Walker grew up in Cartersville, Georgia, working as a guitarist and performer in several rock bands in the 1980s, including Bad Boys and Bite the Bullet. In 1988, Bite the Bullet moved to Los Angeles and were signed to Virgin Records within the year. The band then changed their name to SouthGang and released two albums, Tainted Angel in 1991 and Group Therapy in 1992. SouthGang was one of the first bands to tour China in the early 1990s.[10] Following modifications to their record contract, they disbanded, still remaining on good terms.[11]
The Floyds
After Southgang was disbanded, Walker formed a new band with ex-SouthGang members Jayce Fincher and Mitch McLee (a.k.a. Doug Mitchell), calling themselves "Floyd's Funk Revival" after Walker's birthplace Floyd County, Georgia.[11] Walker shared lead vocals in the band with Fincher's wife and Chrystina Lloree. They released one full-length album, Creamy. The album contained thirteen original tracks with Lloree taking a large share of the lead vocals and heavy reliance on guitar.
The band then shortened their name to The Floyds. They then released one self-titled album on the Deep South label, which contained ten original tracks along with a humorous intro piece. Bonus tracks included a cover of Duran Duran's "Rio", and a live rendition of the Shasta soda jingle from the late seventies. The style of both these albums was guitar-oriented, mainstream rock with mild funk influences and was a forerunner to the more basic guitar-oriented rock approach Walker took later with Marvelous 3.
Although the albums are highly regarded among fans, they were commercial failures at the time.
Marvelous 3
In 1997, Walker, Fincher, and McLee scaled back to a trio and adopted a power pop sound with Walker handling lead vocals. Calling themselves Marvelous 3, they released the album Math and Other Problems in 1997. They followed this in 1999 with Hey! Album and had a minor hit with the song "Freak of the Week." The next year they released their final album, ReadySexGo, which failed to continue the momentum created by the prior releases. The band disbanded in 2001. Their final concert was on August 3, 2001, at Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park in front of their hometown fans.[12]
On April 25, 2023, Butch Walker announced on Atlanta's 99X that the band was getting back together for a new album, a re-release of "Hey Album," and a show on October 27, 2023, at the Tabernacle in Atlanta.[13]
Solo
Butch Walker then began a solo career, releasing the albums Left of Self-Centered in 2002, Letters in 2004 and The Rise and Fall of Butch Walker and the Let's-Go-Out-Tonites in 2006. In 2005 he played over 200 live shows across both the U.S. and Japan, and he released his first DVD, Live at Budokan. Butch Walker was featured as a headlining artist on the MySpace-promoted Inaugural Hotel Cafe tour, supporting independent artists from the Los Angeles venue of the same name.
In 2008, Walker released the live album Leavin' the Game on Luckie Street. He then collaborated with Michael Chislett of The Academy Is... and Darren Dodd of The Let's Go Out Tonites under the name 1969, releasing a full-length debut album titled Maya on April 1, 2008.[14]
His 4th album, Sycamore Meadows, was released on November 11, with the first single being "The Weight of Her". A music video was released for "Ships in a Bottle" featuring Walker walking on the grounds of his home on Sycamore Meadows Drive in Southern California after it was destroyed by the wildfires of November 2007. Both Maya and Sycamore Meadows were released on a limited run of vinyl.
Walker played a series of sold-out acoustic live shows beginning in fall 2009, accompanied at various times by Pink, actor Jeremy Piven, Jim Bianco, the Chapin Sisters, Gregory Macdonald of Sloan (band) and more. Out of the shows came a cover of Taylor Swift's single "You Belong with Me" on banjolin, which was later recorded as a video and audio version in his studio. Swift blogged about the video and then invited Walker to appear with her at the winter 2010 Grammy Awards.[15]
Walker began working on his next album in 2009, and ultimately released I Liked It Better When You Had No Heart on February 23, 2010, under the band name Butch Walker & the Black Widows. Recording sessions were held at Ruby-Red Productions in Santa Monica, California. Walker's support of the record included touring with Train beginning March 2010, a headlining tour of the US, and opening for Pink in Europe on her Stadium Festival Tour.
On August 30, 2011, Butch Walker released his second album with the Black Widows, titled The Spade.[16][17] On October 25, 2011, Walker released his first book, an autobiography entitled Drinking with Strangers: Music Lessons from a Teenage Bullet Belt.[18] In late 2012, Walker was featured on the show Live from Daryl's House on MTV Live (then Palladia).
Following the release of two EPs in 2013 and 2014, Walker released his seventh full-length album, Afraid of Ghosts, on February 3, 2015. The album was produced by Ryan Adams.
In June 2016 it was announced that Walker's upcoming album would be titled Stay Gold. It was released on August 26, 2016, on Danger bird Records in the United States[19] and on Lojinx in Europe.[20] The album is once again self-produced by Walker, with the songs "Stay Gold", "East Coast Girl" and "Descending" (featuring Ashley Monroe) issued before the album's release.
Walker performing live in 2014.
On March 27, 2020, Butch premiered the first promo track for his upcoming album named American Love Story, which was set to be released on May 8. This song, "Pretty Crazy", was released on social media and streaming services.[21]
On July 25, 2022, Butch released the music video for "Holy Water Hangover" off his upcoming tenth studio album Butch Walker as...Glenn which was out in August 26 of the same year. [22]
Productions and collaborations
Butch Walker has been called "one of America's best singer-songwriters" by Rolling Stone.[23] He has penned choruses for artists ranging from Frank Turner[24] to Fall Out Boy.[25] He has produced and composed multiple Pink records and songs including "Leave Me Alone (I’m Lonely)" from I'm Not Dead, "Bad Influence" from Funhouse, and "Heartbreak Down" from Greatest Hits... So Far!!![26]
In 2019, he was a producer on Green Day's highly anticipated 2020 release, Father of All Motherfuckers, which debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200.
Butch Walker worked with Weezer on their albums Raditude and Pacific Daydream. Walker was mentioned working with the band during a radio interview with 99X. Walker co-wrote and produced several songs on Raditude, including the first single, "If You're Wondering if I Want You To... (I Want You To)", which hit number two on the Modern Rock Chart.
In 2007, Walker provided guest vocals on Fall Out Boy's third record Infinity on High, on the track, "You're Crashing, but You're No Wave", and co-produced the track "Don't You Know Who I Think I Am?" with singer Patrick Stump. He also made a brief cameo in the video for "This Ain't A Scene, It's An Arms Race". In 2012, Walker produced Fall Out Boy’s fifth studio album Save Rock and Roll, which debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200, earning the band’s second career number one.
In 2010, Walker also helped to write and produce Panic! At The Disco’s album, Vices & Virtues. Preceded by the lead single, "The Ballad of Mona Lisa", the album debuted at number seven on the Billboard 200 selling 56,000 copies within its first week. The album has sold 750,000 copies worldwide.
Walker also appears in The Academy Is... videos for "Slow Down" and "We've Got a Big Mess on Our Hands" as well as the video for "So What" by Pink. He also co-wrote the songs "Breaking" and "Younglife", both of which are performed and co-written by Anberlin.
Walker also joined the 9th annual Independent Music Awards judging panel to assist independent musicians' careers.[17] He was also a judge for the 8th annual Independent Music Awards.[18] In 2008 Walker signed on to judge a competition called Spin's Hot Pursuit to find an unsigned band for Epic Records/Original Signal hosted on Music Nation.[19]
In January 2009, post-hardcore band Saosin tapped Walker to produce their second album for Capitol Records.
The documentary Out of Focus premiered at the Nashville Film Festival in April 2012. Directed by Shane Valdés and Peter Harding, it focuses on Butch Walker's life and music. Its first European showing was at Oldenburg Filmfest, Germany in August 2012[citation needed].
Personal life
In November 2007, Walker and his family lost all of their possessions, including the master recordings to every song he had ever recorded, when the Malibu home he was renting from Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers burned down as a result of a wildfire in Southern California.[27] He titled his next album Sycamore Meadows after the street the house was on.
Walker is an ordained minister in the state of Ohio. At his concert September 7, 2016, at the House of Blues in Cleveland, Ohio, He climbed off the stage and into the crowd to marry a couple live before the end of the show.[citation needed]
Avril Ramona Lavigne is a Canadian singer-songwriter, fashion designer, and actress. She is considered a key musician in the development of pop-punk music, as she paved the way for female-driven, punk-influenced pop music in the early 2000s. Her accolades include eight Grammy Award nominations, among others.
Under My Skin is the second studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Avril Lavigne. It was released firstly in Europe on May 21, 2004 then it followed the release in the rest of the world on May 25, 2004 by Arista Records and RCA Records. Lavigne wrote most of the album with singer-songwriter Chantal Kreviazuk, who invited her to a Malibu in-house recording studio shared by Kreviazuk and her husband Raine Maida, where Lavigne recorded many of the songs. The album was produced by Maida, Don Gilmore, and Butch Walker. It is Lavigne's second and final studio album to be released on Arista, following Let Go (2002). It was also her first album for RCA.
"I'm with You" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Avril Lavigne from her debut studio album Let Go (2002). It was released to radio as the third single from the album on November 18, 2002, by Arista Records. The song was written by Lavigne and the production team the Matrix, who solely helmed its production. According to Lavigne, the song was inspired by feelings of loneliness she experienced over being single.
Evan David Taubenfeld is an American singer and musician, best known for being Avril Lavigne's lead guitarist, music director and frequent collaborator. Taubenfeld's debut album, Welcome to the Blacklist Club, was released in 2010.
SR-71 was an American rock band formed in Baltimore, Maryland in 1998. They are best known for their 2000 single "Right Now", their 2002 single "Tomorrow", and as the original authors of Bowling for Soup's 2004 hit "1985". The name of the band came from SR-71 Blackbird, a supersonic surveillance aircraft of the United States Air Force. The band was originally known as Honor Among Thieves, and as was later the case with SR-71, lead singer Mitch Allan was the only constant member.
Marvelous 3 is an American rock band from Atlanta, Georgia. They are best known for their 1998 song "Freak of the Week."
Live at Budokan is a DVD by pop rock singer-songwriter Butch Walker, released on December 13, 2005, by Epic Records. It contains two concerts — a 40-minute full-band set, recorded in Tokyo, Japan during Walker's 2005 tour with Avril Lavigne, and 75-minute acoustic set, recorded in Atlanta, Georgia in 2003.
"Don't Tell Me" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Avril Lavigne from her second studio album, Under My Skin (2004). "Don't Tell Me" was written by Lavigne and Evan Taubenfeld, while it was produced by Butch Walker. The song has been noted as having a "grungy sound". "Don't Tell Me" was released on March 15, 2004, by Arista Records as the lead single from Under My Skin and peaked at number 22 on the US Billboard Hot 100 that same year. In an AOL Radio listener's poll, "Don't Tell Me" was voted Lavigne's ninth-best song.
"My Happy Ending" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Avril Lavigne, written by herself and Butch Walker for her second studio album, Under My Skin (2004). Structurally, the song is written in 4/4 style and has a repeated hook in both the chorus and in the intro and outro.
"He Wasn't" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Avril Lavigne, released as the fourth and final single from her second studio album, Under My Skin (2004). The song was written and produced by Lavigne and Chantal Kreviazuk. It was not released in the United States; instead, "Fall to Pieces" was released. "He Wasn't" was issued in Australia, Europe, and the United Kingdom and received airplay on Canadian radio. AllMusic highlighted the song as one of the most significant post-grunge songs of all time.
Canadian singer-songwriter Avril Lavigne has released seven studio albums, nine extended plays (EPs), 33 singles, and 40 music videos, and she has appeared on several movie soundtracks and charity albums. With worldwide sales of 40 million albums and 50 million singles, Lavigne is ranked as the third top-selling Canadian female artist in history. Billboard listed her as the eighth best-selling Canadian artists of the Nielsen Music Canada era. According to Recording Industry Association of America, Lavigne has sold 28.07 million albums and singles in the United States.
The Best Damn Thing is the third studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Avril Lavigne. It was firstly released in Europe on April 13, 2007, then worldwide on 17 April 2007 by RCA Records. as her second studio album on the label. The album represents a musical departure from her previous studio album Under My Skin (2004), which incorporated more elements of post-grunge. The Best Damn Thing is seen by critics as Lavigne's most commercial effort. The album was noted as her first effort to feature a wide range of producers, including Matt Beckley, Rob Cavallo, Dr. Luke and Lavigne herself, who was credited as the executive producer.
"The Best Damn Thing" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Avril Lavigne, taken from her third studio album of the same name (2007). The song was released as the fourth and final single from the album only in some European countries and in Brazil during June 2008. The song was written by Lavigne and Butch Walker, and was produced by Walker. The song is a pop punk track about female self-confidence, containing a spell out of her name, in the style of an American football cheer, with each letter spelling out a different way in which a girlfriend deserves to be treated.
"Alice" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Avril Lavigne from the Alice in Wonderland film soundtrack Almost Alice (2010). It was released to radio as the lead single from the soundtrack on 27 January 2010, by Buena Vista Records. The song was solely written by Lavigne, whilst production was helmed by Butch Walker. An extended version of the song was featured as a hidden track on Lavigne's fourth studio album Goodbye Lullaby (2011). According to Lavigne, she is a big fan of the story of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and she was greatly inspired by the 2010 film's imagery when she wrote the song.
Almost Alice: Music Inspired by the Motion Picture is a 2010 concept album of various artists' music inspired by Tim Burton's film, Alice in Wonderland. The album is also notable for featuring songs that were inspired from quotes directly from Lewis Carroll's original 1865 novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. For example, both "The Lobster Quadrille" and "You Are Old, Father William" are both word-for-word performances of poems from the original Alice as quoted by the Mock Turtle and Alice herself to the Caterpillar. Furthermore, "Very Good Advice" by Robert Smith is a cover of Kathryn Beaumont's "Very Good Advice" from Disney's 1951 animated adaptation of Alice in Wonderland.
Goodbye Lullaby is the fourth studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Avril Lavigne. It was released worldwide on March 8, 2011 through RCA Records. Recording sessions for the album began in November 2008 and continued over a period of nearly two years, concluding in October 2010. Goodbye Lullaby is a primarily a pop rock album and is considered a more introspective record from Lavigne in comparison to her previous material, consisting mainly of stripped down instruments such as the piano and acoustic guitar. Lavigne assumed an integral role in the album's production and co-wrote every original track on Goodbye Lullaby, as well as collaborating with several producers including Max Martin, Shellback, Butch Walker, and her ex-husband Deryck Whibley. Goodbye Lullaby is Lavigne's third and final studio album with RCA, following The Best Damn Thing (2007) and Under My Skin (2004)
Jacob Scott Sinclair is an American musician, record producer, singer, audio engineer, and songwriter. His production and songwriting credits include Weezer, Fall Out Boy, Panic! at the Disco, 5 Seconds of Summer, Pink, New Politics, Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness, Gin Wigmore, and Train.
Stay Gold is the eighth full-length studio album from American musician Butch Walker, released on August 26, 2016, through DangerBird records in the United States and Lojinx in Europe. The album was announced in June of that year with the lead single “East Coast Girl”.
References
↑ Walker, Butch (2011). Drinking with Strangers. William Morrow. p.3. ISBN978-0-06-178731-7. Rome, Georgia however is the city I was born in on November 14, 1969...
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