Marvelous 3 - ReadySexGo

September, 2000
Point Magazine

For Marvelous 3, whose Elektra debut Hey! Album was one of the most unapologetic arena-pop records of 1999, the formula for their much anticipated follow-up is a simple one : More mayhem, please. "We toured non-stop last year, just one big party on the road," begins charismatic vocalist/guitarist Butch Walker. "Anyone who sees us live or hangs out with us knows we're just a crazy bunch of lucky punks, that somehow convinced somebody to sign us and put out our record. We wanted to make a record that captures what we're about live. We've never really done it until now." The result is a 43 song, rip-roaring masterpiece that ups the ante of its acclaimed predecessor in every way.

ReadySexGo took five months to make, but as Butch describes, a lifetime to get just right. "Last year was a celebration of success, while the first album depicted the fucked up perils of my love life, and my struggles five years ago. Right before “Freak” (smash hit Freak Of The Week) became a hit song, I was trying to get my band a deal, while playing 300 shows a year, sleeping on club floors, and driving a $100 Volva station wagon. This album rocks with the kind of attitude that's held us together all these years. We went out last year and had the best year we have ever had in our entire lives! We toured the world, sold more records than we ever could have done on our own, and met a lot of wonderful people. But, I still have a few smart ass remarks about past relationships in there."

Butch has never been more on-point with ReadySexGo, his searing voice crackling around every sharp turn that bassist Jayce Fincher and drummer Slug can throw at him. Pulverizing rock seeps out of every M3 pore, including incendiary anthems like "Grant Park" and "SugarBuzz", as well as the over-the-top-pyro-rock of "Better Off Alone" and "Beautiful". The album was produced by Butch and much sought after studio whiz Jerry Finn (Blink 182, Rancid, Green Day), with some special guest appearances for added inspiration.

"While we were on the road we ended up playing with everyone you could imagine - Lit, Orgy, Buckcherry, Blink182. We realized a lot of these guys were in rival bands when we were still playing on the strip at the tail end of the hair band days. It was all about moving to L.A., getting a stripper girlfriend to support your drinking habit, and promoting, fucking, stealing, and lying your way to the top of the rock and roll food chain. We all somehow survived that whole gnarly, decadent scene, by our late teens. There's not a lot we haven't all seen, done, or experienced. This is what a lot of our peers have in common with us. We have a great bond together. A lot of us have the same goal, to bring back the celebration part of rock. Let's just say that 'Cigarette Lighter Rock' is the feel that I wanted on the record and we were honored to have these other bands step up and add to ReadySexGo."

Contributors to the album include Lit's Jeremy Popov, Buckcherry's Yogi, and Roger Manning Jr., of Jellyfish and Beck fame, among several others. But it's no surprise Butch was able to enlist such a high caliber of rock talent. M3 has earned their stripes as one of rock's most resilient outfits. Their 1997 indie release, Math And Other Problems, took their native Atlanta by storm, garnering the band four local music awards. The buzz, began to spread about their tremendous live show, with their original, self-made version of Hey!Album coming out on Butch's own record company in 1998, setting the stage for their Hi-Fi Elektra deal that landed them in the studio with Butch and Jim Ebert co-producing. Released at the end of 1998, their first single "Freak Of The Week" became one of the most played radio records of ‘99. Great reviews followed, with M3 snagging raves for both their breakthrough disk and their live show. Said Entertainment Weekly about the trio: “They deserve to be huge.”

So how about it? Just how far can Butch push it. "It sounds like a cliche, but you can have nightmares about the music industry. You can't let the concern about numbers and hits and all that overshadow the love for the music.

In typical fashion, Butch wrote a song about that very subject, the explosive "Radio Tokyo". "That actually came from a dream. I dreamt about a pirate radio station that kids can only listen to from midnight to six am. The kids listen to it because it plays everything, while the government controlled stations only play what they want you to hear. So they overthrow the government and have artistic and musical freedom to listen to what they want. Moral: be your own person.”

It's a credo M3 has followed since day one. "In the 90's rock was so
pc. It also, as human nature dictates, changed it's face and style. You know when it went from spandex, big hair, and fringe of the 80's (gross.), to combat boots, cutoff camo shorts, and goatees. Nobody thought that shit would go out of style, and then all of the sudden everybody is trading it all in for backwards baseball caps, chain wallets, baggy pants, and bucket hats. I love to see the evolution of style and music, but everyone must understand, that everything changes. In 5 years, we will be looking at pictures and listening to the "90's retro flashback hour" on the radio, and saying, 'what the fuck was I thinking!' All I'm saying is, you should really just enjoy music for what it is, and not get suckered into only accepting one particular style. When we grew up, we liked whatever we could get our hands on, cuz you didn't have much to rock your world in a little cowtown outside of Atlanta. I'm for bigger than life choruses, all the foot stomps you can stomach, and na na's out the ass on this record.

One listen to the album's stadium-sized closer "Cigarette Lighter Love Song," and you realize Butch practices what he preaches. "Every song has got to have it's own flair. I've always been unapologetic about making this larger than life."