When I was growing up, it was all about metal... When I wanted to go see AC/DC with my friends, my mother (who I love dearly) said "you can?t go see AC/DC in concert! The devil dances on stage with them every night!" I said,"AWESOME!" I was hooked on hard rock ever since. I loved heavy metal and new wave (weird combo, huh?) you?re probably thinking "who would hang out with this guy?" I was constantly having to run from one end of the high school parking lot to the other. The metal heads would call me a fag for listening to The Cure or The Jam, and the sensitive goth chicks would think I was a redneck for liking The Crue or S.O.D.. I would play clubs 6 nights a week in a metal cover band, and get up 2 hours later to go to high school, with eyeliner still running down my face. My hair was black and orange and it was down to my tits. My teachers thought I worshipped the devil. Then again, I might have at that time... I tried everything and survived to tell more. While i was still a kid, I left Cartersville, Ga. with my clubbing cash, moved to LA and took my band with me. We were signed to a major label record deal 10 months later, making a record with a hot producer, and a video with the guy who did all those dumb Aerosmith videos, we were unstoppable, until we were, um... stoppable. We were touring all over the country with all the cock rocker bands when we got the memo from the label that our style of music was being eaten by a guy named Eddie Vedder. So, we were not going to be treated to any more dinners on the label?s corporate card. fair enough... let?s get a haircut, some new clothes, and move on. I ended up ditching the whole concept and went DIY that?s "do it yourself" for all of you freshmen, yo. I was getting into a lot of indie records and hated what a lot of the rock "market" had become. I started hanging out at the local record store and arguing with the clerks about which Pavement or Pixies record was better. I started getting into stuff like Sloan, Weezer, Jellyfish, Beck and Radiohead. I liked it all. I made the transition successfully. I can see the cock rock rehab program slogan now; "This program Will Take You From ?Firehouse? To FireHOSE in 90 Days," or "Down With Winger... Up With Weezer!" All through the 90?s, my new band played 250 shows a year all over the country, in countless vans, and KOA?s, and played wherever we could get a gig. We sold our own merch, records and tapes (!), and made enough money to come back to Atlanta every once in awhile to pay rent. We did very well (sort of like a "not-as-credible", "budget" Fugazi). but the music was not quite there. i was still searching for my real identity, underneath my musically schizophrenic skin. this happens when you are still young. Well, just as we started to be inundated with one-syllable, one-word, misspelled (sp?) band names that took themselves way too seriously, I put THE MARVELOUS 3 (R.I.P.) together, and within a year of playing a few sold out shows around the southeast (and a lot of empty ones too,) 99X, a big station in Atlanta started playing a song of ours (on our indie release)called "Freak of the Week" on their station. (The song was ironically about coming to terms with selling out... funny.) It blew up. Label folks who were saying 6 months earlier, "you know, I just don?t ?get? that skinny-tie, eyeliner, Marvelous 3 thing" were calling me up and offering "fill in the blank" checks when it reached the billboard charts... funny how that works... any ways, the song hits the top 5, everything is going great: video in rotation on MTV... Check. Doing Conan... Check. Letterman, Leno, I?m modeling for a Calvin Klein ad (not pretty, but a big check...) yada yada yada... all sorts of stuff. Then the label we had decided to sign with, says, "Cool. We recouped a little and we look like we made this song happen, so lets spend the marvie profits on that new Missy Elliot video featuring Clamstabbah (or some name)... next record!". we made a follow-up record that was fun, and also verrrrry misunderstood. i thought it would be fun to throw a wrench in everyone?s wheels by doing a big, cock-rock, over-produced, arena rock record... with a huge sense of IRONY! it wasn?t taken as ironic though... some people were just thinking, "ugg...this no sound like punk-pop.. Ugg.. this sound retro and dated".. others that were still somehow still flying the arena-rock flag (a year into the millenium) were saying, "duuuuude!!!!yeeeaahh!!! yer sooo keeping it alive!!!!!!"...... and the record company??? well they said, "zzzzzzzz..." I broke up the band, cut all my ties, had one hell of a nervous breakdown, and went UG in the 2K for a while (that?s "underground" in 2000..dawg...). I was doing fine, living off of my pension from the big hit song, and i started getting asked to write and produce with other groups around the country. some of these went on to have bigger hits and sales than i did. but i liked that, because i was still involved in the process, and i felt like i was on to something here... you mean, i can finally own a swimming pool, by working with other artists??? why is the musician the most over-worked and under-paid part of the chain??? it?s a difficult process to explain, so don?t get me started.. you will find out more over the next few years, as the business exposes itself... After that my ego was too big to sit in a studio, so I made my own record. I recorded about 45 songs, which I mostly hated, but managed to find a few that I liked. I signed a record deal, the record (which I wrote, performed, recorded and produced) was called LEFT OF SELF CENTERED... It sold 5 copies I think.. let?s cut to now.. i just finished work on my new record called "Letters" (droppin? in the 08/2004 on Epic records.. Peace out, one love, yada...). The first single and video is for a song called "Mixtape." a live acoustic cd from the last US tour, and a live DVD is in the works from it as well. lots of cool stuff. Oh, I guess I should mention (to create a "story"), that I just produced and co-wrote for a bunch of people you may or may not like... Avril Lavigne Simple Plan Midtown Sevendust American HiFi The Donnas .... Pretty cool people and all worked with me because of my drinking skills. Hell yeah! It?s true! I like song writing. I like recording songs. I like performing them. I like doing it. I will always do it. So if you like my stuff, I will keep putting it out... that last part actually sounds sort of gross. see ya later, butch walker