Drinking with Strangers: Music Lessons from a Teenage Bullet Belt - Hardcover

Walker, Butch; Diehl, Matt

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0061787310 ISBN 13: 9780061787317

Verlag: William Morrow, 2011

Inhaltsangabe

From his days with his band the Marvelous Butch to his current work producing some of today's hottest talent - from Weezer and Katy Perry to Pink and The Donnas-Butch Walker has been a major influence in contemporary pop music. But the road to success wasn't easy. "Drinking with Strangers" takes readers beyond the studio for a rare glimpse into a life that has been defined by raw talent, adversity and a drive for perfection. As a teenager, Walker and his band left Cartersville, Georgia for the mean streets of Los Angeles to try to make it in the rock world. When the fairy tale label dream never quite materialized after many false starts - including a really bad video from the guy who did all the Aerosmith videos - Walker and his band quickly converted to the DIY (do it yourself) approach, touring the country and doing over 250 gigs a year, selling his merch, records, and even tapes out of any van that he happened to be driving that day. There are a lot of life lessons to be learned while out on the road trying to make it as a musician, and Walker is no exception - and here he shares his anecdotes and tales with insight and candor and what it's really like to spend a life of drinking with strangers. Almost a primer for anyone who wants to make it in the music business, "Drinking with Strangers", will be interspersed with lots of Butchisms, including "the world's most depressing pie chart about music publishing"; how in 1984 his production "studio" consisted of a boom box, today it's a Studer and Pro Tools; how to make a really bad music video and spend 3x what the album cost to make, and of course what all musicians need to know - how and why their A&R guy (or gal) could get fired and leave you and your band in the dust.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorinnen und Autoren

Butch Walker is a recording artist, songwriter, and producer. He lives in Atlanta and Los Angeles. His latest recording with the Black Widows is The Spade.

Matt Diehl is the author of four books; his writing has also appeared in such publications as Rolling Stone, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, SPIN, W magazine, and Interview. He lives in Los Angeles, California.

Von der hinteren Coverseite

The artist named by Rolling Stone as one of America’s best singer-songwriters and the 2005 Producer of the Year shares the inside story of his music career

From his days with one-hit-wonder band the Marvelous 3 to his current work producing some of today’s hottest talent—from Weezer and Katy Perry to Pink, Avril Lavigne, and Panic! at the Disco—Butch Walker has proven himself a major influence in contemporary pop music. But the road to success wasn’t easy. Drinking with Strangers takes you into the studio and onto the stage, offering a rare glimpse into a life defined by raw talent, determination, a drive for perfection, and some ridiculous haircuts.

At age seventeen, Walker left small-town Georgia with his hair metal band and headed for the mean streets of Los Angeles. Full of piss, vinegar, and Jack Daniel’s (mostly the latter), these young Southern musicians were determined to become the biggest band on the Sunset Strip and land a major-label record deal. After many false starts—including an ill-fated concert tour of China—Walker’s rock-and-roll fantasies hadn’t quite come true, so he embraced the do-it-yourself approach. Taking control of his destiny, he learned to make success on his own terms, but not without some memorable, occasionally drunken stumbles along the way. Walker’s adventures taught him a number of life lessons he shares here with insight and candor, revealing the blessings of failure—and what it’s really like to spend your life going from gig to gig, drinking with strangers.

In a voice as wry as his lyrics, Walker pays tribute to his influences, from his parents to Mötley Crüe, from KISS to both Elvises (Presley and Costello). He offers a clear-eyed yet humorous look at the music business—the greed, the booze, the drugs, the infighting, the swindles, the unfulfilled promises—and explores its bad side, too. In documenting his rise to the middle, Walker frankly describes the delicate balance between success, selling out, and just knocking back another shot of whiskey to numb the pain.

Whether or not you are familiar with Walker’s music, Drinking with Strangers is a must-read for anyone who wants to make it in the music world, covering such essential topics as the digital revolution and its impact on both performers and producers, the art of creative collaboration, and what it’s really like to work with cutthroat competitors who might steal your soul (and your song). Unflinchingly told, Walker’s twenty-year journey of failing upwards becomes an unforgettable rite of passage.

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: William Morrow
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2011
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0061787310
• ISBN 13: 9780061787317
• Einband: Tapa dura
• Anzahl der Seiten: 272
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar