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

Butch Walker (Author), Matt Diehl (Author)

Book Description

Release date: October 25, 2011

Rolling Stone magazine called Butch Walker one of “America’s best singer-songwriters” and voted him a “Producer of the Year.” An American music industry giant, Walker has worked with some of today’s hottest talent, including Weezer, Katy Perry, Dashboard Confessional, Pink, Tommy Lee, Fall Out Boy, and The Donnas to name but a few. In his riveting memoir, Drinking with Strangers, Walker tells the fascinating story of his life and remarkable career, taking readers on a breakneck ride from his Georgia roots to the Hollywood music scene, and giving us a close up insider’s view of life behind closed recording studio doors.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

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.

About the Author

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.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow (October 25, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061787310
• ISBN-13: 978-0061787317
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.9 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #87,392 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #44 in Books > Arts & Photography > Music > Business

More About the Author

Butch Walker is a current recording artist, songwriter and record producer. His latest recording is "I Liked It Better When You Had No Heart" with Butch Walker and the Black Widows. Butch spends his time in Georgia and the Hollywood Hills. His author website is www.butchwalker.com.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Love Butch Walker's Drinking with Strangers October 25, 2011

By L. A. VINE™ VOICE

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Thank God, for the Kindle. I just read Butch Walker's book in one sitting. Butch candidly tells of his life, inspirations and trials in his own voice. He really pours his heart and soul into this book, just like he does with his music. I feel that I understand and connect better to his albums from the Marvelous 3 days to present. The book was so easy to read, I could't put it down.

My husband (a professional musician) started reading this. He said he could really feel where Butch was coming from.

This book is a must read for any Butch Walker fan. You will love the photos.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Maybe It's Just Me.... November 11, 2011

By Timothy K. Schwader

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Butch Walker has been a part of my life for the better part of it at this point, and his first foray into the literary world hits the highlights - and a few of the lowlights - that explain why. Yeah, I was a teenage metalhead too (and I still love my metal). I fondly recall seeing SouthGang more than a few times, and still listen to their records when the mood strikes. I was ga-ga over Marvelous 3. Still am. Butch's solo records are, each and every one of them, the best album to have come out in each of the respective years that they were released, in my opinion. His latest, 'The Spade' Spade is not just the best thing I've heard this year, it's the best record I've heard in the past 10 years at least. When the latest tour kicked off in Athens, GA, earlier this year, I was there. I traveled out for the shows in Atlanta and Nashville too. Butch is worth it, no question.

But a book... what to think? Rock star autobiographies made for great reading when I was a teenager. I couldn't get enough of 'Hammer Of The Gods' or 'No One Here Gets Out Alive', and must've read each of them half a dozen times. Sleazy antics, larger-than-life tales of excess, glamorization of... what, exactly? It all made sense back then, but seems stupid today. I hadn't read one in years. YEARS. Thankfully, this book doesn't (for the most part) travel down that well-worn path. 'Drinking With Strangers' is a memoir, sure. It covers a bit of Butch's days as a young and reckless teenager, features a few decadent tales from his time on the Sunset Strip during the 'hair metal' heyday of the early 90s, and delves into some intense and personal stories about his personal life, his time spent writing with and producing other bands, and his personal struggles with the music business (and life itself). But this book is so much more than just a memoir. It should be required reading for aspiring musicians, with its exceptional insight about the crooks and weasels that permeate the music/entertainment industry and for Butch's unflinching admissions of how many times he's screwed himself over in the business.

Ultimately, 'Drinking With Strangers' is a mandatory read for Butch Walker fans - he explains why he doesn't play the songs so many want to hear anymore, the true inspiration behind many fan-favorites, and the real stories behind the beginnings, middles, and ends of all of his projects - and is highly recommended to everyone else. Even those who are not familiar with his name have heard songs that Butch has written, produced, sang or played on, or in some other way been involved with. Butch Walker is something of an American music Everyman in many ways, but even more so, he is a true original, a uniquely talented man with a gift too big to be contained. I'll never stop buying (yes, BUYING) Butch's music. I'll never stop going to his shows. And if he writes another book, I'll buy and read that too. Why? Because Butch Walker is f***ing amazing, and this book contains 20+ years' worth of stories proving that point.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Pull Up a Stool and Have Drink With Butch Walker October 26, 2011

By Jay Amabile

Format:Hardcover

Maybe the cover of Butch Walker's new book should've depicted a name plate that reads BUTCH WALKER: ROCK AND ROLL CHAMELEON. Who's Butch Walker, you ask? Really? Do I still have to explain that one? One way or another, chances are you know Butch Walker. He's reinvented himself more times than Madonna. He's gone from hairband member in Southgang, lead singer and guitarist in late '90s rock band Marvelous 3, an accomplished producer for the likes of Weezer, Katy Perry, Pink, and Avril Lavigne, to at the present moment, "just under the radar" indie rocker. If you're becoming acquainted with Butch Walker now, it will only take reading the 253 page Drinking with Strangers Music Lessons From a Teenage Bullet Belt, a book he wrote with Matt Diehl, to feel like you've known him forever.

Butch Walker's brief memoir does not recount explicitly epic rock star stories as printed in The Dirt or The Heroin Diaries. Perhaps Lifestyles of the Excessive and Eccentric is a more appropriate title for books about the lives of rock stars, but don't expect to read about week long benders from Butch, unless they involve songwriting. Occasionally he recalls messing around with a couple of girls, or drinking way too much, but it's not comparable to the exploits of Motley Crue. As much as he tries distancing himself from the hairband era, the best parts of the book turn out to be descriptions of random moments in his life, coincidentally with members of Motley Crue. For instance, the time he took a reckless helicopter excursion with his friend Tommy Lee. Walker even reveals a time he hung out with the Cruemaster himself, Nikki Sixx, and discovered just how over the top his lifestyle is. Walker's obsessive desire to be a better musician, songwriter, and producer has, for the most part, kept him from falling into the usual rock and roll indulgences.

My one main annoyance in the book was Walker's constant name dropping of Pink. We get it Butch, you're friends with Pink! Walker and Pink are friends and have worked together on music, but he tells us more about his relationship with Pink than anything about his actual wife and mother of his child, Nora. The most we learned about Nora is that she is a heavy sleeper. He rarely, if ever, gushed about his young son, although he did express how overwhelming it would be if he had lost them in the devastating wildfire that took his home California a few years back.

Even if Butch's career didn't go exactly the way he planned it, he's never given up. He's now considered a true songwriter and musician and it's taken over 20 years of hard work to gain that recognition. Aspiring musicians should use this book as a guide; it may change how they approach their career. Walker points out that if you can attain just enough success it will provide the ability to be creatively free, independent, and even financially secure enough to avoid kowtowing to major label bull. It seems to me that Butch should be more appreciative of his first taste of success - the hairband days, but he's way too in love with the present moment to waste time looking back.