Rewind With Butch Walker, 5/24/01

METAL SLUDGE REWIND WITH…

Marvelous 3’s Butch Walker

We last talked to Butch back on February 1st, 2000. Since then the Marvelous 3 have released the CD “Ready, Sex, Go” and recently they left Elektra Records. Butch has always been cool to us, so we thought it was time to hit up him up for a Rewind to find out what’s up. Enjoy!

1. What are you currently up to?

oh you know, producing, writing, jetsetting, world-traveling, doing charity events, making guest appearances, and going to rehab every Monday….. you?

2. What’s the current status of the Marvelous 3 and do you think they’ll ever be another M3 studio album?

probably, but not now. we got other shit to do…

3. Name the 5 best and 5 worst moments of your career.

i cant think of all of them.

4. If you had to kill someone you know, who would it be and how would you do it?

how do you know i haven’t already done it.. have you checked to see what that smell is coming from the closet?

5. Rate the following singers on a scale of 1 to 10. 1 being somebody who sucks and 10 being a vocal god.

Jizzy Pearl = 9. raised the bar for what I thought were singers in Hollywood, when I moved there. he kicked my ass (not literally).

Jesse James Dupree = 8. same thing. a great entertainer.

Bret Michaels = 7. great showman as well.

Britney Spears = 10. dude. come on. you don’t really watch MTV with the sound up these days do you?

Mitch Allan = 10. great fucking singer. not scared to show he can sing. I commend him for that.

Ajay Popoff = 10. these guys get high marks cuz they are still flying the rock flag. he is a great singer with a great presence, and one of the nicest guys in rock.

Joshua Todd = 10. also a bad ass. always has his game on, and is very passionate. can scream like a motherfucker.Jani Lane = 9. I love him. I moved to l.a. and was very inspired when I saw them play for the first time, cuz he entertained the hell out of me, and could sing great. I would give him a 10 but I think he only gave me a 9 too!!! just kidding jani…

Mark Slaughter = uhh… man.. that guy could sing high, dude.

Jesse Harte = 10. my bro. he sings his ass off.

6. Do you think bands are afraid to play with you because you’ll blow them off the stage?

is that what you heard? well, now that you mention it.. yes.

7. Would it be safe to say that you were the most happiest when you were in Floyd Funk?s Revival and not dealing with any record labels?

no. I am not jaded, just more cautious. I wouldn’t be still doing this if I didn’t love it so much. I would’ve gone back to the record store for the job with all the other jaded indie-rockers, or just went down as the washed-up, has-been, once-big-but-now-I’m-not rockers of Atlanta, and maybe DJ heavy metal songs at a trendy night club, but I got other things I would rather be doing.

8. What’s your take on Napster?

don’t get me started… if you want your shit promoted and the record company isn’t doing a good job of it (which is 97% of the time), then put your shit out there to be heard! if you are selling a shit-ton of records, and you are just making a stink for gratuitous reasons (like for press or tour promotion), and the number of downloads isn’t hurting your record sales (or Swiss bank accounts, or 1 dollar bill fund that is used for the nightly trip to the stripclubs with your “buds”, to justify that you can still get pussy), then shut the fuck up, and let the little guys have a chance.

9. Are you bummed that the song your wrote for SR-71 ended up having more success than any of the songs off ?Ready, Sex, Go??

no. it was all planned, actually. I wanted my record to be something that was not the typical, rock record of the moment, and I took a chance from the very beginning putting that one out. it’s not a fucking secret that I know how to write a pop song. I just wanted something different for a change. it’s just that Elektra didn’t understand why I didn’t want to sound like 3 doors down or eve 6. I am grateful, because it showed that when Mitch and I sat down to write it, that we totally fucked everybody up. we sat down and said “okay, let’s give them a big, dumb, radio anthem rock song and maybe it will be the first single.” look what happened.

10. Rate the following albums on a scale of 1 to 10. 1 being an album that sucks and 10 being a classic.

Samantha 7 = I haven’t heard it yet, but I would love to. I think c.c. is cool as shit!!

Motley Crue ?Shout At The Devil? = 10motherfucker! it changed my life. nikki, i love you.

Poison ?Look What The Cat Dragged In? = 7. lots o fun times listening to that record. I think I was wearing jams, flip flops, and drinking Budweiser in panama city beach with some slut I met that night, when I was flying that wax.

Kiss ?Psycho Circus? = once again, haven’t heard it. I keep it real with my KISS (73-79).

The Tories ?Wonderful Life? = 9. awesome record! great pop and j.j. is a badass guitarist!

Mott The Hoople ?All The Young Dudes? = 10. I loved em so much, I ripped em off for one of my songs! actually, they copped it from bowie. everybody has an influence. how observant of you!

Metallica ?Load? = 4. blah blah metalli-blah. hi. my name is lars fucking ul-blah…. enough. I saw them on the “ride the lightning” tour. whatever!

SR-71 ?Now You See Inside? = 9. awesome pop record! I think Mitch is awesome, but he should have let me produce the record! (I am kidding Mitch.. it’s great).

Saliva ?Every Six Seconds? = don’t know it that well.. I am not into rap metal anymore. that’s so ’96. they are nice southern boys so if I had the record, I would give em an A for being good ol’ boys.

Kid Rock ?Devil Without A Cause? = 8. at first, I thought, “wow, this is funny”. and now, I just laugh even harder. it’s brilliant! he is pretty damn good at maintaining his image too.

11. What band has the most undeserved success?

I don’t know, don’t they have a book of those by now? I would have guess, you are trying to get me to say “marvelous 3″, but I am not that vain (well, actually… okay… us.)

12. Give us a memory about playing the following cities:

Philadelphia = played there when I was 15, opening for the Dead Milkmen.

Tampa = went there on vacation with a girlfriend when I was young, who took off her shirt and had a tattoo of her ex-girlfriend on her still. also watched a guy come back to our hotel room party with a bunch of girls, and said “watch this”… he preceded to smoke a cigarette with his asshole. we have it on video.

Dallas = ripped my pants onstage once. everybody was laughing and pointing and I thought I was just “really on”, until I realized they were pointing at my “really visible” penis. we kept playing… for 2 hours….

Las Vegas = slot machine.. 45 year old toothless, polyester-clad, recently divorced/widowed ladies… bottle of Ripple… anything could happen.

Detroit = saw very bad things go on in those dressing rooms back in the day…

Phoenix = see above.

Denver = see above.

Chicago = see above.

Milwaukee = see ab… no wait a minute… I don’t remember anything except ending up at this guys apartment, and he had a human head in his fridge. I turned to slug and said, “we should go”.

New York City = a memory every time I go. one in particular was seeing a band member peeing out the empire hotel window, for the 21st floor, onto pedestrian traffic. pretty funny at the time.

13. You guys just did a video for ?Grant Park.? Considering nobody really saw the past Marvelous 3 videos, do you really think anybody will see this one?

I don’t know. I didn’t make it for them. I made it for our fans to view on the web, and on the DVD we are putting out this year. how many bands do you know that get on mtv? that’s what I thought.

14. On a scale of 1 to 10, how bitter are you?

wow, you keep bringing that up. I must have come across bitter at some point, because there seems to be a bitter pattern thingy here. I am really not at all, because I love playing and creating music. I mean, we could have called our last record “hey, we’re still here”, or “we’re back and pissed”, but we just realized, that in our minds, we are rock stars, and always have been. we don’t have to justify ourselves by anything. we have something most people in bands don’t have, and that is a history. a history consists of longevity, hard work, and most of all, alot of fucking fun. and guess what? I don’t have to work a day job, ever again, in my whole fucking life! that rules, if you ask me.

15. Which do you prefer:

Queen or Motley Crue = don’t compare them. that’s a dumb comparison. they both rule in their own way.

Cheetahs or Tattletales = I think the cheetah is trendier. but it’s not the only place to go. the pink pony is the blue-collar, joint to hit, if your into that sort of thing!

3 Doors Down or Third Eye Blind = who?

A totally shaved pussy or a nice landing strip = whoa.. settle down there, Guccioni.

Floyds Funk Revival or Southgang = Byte The Bullet (old skool)

Chicks with pierced clits or chicks with pierced nipples = neither.

Saxon or Lizzy Borden = Saxon motha fucka!

The clean up guy at a peep show or the caterer for Vince Neil = wow! I never saw the mess that Vince has made. is it nasty?

Charisma or Elektra = charisma.

Getting a blow job from Sylvia Rhone or repeatedly hitting your balls with a sledgehammer = well, I hit my balls with a sledgehammer every wed-fri at the chamber club in Atlanta, for extra money, so I don’t know….

16. We’re gonna throw a few topics at you right now and we want your random thoughts on them.

Skid Row recording without Sebastian Bach = haven’t heard it. but I love the guys! they are nice dudes.

Kiss playing ?reunion? shows without Peter Criss = dude. i think he was starting to sing “death, I hear you calling…” gotta give the geezer a break. he’s up there.

MTV?s TRL = money

A Tour called ?Voices Of Metal? featuring Vince Neil, Stephen Pearcy and Mark Slaughter = uhh, could be interesting. can stephen even talk? i loved ratt, but damn, that guy just doesn’t seem like a very happy guy.Papa Roach borrowing Iron Maiden?s riffs = dude, iron maiden wrote every renaissance melody in the book! you gotta steal from it sometime. they just replaced the dragons and sorcerers, with step-fathers, and Prozac-wielding vulnerable types.

Creed selling 8 million records = trippy.

Jason Newsted leaving Metallica = blah blah blah…

No smoking in any LA clubs = good. i dont smoke anymore, and i like waking up with clothes that don’t smell like France.

All the rap rock bands = step right up and get your record deal. it’s fun. it’s easy. and best of all, you will enjoy a career and shelf life of maybe 7 more minutes, where you will be swept away to the luxurious and nostalgic “Stars of Yesterday Records”, where you will “stay true to your rap-metal roots” many years and trends later, and cater to a few thousand late “20-30 somethings” that still “embrace the rap-metal”. the backwards red baseball cap, will be as widely popular, yet wildly ridiculed as the Mullet. mark my fucking words…

17. What was the worst tragedy?

A: 2 records on a major label as Southgang

or

B: 2 records on a major label as Marvelous 3

neither a tragedy, but I suppose the first one hurt a little. like I said, I did great for the marv 3, compared to most bands that get signed. at least by my standards. sorry if i let others down.

18. Yes or no, has Butch Walker ever:

Pissed on a chick = nope.

Bought a phone from Jesse Harte = no.

Drove drunk = yes.

Considered suicide = no.

Went out to dinner with Nikki Sixx = hung out at house. that counts.

Sung along to an N?Sync song = i sing them in marv 3 shows.

Touched another man?s penis = yes, but the guy was dead.

Had ?private time? with Chrystina Lloree = no!

Regretted getting a tattoo = yes!

Gone a week without drinking alcohol = yes.

19. It seems like you have some sort of obsession with gayness since you?ve written about it a few times. What?s up with that? Is there something you want to tell us?

yes. i want whoever wrote these questions to send a picture of them to me, so i can see who i am thinking about, when i go to bed tonight. i hope you aren’t homophobic… dude. i just write about people i know, people i don’t know. some people have a hard time singing about anything other than their self-pity, pain, etc. blah blah.. I have a hard time not singing about people. I suppose though, since I am comfortable with my dick size, that always makes me a target for being speculated. oh well, the mind wanders on…

20. Time for Metal Sludge Word Association. We mention a name and you give us your thoughts.

Queen = one of the best bands ever. oh, and the singer was gay.

Jani Lane = great frontman. great singer.

Paul Gargano = metal edge editor.

Fred Durst = opportunist. professional opportunist.

Rikki Rockett = stand up guy. stand up drummer.

Riki Rachtman = who?

Lesbians = super, thanks for asking.

Marilyn Manson = tries very hard.

Howard Stern = who?

Paul Stanley = yet again… a guy that wore tights, lipstick, and puckered up for you, and you stood in the crowd, mullet, mustache, fat-arms and all, and said, “he’s the shit!”… that is awesome when you think about it.

Sylvia Rhone = I’m melting!!! I’m melting!!!

So there’s your Marvelous 3 update. Look for a Marvelous 3 DVD coming out later this year.

We should say that The Marvelous 3 are one of Donna Anderson’s favorite bands and she highly recommends their CDs, and you know we don’t generally give out recommendations that often! So check out their website at www.themarvelous3.com. The site really isn’t that active right now, so if you want you can check out these unofficial sites which are www.marvieworld.com or www.butchwalker.com.