Butch Walker of the Marvelous 3

                Just because the Marvelous 3 are opening for Eve6 doesn’t mean they’re only half as good.

                When Ninevolt had a chance to speak briefly with Butch Walker, singer/songwriter for the Marvelous 3, he and his bandmates were chillin’ in Miami, FL, preparing for the second night of their tour with the aforementioned Eve6.

“Aw, yeah,” drawled Walker.  “We’re here, just hanging out…doing the hang before we play tonight.  We started the tour last night in West Palm Beach.  It’s all good.  Everything’s pretty rockin’.  Can’t complain.”

                Well, all right.

The Marvelous 3 are another case of truth in advertising, in that they are, in fact, a trio:  Walker on guitar, Jayce Fincher, and drummer Slug.  They’re currently touring behind their sophomore effort and major label debut, Hey! Album.  And proving that there really never is a dull moment in the life of a rock ‘n’ roll band, Walker revealed that, “very bright and early in the morning tomorrow, we’re going to L.A. to shoot our video for the single, ‘Freak Of The Week.’”  (As of this writing, the single was already lodged snugly within Billboard’s Top 20.)

Since Walker was chatting with Ninevolt’s confirmed power pop fanatic, it was easy enough to offer up plaudits to the record.  He responded with heartfelt thanks, acknowledging that “that’s one of the best things about this:  finally, somebody gets it!  This is a big deal for us; it’s been a long time coming.  A long time sleeping in vans, touring around, driving ourselves to a different state every night and playing to 10 people.  Years and years of that, 250 shows a year. After awhile, you just go, ‘Man, c’mon, somebody throw us a bone!’”

                At this point, the Marvelous 3 probably can’t make move without being hit by a myriad of bones.  Although they’re not terribly well known as of yet, they currently have the luxury of being able to build a larger national fan base by opening for the already-successful Eve6.

                “Yeah, that’s the beauty of this:  going out and stealing their audience!” laughed Walker.  “Actually, with all due respect to those guys, we definitely want to have their audience be open to what we’re doing.  We played our first gig with them last night, and this town didn’t know us from Adam.  So we got up there, played, came off stage, and the audience were, like, ‘Omigod!  We usually think opening bands suck, but you guys are awesome!’  So that’s kinda cool, especially in a room full of skeptical kids.  With them, it’s a case where you have to go out there and prove yourself in front of the harshest critics in the world.”

                Walker is very much of the belief that power pop is making a comeback, but, despite that, “we grew up on so many influences, and I had so many different style preferences growing up, that (the Marvelous 3) is not just a straight-ahead power pop band.  You don’t hear a big variation in style…nor do I want to do that!  I don’t want to have a bunch of songs that sound like Parliament one minute and the Bee Gees the next.  But being that a lot of those influences are there, I think that we’re trying to keep it fresh and exciting by combining different elements.

                One of the best things about growing up listening to our sisters’ record collections was that, no matter what records they had, even if it was a funk band or a heavy metal band or a pop band or a disco band or a new wave band, all of them had something.  They just had a look about them, a visual that was so striking; it was all about being larger than life when you see them.  I don’t want to go out looking like Bootsy Collins or even Marilyn Manson, but when we go out on stage, this is gonna be shakin’ shit up.  This is not gonna be the faceless brand of rock that has inundated the ‘90’s.”