Simply 'Marvelous'! Up close and personal with Butch Walker

March 30, 1999
Nicole Giovia
Asbury Park Press

On February 26th, I had the chance to meet with Butch Walker, lead singer of the up-and-coming band, Marvelous 3. They were scheduled to open for Eve 6 at Birch Hill, Old Bridge, later that night.

After his sound check was over, we settled into the overstuffed couches off the main club floor. Butch took off his sunglasses, shook back his hair, and we introduced ourselves. We quickly got down to the reason we were there: the interview!

Nicole: How many years have you guys been together as a band?

Butch: This band has been together going on two years. But the three of us have been playing in bands together since high school, when we were about, 15 or 16 years old. So I would say, going on 12 years we have all been together.

N: I have your CD, and have listened to it a lot. One song, "Over Your Head," sounds a lot like Joe Jackson. At other points I think you sound a lot like Raine Maida, the lead singer of Our Lady Peace. Were you influenced by either of these bands, and who are some of your other influences?

B: I can't say any modern bands have influenced me much, like Our Lady Peace, even though they are good bands. I guess my main influences are from my younger years, with Joe Jackson and Elvis Costello as apparent influences. Queen and Cheap Trick and a lot of late '70s/early '80' bands influenced me because I was really young when I started getting into music. My two older sisters were heavy music heads. I was really into the '80s music, -- pop artists like Duran Duran and Motley Crue, and the obscure stuff, like Joe Jackson and Elvis Costello. We liked so much stuff growing up. That's probably why it's hard to pinpoint it on the record.

N: It sounds like some of the stuff you really liked were not only the pop artists --they were the ones with the messages behind their songs.

B: That's right, I liked the lyric writers, the storytellers. Billy Joel, people like that, they were amazing story tellers. They could really move you, and at the same time, they rocked. I think the fusion that I've tried to do with this band is take the smart lyric writing and fuse it with the blood and guts rock and roll side of things, which is what I also grew up on. I was a huge fan of Pyro, and Kiss, bands that had a huge image and were flamboyant with everything they did. And it was like, "Why not put both of these things together?" I mean, It's not a ground-breaking concept, and the record is by no means trying to reinvent the wheel. I do I think we were successful infusing some smart lyrics and some smart songwriting with a flashy package.

N: What is your favorite song off of your album?

B: I would have to say it's "Every Monday."

N: That's my favorite song as well.

B: I think it's my favorite because I am shooting for that song to be the next single off of the album. I hope it is. You've got to figure that your label thinks that they know exactly what's best for you, but you've got to listen to the fans. I get e-mails all the time saying that "Every Monday" is the one. And fans buy records. So I'd have to say that is my favorite right now. I am proud of that one.

N: How do you write songs?

B: Actually, I write while I am driving. When I was home I would drive, or when were on the road before this, when we couldn't afford to pay someone to drive us around, I would drive our van. I'd be driving and never listen to the radio and just zone out and get into my head. I would pull out some stuff and write it down. I like to write when I am out of my element. I don't like to pick up a guitar and just start writing. I start noodling. I am too much of a guitar player. It's just easier for me to write without my guitar.

N: Do you write the lyrics first and then worry about the song?

B: A lot of times I do.

N: Do you write songs about things that happened previously in your life or is it just that a song comes to your head and you write it? Is it based on relationships?

B: A lot of times people asked me who damaged my heart so badly. It's not all biographical. I don't write a lot from my own standpoint. I'm blessed to have friends and acquaintances that have more interesting lives than I do to write about. If it were all about me, it would be a boring record. Sure,I've had my heart broken before. But not enough to be so repetitious in the song writing.

N: What made you write "Freak of the Week"?

B: That's more autobiographical. I was always so worried about -- it was more of a peer pressure thing selling out, instead of doing what comes natural to you. A lot of bands now are just doing what's trendy. If Marilyn Manson is hip right now we are going to go from being a grunge band to wearing white contacts and eyeliner and stuff like that.

N: The "boy bands" ...

B: Yeah, that too. It's great that music is changing like it should and it is changing for me. It really started getting to me when bands were getting so worried about how the critics and others people viewed them. They should focus on keeping themselves happy. Stay true to yourself, as cliche as that sounds. If that is selling out, then tell me I sold out. If selling out is having a record full of Top 40 radio hits, with good hooks and a fun message and quirky live shows and sweat and energy, if that is selling out, that's OK. If the band is happy with the music, then the band is successful. And I can't complain. Our fans are blessing us right now. We're coming out on stage and are doing a good show and leaving the fans sweating and smiling.

N: Do you pinch yourselves sometimes when you see where you are now?

B: No, not really. If this was happening 10 years ago, I'd be pinching myself. But since we've paved a long hard road for this, it's a good sigh of relief instead. And I'm taking it very cautiously and one step at a time and enjoying the 15 minutes I'm going to get.

N: Maybe you'll get a whole hour! What did you want to do before you wanted to be a musician?

B: I didn't want to be anything else. I knew when I was eight years old. My parents took me to see Kiss. It was a bad mistake on their part. It changed my life. It was a rock show; it was huge; it stained me and stayed with me forever. That changed my life. I got a guitar the next day.

N: How do you feel about headlining on the latter part of this tour?

B: It's cool, I'm looking forward to it for a couple of weeks. All in all I like playing these shorter shows -- that's a more meat and potatoes set. And you get to play in front of more people.

N: Any idea who might me opening for you?

B: A band called Dovetail Joint may be opening for us. They are from Chicago. They're very good. It's usually a "six degrees" thing from your label to your management. This is a label thing.

N: Where did you grow up?

B: Outside Atlanta. I have an apartment, but my main apartment has wheels. Because I'm never home, never have been.

N: Are you or any of the other band members in relationship?

B: Our bass player is married.

N: Do you find it's hard being on the road meeting anyone?

B: Oh, yeah. You have no social life. Everybody thinks it's all party and fun and blah, blah, blah. You get done playing and you're whisked off to the next town.

N: Now that you're with Eve 6 and Stretch Princess, do you get to see them play and hang out with them?

B: Yeah, we get to see them and hang out a little bit. But we're all on different schedules. And we're all on different labels, and we're on three different regimens. Also, Eve 6 is a huge band right now. And they have a lot more demands. We get to hang out and bond a little, but not loads of time.

N: Anything you'd like to say to your fans out there?

B: Don't get caught up in thinking you have to do what everyone else is doing just because it's popular. We were misfits growing up and we never really blended in with one particular crowd. But we were always generally accepted and were liked by everyone. They respected the fact that we didn't want to hang out with a certain clique or play a certain kind of music because it was popular at the time. Just do what makes you happy.

Though the Marvelous 3 were originally slotted to open for Eve 6 , they ended up being the headlining band. Max Collins (the lead singer of Eve 6) had pneumonia, forcing them to cancel their portion of the show. After waiting online, we were allowed inside. I stood in the pit and got ready for the show.

After two hours of waiting, Stretch Princess (the opening band) finally came out. They played about eight songs, including their single "Sorry." They got the crowd excited, but nothing could have prepared us for what was coming.

The Marvelous 3 came on stage and flew right into "You're So Yesterday." The band was sweating, the fans were screaming, and the energy was flowing. Even though not everyone knew the words to their songs, they couldn't help but be excited by their electric performance. Not only did they play most of the tracks off their latest CD, the "Hey!" album, they played cover songs that people knew, starting each off with a funny story.

Their rendition of Naked Eye's "Always Something There to Remind Me," lasted more than five minutes because Butch made the whole audience participate. The song finally ended after he gave Jayce and Slug (the bass guitarist and drummer) a chance to sing for the audience.

With the sounds of "Lemonade" still hanging in the air, the band threw their guitar picks and drumsticks to their fans, thanked everyone, and walked triumphantly offstage. The performance was energetic, energizing, and most of all, entertaining.