Butch Walker
Butch Walker |
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Butch Walker (born Bradley Glenn Walker III on November 14, 1969) is an American recording artist, songwriter, and record producer.
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 changed names 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 and Mitch McLee formed several bands in the 90s including Floyds Funk Revival, The Floyds, and the popular post-grunge/punk-pop 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, and they have four songs already posted on their MySpace profile. A full-length titled Maya is expected to be released in 2007.
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 and recently The Academy Is....
Also, he cowrote and performed on the minor Tommy Lee hit "Good Times" from the Tommyland 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. He is working on a second DVD, which will feature his concert at the Tabernacle in Atlanta in 2007.
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."[1] 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".
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 wild fire in Southern California.[2]
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)
EPs
- Heartwork (2004)
- Cover Me Badd (2005)
Singles
- "Last Christmas"/"Wake Me Up GO! GO!" with Yuji Oda (2004)
DVDs
- Live at Budokan (2005)
References
- ^ Takiff, Jonathan. "Butch Walker, going his own way", Philadelphia Daily News, July 21 2006.
- ^ Orzeck, Kurt (2007-11-27). "Avril Lavigne producer Butch Walker was renting Flea's Malibu house; he 'lost everything'". MTV.ca news. Retrieved 2007-11-27.
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