Arista recording artist Butch Walker hits the road in advance of the release of his debut solo album later this spring, “LEFT OF SELF-CENTERED,” as he plays a series of solo warm-up dates in Chicago and his hometown Atlanta prior to heading out for a month of shows with Lit, it was announced today by Antonio “L.A.” Reid, President and CEO, Arista Records. The dates with Lit are set to begin at home in Atlanta on May 19th at Earthlink Live and conclude at the San Joaquin County Fair in Stockton, California on June 12th. (Please see complete itinerary attached.)
Walker, the Atlanta-based singer, songwriter, guitarist, producer and multi-instrumentalist, made his mark as the mastermind of Marvelous 3 (“Freak Of the Week”). Now he’s downright proud of his debut album and first single, “My Way,” which “is about saying ‘f*ck conformity… that is boring!'” He has written that the album “lyrically reflects on my hopeless f*cking romantic childhood,” and points to “Alicia Amnesia” as an example, “about falling in love with the chick that worked at the rock clothing store at the mall.”
“LEFT OF SELF-CENTERED” is described by Walker as a “rock-n-roll all-u-can-eat buffet.” The album “talks about growing up in the ‘burbs, before this was considered ‘the street’ to all the white-boy homies… see the song, ‘Suburbia’ and let me know if you can relate.” It’s “a record that kind of has a ‘mutt-rock’ sound, which basically means I got f*cked by every style of rock music, while growing up, and this is how I popped out into this genre-specific world.
“If I want to have people like Nikki Sixx [Motley Crue] play bass on the record on ‘Into the Black,'” Walker continues, “or enlist the beats and turntable genius of Matt Mahaffey [Self] on ‘Get Down’ and ‘Trouble’… I will. There’s a lot to talk about. There’s a lot to listen to. I think you should have choices.”
After co-writing SR-71’s #1 Modern Rock track “Right Now” in 2000, Walker wrapped-up M3’s five-year reign with their third album, ReadySexGo!, praised by Request magazine for its “primal jams designed to rattle through your body and leave you in an exhausted, grinning heap.” Following an underground hiatus, Walker surfaced in 2001 as co-writer of four tracks on Lit’s current album, Atomic. He then produced and played on the debut album by Injected, Burn It Black (Island/Def Jam Records, February 2002). Walker went on to produce and co-write the singles for the upcoming album by Bowling for Soup (Mojo/Jive).
- April 30 – Chicago, IL – Elbo Room
- May 2 – Atlanta, GA – Cotton Club
- May 3 – Atlanta, GA – Music Midtown
- May 19 – Atlanta, GA – Earthlink Live
- May 21 – Raleigh, NC – Lincoln Theater
- May 22 – Winston-Salem, NC – Ziggy’s
- May 23 – Charlotte, NC – TBD
- May 24 – Ft. Lauderdale, FL – The Culture Room
- May 25 – Tampa, FL – Jannus Landing
- May 26 – Orlando, FL – House Of Blues
- May 27 – Ft. Myers, FL – Neptunes
- May 29 – Lafayette, LA – Grant Street Music Hall
- May 30 – New Orleans, LA – House Of Blues
- May 31 – Dallas, TX – Deep Ellum Live
- June 1 – Houston, TX – Numbers
- June 2 – San Antonio, TX – Sunset Station
- June 4 – Denver, CO – Ogden Theatre
- June 5 – Salt Lake City, UT – Escape
- June 7 – Boise, ID – Big Easy
- June 8 – Portland, OR – TBD
- June 9 – Seattle, WA – Graceland
- June 11 – Sacramento, CA – TBD
- June 12 – Stockton, CA – San Joaquin County Fair