These are busy times for Buckcherry [ tickets ]. Last week, the band kicked off a tour with KISS in support of the seminal rock act's 35th anniversary. Earlier this month, Buckcherry released an enhanced version of its hit album "Black Butterfly," and will follow that up with tomorrow's (9/29) release of the group's first live album, "Live and Loud 2009."

Guitarist Keith Nelson explained during a recent teleconference that this is the first opportunity that Buckcherry has had to record a live album the way it wanted to.

"Luckily, we are back with Eleven Seven Music and there was no reason not to do it," Nelson said. "We wanted to have an accurate representation of what a night out at a Buckcherry show is all about. We recorded six Canadian shows this spring and listened back to what we had, and we put together the songs giving fans what a typical night was like with us."

Lead singer Josh Todd added the band has a reputation for putting on great live shows, so putting together a live album was a no-brainer.

"We recorded a week of shows and selected the best from them," Todd said. "From a live-record standpoint, we've listened to a lot of live records and ours is definitely is up there with other great live albums in terms of sound quality and vibe. We wanted to capture what this band is all about live. There are imperfections and there are extended songs, and it's a very cool experience, and I think everybody's going to enjoy it."

Todd and Nelson also expect that fans will enjoy the enhanced edition of "Black Butterfly," which includes a cover of Deep Purple's "Highway Star."

"We recorded a cover of Deep Purple's 'Highway Star' for NASCAR and they made that their theme song for the year," Todd said. "We got such great feedback on it and we don't do many cover songs. So we kind of cut the song up a bit and put our own little touch on it and it now sounds like a Buckcherry song. We thought it would be cool to release an enhanced version of "Black Butterfly" and put the song on there so everybody had it. The song sounds so good with all the other songs--like it belonged there from the beginning."

Nelson said "Black Butterfly," which includes the single "Too Drunk...," was successful because of the band's penchant for touring.

"I think there was 10 years of really hard work leading up to it and that really set the stage for the success of that coupled with the fact that we've toured relentlessly," Nelson said. "So, you know, one thing about this band is we're going to be in your town sooner or later, and we're 182 shows deep touring on that record alone. So I think that our work ethic and sincerity and the fact that there isn't really anyone else in the marketplace doing what we're doing quite the way we do it--I think that we have something really unique."

This isn't Buckcherry's first outing with KISS. The two shared the stage when Buckcherry was just a fledgling band. Nelson said Buckcherry has matured since it first toured with KISS.

"Not only has the band matured, we've got three different members since that time," Nelson explained. "When we toured with them in '99, we were a new band who had just finished our first record and hadn't even released it yet. Now, we're four records deep into our career and can play a bunch of material fans will be familiar with. And I think that we're about 700 to 800 shows better than the last time we played with them. With our current lineup, there's a level of musicianship that's definitely a few steps up and I think there's a level of maturity and camaraderie that just wasn't really apparent early on and I think we're better for it and I'm really happy with the place that we're in."