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Buckcherry's Tour Bus Caught in Fatal I-26 Pileup — Band Says Everyone Aboard Is 'Safe and Unharmed'

Rock band Buckcherry says every member and crew member survived a harrowing multi-vehicle crash on a South Carolina interstate that killed a bystander, just hours after the group wrapped a show in Asheville.

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BY OBSERVER ENTERTAINMENT DESK

The Weekly Observer

AUG 23, 2026 · 3 MIN READ
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Buckcherry's Tour Bus Caught in Fatal I-26 Pileup — Band Says Everyone Aboard Is 'Safe and Unharmed'
Buckcherry performing live (file photo, not from the South Carolina incident). Photo by studiosixx, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0).

Buckcherry's tour bus was swept into a fatal multi-vehicle crash on Interstate 26 in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, early Friday morning, the hard-rock band confirmed — but said everyone traveling with them walked away unharmed.

The chaos unfolded around 2 a.m., just hours after Buckcherry played a Thursday-night set at The Orange Peel in Asheville, North Carolina, as the band pushed south on its "Roar Like Thunder Tour." According to authorities, a motorist crashed on I-26 East ahead of the band's bus, then stepped out of his vehicle onto the highway — where he was struck and killed by a Toyota sedan. It remains unclear what caused the initial crash or exactly how Buckcherry's bus became entangled in the pileup.

Frontman Josh Todd and the rest of the band addressed the wreck directly in an Instagram statement shared by Rolling Stone, moving quickly to reassure fans before word of the fatality spread.

"We are extremely grateful to report that all members of Buckcherry and our touring crew are safe and unharmed. Our thoughts and deepest condolences are with the family and loved ones of the person who lost their life."

Tour Rolls On

Despite the scare, Buckcherry is not pumping the brakes. The band, still fronted by original member Todd more than three decades after forming in Anaheim, California, has continued honoring its tour schedule without interruption, with a Key West, Florida date on the books for the same night as the crash.

South Carolina officials have not released the identity of the man who died, and it's not yet known whether any charges will be filed in connection with the initial collision or the fatal strike that followed it. Multi-vehicle pileups on I-26 near Spartanburg are not uncommon on the heavily trafficked corridor, which links the Upstate to Columbia and the coast.

Buckcherry, best known for 2006's platinum single "Crazy Bitch" and its 1999 self-titled debut, has weathered plenty of turbulence over a 30-year run, from lineup shuffles to Todd's own well-documented sobriety journey. A brush with a deadly highway wreck — one that, by the band's account, spared everyone on board — adds a sobering footnote to a tour built around the band's hard-charging comeback.

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