Drinking With Strangers: addendum

Butch Walker -- "Cigarette Lighter Love Song"


When I try to explain exactly what this man's music means to me, I just want to show people this clip. This is from a show in 2003 at Atlanta's Variety Playhouse, between Walker's first and second albums. The place was packed with fans, and I was one of them. I will never forget this night as long as I live.
The energy is the place was amazing; and every time I listen to this version of the song (in addition to the DVD of the show, he released some of the audio from the show on a live compilation some years back) I get goosebumps whenever the audience swoops in and takes over the chorus that first time through.

Drinking With Strangers

"If you've listened to FM radio any time in the last 15 years, you've probably heard a Butch Walker song -- though you probably didn't know it at the time. In 'Drinking With Strangers,' Walker recounts his days of being a Hair Metal nobody who became a Rock Star nobody who became a songwriter and producer working with Pink, Katy Perry, Tommy Lee, and some band named Weezer. Told with all of the candor, wit, and humor one would expect from one of the Greatest American Musicians No One Has Heard Of -- this memoir is the story of playing by your own rules and winning."

This was the brief little review I wrote to help sell some copies of this book at the book store where I work. And it's about as unbiased and un-hyperbolic I can get when talking about Butch Walker -- the dude's music has meant more to me over the years than I could ever attempt to describe. I discovered the Marvelous 3's breakthrough, Hey! Album, at a time when nearly every song was like a page out of my own life; and if one of the songs didn't speak to me at the time, it soon would. From then, I've followed his career pretty closely, and the man has yet to disappoint.
And it was much the same with this book. Though a lot of the Marvelous 3 and post-M3 stuff I knew about, it was nice to get to fill in all of the details. And it was nice to read about Walker's early days in hair metal band Southgang, as well as his transitional group Floyd's Funk Revival/the Floyds. (There isn't much out there from either of these bands other than some highly-marked-up shit on Ebay.)

I don't read much non-fiction -- and I especially don't read memoirs -- so I can't judge this book on the merits of such. But I can say, if you're a fan of the guy's music, you'll dig this book. If you don't know anything of Butch Walker, I'd still say give this one a shot. If nothing else, it will be a charming bedside read.


THINGS I LEARNED WHILE READING DRINKING WITH STRANGERS

~~ Butch is cousins with the former vocalist of Savatage/Trans Siberian Orchestra

~~ Rivers Cuomo was once in a hair metal band named Zoom, whose gimmick was wearing nothing but bath towels and roller skates

~~ Walker's hair metal band Southgang was one of two bands originally signed to an upstart Charisma Records. The other was a band named Jellyfish

~~ During his early days of becoming an in-demand record producer, Butch passed on the opportunity to produce the debut of an up-and-coming band named Creed



~~ Drinking with Strangers -- Butch Walker
~~ It's So Easy, and Other Lies -- Duff McKagen
~~ Things the Grandchildren Should Know -- Mark Oliver Everett
~~ Goodnight Jim Bob -- Jim Bob
~~ See a Little Light -- Bob Mould

My 2010

My Top 10 Albums of 2010 (in alphabetical order):




Allo Darlin'
A wonderful album by a wonderful band that proves what I've been trying to tell people all along -- when done right, twee pop can make your heart melt and your knees buckle. A beautiful voice, a ukulele, and wonderful, bittersweet lyrics combine to form one of most adept guilty pleasures to come along in quite some time.




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Broken Social Scene -- Forgiveness Rock Record
After a bit of a break, releasing a series of "solo records" that weren't really solo records, BSS return to form with a full-on, family band album that's filled to the brim with everything that makes Broken Social Scene a great band. Given how bloated their self-titled third album was, this album could easily have been a blown-out, over-produced mess. But, with the exception of one or two tracks, Forgiveness Rock Record clips along, leaving this listener wanting just a bit more.
Good thing they also released the limited-run companion EP, Lo-fi for the Dividing Nights -- a collection of mostly instrumental pieces that probably would have slowed the proper album down.




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Diamond Rings -- Special Affections
If you can imagine an alternate reality where Ian Curtis didn't hang himself, but instead went on to become a pop star. That's the reality that Diamond Rings seems to live in: minimal instrumentation, a captivating (sometimes baritone) voice, and lyrics that can cut right to the quick.
Plus -- rainbow eye makeup!




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Explode Into Colors -- Quilts
Explode Into Colors, R.I.P.
It's not quite clear why these ladies called it quits, but the Portland music scene is certainly worse off for it.


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The Fall -- Your Future Our Clutter
There's really nothing to say about this one -- by now, you're either a fan of the Fall or you're not. Unless you've never heard them. And if that's the case, you could certainly pick a worse album to start with. This one finds Mark Smith more fired up than previous albums, but like most of the recent Fall records, it's not reinventing the wheel.




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Hunx & His Punx -- Gay Singles
The lone male in Gravy Train! sets out on his own to record a series of tributes to the girl groups of the 1960s. This collection is nothing but fun. Flamboyant, queeny fun.




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Liars -- Sisterworld
A new Liars album is always a cause to celebrate -- especially when that album finds them moving away from the straight-forward, Jesus-and-Mary-Chain-apeing of their self-titled release, and back towards the arty, Einstürzende Neubauten influenced sound of previous records.




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Scissor Sisters -- Night Work
For some reason, I resisted picking up this album for some time. And, to my surprise, any worries I had about the record were unfounded. While fun in its own right, Ta-Dah seemed like the 'Sisters were kinda going through the motions: it re-covered a lot of the same ground as their first record, only overproduced and more self-aware. Night Work, however, finds the band a bit more sure of itself and attempting to move forward -- out of the rollicking disco of the 70s, into the rollicking synth-pop of the 80s. It's a transitional album, but one that comes across stronger than most transitional albums out there.




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Butch Walker & the Black Widows -- I Liked It Better When You Had No Heart
As with Liars above, a new Butch Walker is always a cause to celebrate. Sadly, most out there are completely unaware of his genius. Before, it might have been easy to understand how he could be so criminally overlooked -- he started out in hair metal, then shifted to "funk"-pop, then to glam-infused power pop, then on to a solo career in which he has covered over-produced stadium rock, 70s AM radio rock, full-on Bowie/Bolan glam, ELO/Tom Petty-style "roots" rock, and with this latest album, he's now tackled Americana. He's currently at his most appealing for the majority of music listeners, even the casual ones.
Words cannot express my love for this man. If you don't know his work -- do yourself a favor and check him out.




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Watain -- Lawless Darkness
Given all of the old Darkthrone albums I picked up this year, I kinda felt obligated to throw some black metal on to this list. Thankfully, Watain released a killer black metal album!
Problem solved.

I Liked It Better When You Had No Heart

It's been interesting watching Butch Walker evolve over the course of his solo career -- from the over-produced, arena-ready Left of Self-Centered (little more than the fourth Marvelous 3 album...just without the rest of the band); to the slightly toned-down, slightly more focused love letter to 1970s AM radio, Letters; to his balls-out, make-no-mistakes ode to David Bowie, The Rise and Fall of Butch Walker and the Let's-Go-Out-Tonites; to the introspective, near-masterpiece of Sycamore Meadows...and now, I Liked It Better When You Had No Heart finds Walker picking himself back up from the (literal) ashes of the previous album, forming a new backing band (the Black Widows), and having the most fun he's had with a record in a long time.
For those expecting a return to his amped-up, full-on rock releases, it might be a bit disappointing that ILIBWYHNH continues the Tom Petty/ELO-ish Americana rock from Sycamore Meadows, throwing in a bit of doo-wop, soul, and later-career Cars for good measure. It may seem like a bit of a mess on paper, however it's anything but -- in fact, this is one of Walker's strongest albums yet; not since the Marvelous 3's Hey! Album has he released an album full of nothing but solid tracks, possible hit after possible hit that will probably get ignored by the majority of the music-buying public.

In my (slightly biased) opinion, you can't go wrong with buying the whole thing; but if you're watching your pennies, or just want a sample to see if it fits your tastes, may I recommend:
"Canadian Ten"
"She Likes Hair Bands"
"Days/Months/Years"
"Fixed Gears and Broken Hearts" (an iTunes-only "bonus track")




And if you buy a physical copy of the album, you get a code for a free download of the above cover of Taylor Swift's "You Belong With Me"


Take it as you will.

helps it go down easier