Why not? When did they put that out, in the 80’s? Song titles have been repeated constantly over time, and we’ve actually had a couple: “Dirty Mind” and “Borderline.” I don’t even think about that stuff, I just write the song. That song had so many different titles. First it was called “When I Was Young,” then it was “Drunk As Fuck,” then “Too Drunk To Fuck,” then just “Too Drunk…”

The Gauntlet: Did your label put the kibosh on having "Fuck" in the title?

Josh: It wasn't the label, it was just kind of across the board. It would be a lot easier to sell. We want our records to get in the places they need to be at so we can sell them. That's our main goal – to get the record out to the people. We don't want to make it really difficult.

The Gauntlet: "Rescue Me" was put up for download on the "Rock Band" video game. Do you think games like that are viable methods of digital music distribution?

Josh: Sure, it’s just a different way to market music, you know. I think it’s great, that’s how a lot of kids are hearing stuff for the first time. Whatever leads them to coming to the shows and buying the records is fine with us.

The Gauntlet: What are your upcoming touring plans?

Josh: We’ve done about 65 shows already this year. Right now we’re out on the road with Avenged Sevenfold and it’s going great.

The Gauntlet; Do you have a favorite album of 2008 so far?

Josh: Yes, “All Hope Is Gone” by Slipknot.

The Gauntlet: How do you feel about Obama being elected?

Josh: I don’t know how I feel about it. We’ll see, you know? I think it’s all about what he does in office now. We’ll see if he backs up his words.

The Gauntlet: Thanks for the interview Josh!

Josh: Cheers!