Walker grew up in Cartersville, Georgia, working as a guitarist and performer in several rock bands in the 1980s, including Badd Boyz and Byte the Bullet. In 1988, Byte 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. They disbanded the band 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 RubyRed 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 Dangerbird 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[citation needed]. He has penned choruses for artists ranging from Frank Turner[23] to Fall Out Boy.[24] 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!!![25]
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.[26] 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]
^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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