Butch Walker (born Bradley Glenn Walker on November 14, 1969) is an American recording artist, songwriter, and record producer, best known as lead vocalist and guitarist for alternative rock band Marvelous 3 from 1997 until 2001.
Career
Walker grew up in Cartersville, Georgia and stood out as a guitarist and performer in several rock bands in the 1980s including Bad Boyz and Byte the Bullet. In 1988, he took Byte the Bullet to LA and they 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.
Afterwards, Butch took over lead vocals and with ex-SouthGang members Jayce Fincher (Jay Fincher) and Mitch McLee (Doug Mitchell) formed several bands in the 90s including Floyds Funk Revival, The Floyds, and the popular band Marvelous 3 which had a relatively successful hit with the song "Freak of the Week." After the break-up of the band in 2001 (their final concert was on August 3, 2001 at Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park in front of their hometown fans), Butch 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, and in 2005 played over 200 live shows across both the U.S. and Japan. Butch Walker was recently 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. He has recently created a new band, 1969, which released its full-length debut album titled Maya on April 1, 2008.
Several of his songs have been hits for other artists, including Bowling for Soup's "Girl All the Bad Guys Want". He has written and produced records for such artists as Avril Lavigne, Family Force 5, Bowling for Soup, Pink, Lindsay Lohan, Lit, Simple Plan, Sevendust, Injected, The Donnas, Hot Hot Heat, American Hi-Fi, Default, Gob, Midtown, Puffy AmiYumi, Pete Yorn, Fall Out Boy, Quietdrive, All-American Rejects, SR-71, Rock Star Supernova, The Academy Is... and recently The Cab and All Time Low.
Also, he cowrote and performed on the minor Tommy Lee hit "Good Times" from the Tommyland: The Ride LP.
In late 2005, he released his first DVD, Live at Budokan and ended the year as Rolling Stone's producer of the year. On July 11, 2006, his third solo studio record was released, entitled The Rise and Fall of Butch Walker and the Let’s-Go-Out-Tonites. It was recorded with his backing band, the Let's Go Out Tonites. His second DVD titled "Leavin' the Game on Luckie Street" was released in early 2008.
Walker was a guest judge on the second season of the American reality television program Rock Star: Supernova, during which Walker aided Tommy Lee, Gilby Clarke, and Jason Newsted in selecting a lead singer for the new band, Rock Star Supernova. He later explained his limited participation in the televised show, stating: "I wouldn't give 'em more than one appearance. They edited the shit out of me, kind of made me seem like a kiss-ass. They skipped over the 10 contestants where I had critical things to say." Lukas Rossi was chosen, and Walker produced a self-titled album for the band, which was released November 21, 2006.
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".
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 song "Younglife", which is performed by Anberlin and co-written by them.
Walker also joined the 9th annual Independent Music Awards judging panel to assist independent musicians' careers. He was also a judge for the 8th annual Independent Music Awards.
Currently
Butch Walker began 2008 by setting out many dates for new songs, DVDs, new albums with the band 1969, which he is the bassist and lead singer for, and also a solo record titled Sycamore Meadows. Sycamore Meadows was going to be released on a holiday in the summer of 2008, as Butch stated that he was planning to release something on every major holiday in 2008, but was postponed due to personal reasons until November 11, according to his MySpace blog. The new albums for 1969 and his solo record Sycamore Meadows were to be released on a limited run of vinyl. On February 14, 2008, an audio release of Walker's live performance in his hometown of Atlanta, GA, was released. A DVD of this show followed on March 17, 2008. The DVD and audio are titled Leavin' the Game on Luckie Street (Luckie Street is the road the venue at which the show was played, the Tabernacle in Atlanta, GA). The release for Maya by 1969 was on April 1, 2008.
Butch Walker's new solo album, Sycamore Meadows, was released on November 11, 2008. The first single, "The Weight of Her", and an additional track, "Ships in a Bottle", are available on iTunes. The video for "Ships in a Bottle" documents Butch walking on the grounds of his home on Sycamore Meadows Drive in Southern California after it was destroyed by the wildfires of November 2007.
Butch also appeared on the Ellen show with friend Pink to perform "Here Comes the..." His iTunes sales have rocketed since the appearance.Butch is also touring starting in March.
In January 2009, post-hardcore band Saosin tapped Walker to produce their second album for Capitol Records.
In March 2009, the song "Open Happiness" debuted, a new business venture by Coca-Cola, written by Walker, and featuring Cee-Lo Green, Travis McCoy, Janelle Monae, Patrick Stump and Brendon Urie. This song has a Cantonese cover version by Joey Yung on her new album, A Time For Us, and she is also filming advertisements for Coca Cola in Chinese.
In July 2009, Butch Walker plans to work with Weezer. Butch mentioned working with the band during a radio interview with 99x. He was being interviewed via phone along with Cee Lo from Gnarls Barkley who was in the actual studio.
Personal life
In November 2007, Butch Walker lost all of his possessions, including the masters 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. Butch titled his new album "Sycamore Meadows" after the street the house was on.
Discography
Albums
* Left of Self-Centered (2002)
* Letters (2004)
* This Is Me... Justified and Stripped (2004, live album)
* The Rise and Fall of Butch Walker and the Let's-Go-Out-Tonites (2006)
* Leavin' the Game on Luckie Street (2008, live album)
* Sycamore Meadows (2008)
EPs
* Heartwork (2004)
* Cover Me Badd (2005)
* Here Comes The... (2009)
DVDs
* Live at Budokan (2005)
* Leavin' The Game On Luckie Street DVD (2008)
Featured In
* "Over The Mountain" by Fozzy (2000)
* "Good Times" by Tommy Lee (2006)
* "You're Crashing But You're No Wave" By Fall Out Boy (2007)
Produced Records
* Pete Yorn - musicforthemorningafter (2001)
* Injected - Burn It Black (2002)
* Bowling for Soup - Drunk Enough to Dance (2002)
* SR-71 - Tomorrow (2002)
* Pete Yorn - Day I Forgot (2003)
* Default - Elocation (2003)
* Sevendust - Seasons (2003)
* Avril Lavigne - Under My Skin (2004)
* Simple Plan - Still Not Getting Any... (2004)
* Midtown - Forget What You Know (2004)
* The Donnas - Gold Medal (2004)
* American Hi-Fi - Hearts on Parade (2005)
* Lindsay Lohan - A Little More Personal (Raw) (2005)
* Pink - I'm Not Dead (2006)
* PUFFY - Splurge (2006)
* Family Force 5 - Business Up Front/Party in the Back (2006)
* Pete Yorn - Nightcrawler (2006)
* Quietdrive - When All That's Left Is You (2006)
* Rock Star Supernova - Rock Star Supernova (2006)
* Avril Lavigne - The Best Damn Thing (2007)
* The Academy Is... - Santi (2007)
* The Honorary Title - Scream & Light Up The Sky (2007)
* Hot Hot Heat - Happiness Ltd. (2007)
* PUFFY - Honeycreeper (2007)
* The Automatic - This Is A Fix (2008)
* Katy Perry - One of the Boys (2008)
* Pink - Funhouse (2008)
* Your Name Here... - Everyday Creatures (2008)
* Secondhand Serenade - A Twist In My Story (2009)
* PUFFY - Bring It! (2009)
* Nothing Personal - All Time Low (2009)
* Saosin - In Search Of Solid Ground (2009)
* Upcoming Never Shout Never album (2009)
