Butch Walker is a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer. He was born in Georgia and currently splits his time between Nashville and Los Angeles. In the late ’80s and early ’90s, he played lead guitar for a glam metal called SouthGang. Butch was also the lead vocalist/guitarist for rock band Marvelous 3 from ’97 to 2001.
As a songwriter and producer, Butch has worked with artists like Panic! At the Disco, Fall Out Boy, Weezer, Harry Connick Jr., Keith Urban, Taylor Swift, Pink, All Time Low, Saosin, Dashboard Confessional, Katy Perry, and many others!
We sat down with Butch to talk about his musical history and tour his fantastic personal studio!
Meet Butch Walker: Childhood, SouthGang, and The Floyds
Butch’s introduction to rock music was at a KISS concert in 1977. He still wonders why his parents agreed to take him to see one of the more controversial rock bands of that era—especially in the Bible Belt of America—but the experience changed his life and sent him on the path to becoming a musician.
While SouthGang was still in Georgia in the ’80s, they were called Byte the Bullet. In ’88, Butch took the band to LA, changed the name to SouthGang, signed to Virgin Records that year, and put out two albums: Tainted Angel in 1991 and Group Therapy in 1992. SouthGang was one of the first bands to tour China in the early ’90s. They eventually broke up after Virgin attempted to change their contract which would have sent the artists in an undesirable direction.
After the split, Butch formed another band with fellow SouthGang members Jayce Fincher and Mitch McLee called Floyd’s Funk Revival. They released one full-length album, Creamy. After that, they decided to shorten their name to simply The Floyds.
The Floyds put out one self-titled album on a label called Deep South, which included bonus tracks like a cover of Duran Duran’s “Rio.” During the evolution from SouthGang to The Floyds, Butch’s inclination towards simpler, guitar-driven rock music became apparent.
Marvelous 3
By 1997, Butch’s core creative unit consisting of himself, Jayce Fincher, and Mitch McLee reformed once more into the Marvelous 3. As the name suggests, they decided to handle all of the work themselves as a trio.
Marvelous 3 released their first record, Math and Other Problems, on Deep South in ’97. The band followed up in 1998 with Hey! Album on Elektra Records, putting out their final record, ReadySexGo, in 2000. Their final show was in 2001.
Solo Career, Production, and Songwriting
After playing in bands like SouthGang, The Floyds, and Marvelous 3 over the course of 20 some years, Butch has enjoyed a prolific solo career, having released 8 studio albums, 3 live albums, 7 EPs, 4 DVDs, and even a book since 2002!
As a producer, Butch got his start producing the Marvelous 3’s first two albums in 1997 and 1998. His next big project was working on the soundtrack for the 2000 Jim Carrey comedy Me, Myself, and Irene. Butch has produced many soundtracks or compilations inspired by film, including 2001’s More Fast and Furious: Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture The Fast and the Furious, 2002’s Spider-Man: Music from and Inspired By, and 2014’s Big Hero 6 (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), amongst others.
Butch has co-written and/or produced massive songs for tons of artists, including Taylor Swift, SR-71, Avril Lavigne, Sevendust, Injected, The Donnas, Hot Hot Heat, American Hi-Fi, Default, Gob, Midtown, Puffy AmiYumi, Pink, Katy Perry, Pete Yorn, Quietdrive, The All-American Rejects, The Academy Is…, The Cab, Saosin, Never Shout Never, and most recently Weezer, New Politics, Fall Out Boy, and The Struts.
