In keeping with his nice-guy reputation, Walker remains unfailingly polite
and frank, though perhaps a little bedazzled by his rising celebrity. "The way
it's going right now, I couldn't ask for anything better," says Walker
over a lunch of coffee and Caesar salad.

Late last year, THE MARVELOUS 3'S loose-limbed, cute-pop CD --
the independently released Hey! Album -- kindled a label bidding war
after it started getting major airplay on local modern rock station,
99X - and for good reason. THE MARVELOUS 3's music is tight,
catchy and unrepentantly radio-friendly. Now that the band has re-
recorded Hey! Album for Elektra Records' Hi Fi imprint and released
it nationally, the record's first single "Freak of the Week" is quickly
making its way through the nation's airwaves.

"Butch writes like the Producers used to write," says 99X DJ Steve Craig,
an early convert. "Just good, happy pop songs. People in this town
respect him for what he does. Butch and the band may not be
alternative, they may not be underground, they might not have that
type of edge to them, but they're very accomplished in what they do.
And there's not a whole lot of pretentiousness about them."

Through years of relentless touring -- with an energetic live show that
has Walker working the crowd, Jim Carey-style, into a manic fever --
THE MARVIES have forged a solid regional fanbase; last year alone,
they played more than 250 shows. Off stage, they're likable, congenial
guys who don't seem to take themselves too seriously. Walker says
that over 10 years of playing together in various formations, the band
has more than paid its dues. THE MARVIES' time has finally come.
"Most people who know us think it's deserving and fitting because
we've worked so hard for years," Walker says. "We've built the
character and the scar tissue to deal with what comes next."

So far, the prognosis for the band is indeed marvelous. Their gleeful
single "Freak of the Week" debuted at No. 21 on Billboard's modern
rock chart, and has earned a spot on the playlist of most modern rock
stations in the country. This month, they're on the road opening for
faceless radio gods EVE 6. THE MARVIES played "Late Night With
Conan O'Brien" last week and negotiations are underway with other
high-profile late-night shows. Though the band will no doubt be heralded
as an overnight sensation, its ascent is actually anything but an idyllic
Cinderella story.

Walker, bassist Jayce Fincher and drummer Slug were high school
friends from Atlanta who had been rotating through the same local music
circuit for a decade. In 1997, after Fincher and Walker's previous funk
band THE FLOYDS broke up, Walker and Fincher recruited their buddy
Slug to form the MARVELOUS 3. Within the year, they independently
released their brisk indie debut, Math and Other Problems, which
won them the support of 99X but failed to hook any label offers. Soon
the band returned to the studio to record Hey! Album, originally
released on their own Marvelous Records in October 1998. A month
later, The MARVIES received four Atlanta local music awards,
including a nod as the city's best rock band.

"When that record came out, it started snowballing. The fans loved
it, the industry loved it. Labels all of a sudden started calling
me, asking me about it," says Walker. "And then it got picked up
by radio, and things got worse in the best sense possible."

According to the much-hyped story, the president of Hi Fi Records saw
them perform and was so blown away that he wrote out a contract
on the spot. So this winter, THE MARVELOUS 3 went back in the studio
with producer Jim Ebert, re-recorded the album, and released it
nationwide on Elektra in late January. Walker, who says he got into it
"for the acclamation," insists it's about time the rest of country got a
taste of his band.

The album is sticking, largely due to the persistent backing of the 99X
powerhouse. The station turned "Freak of the Week" from a homegrown
release into a national radio smash by faithfully playing it from early
on and bringing it to the attention of similar modern rock stations
around the country. It also gave the band a slot at last year's Music
Midtown and Big Day Out shows. Thanks to the incessant promotion,
a large, yuppified crowd turned out at a recent Blockbuster Music
in-store appearance to mark Hey! Album's Jan. 26 release.

Walker offers his gratitude to 99X and Craig, to whom he says the band
owes all their recent success. Part of THE MARVIES' secret, though,
no doubt involves what Walker calls its "pure, unadulterated pop"
sound. Weaned on a strictly Top Forty diet, Walker says he's
proud that his accessible, bouncy power tunes are often compared to
mainstays like CHEAP TRICK, JOE JACKSON and THE CARS.

"I had to finally let go of my insecurities of writing pop-rock songs," Walker
admits. "I grew up on it, I won't deny it, I'm not going to be the stupid
indie boy I was in my twenties. Finally, I was like, who am I kidding?
I grew up on DURAN DURAN and MÖTLEY CRÜE." Walker says
he's been around too long to care about being seen as a sellout;
his band's hit single "Freak of the Week" even climaxes with the refrain,
"Tell me I sold out/tell me I sold out go ahead." "I want so hard to be
accepted by that underground crowd, but it's never going to happen,"
he says. "I can't fight it. I would love for those people to acclaim
our record, but at least I'm not a total cheeser promoting cheese."

And while all of the band's cuteness and koolness (their spelling)
can get a little canned, the MARVELOUS 3 do deliver the power pop
goods. "Who cares if you want to have fun and wear it on your sleeve?"
Walker says. "I'll be the first to admit that we grew up in Beaver Cleaver
lifestyles. We were typical. There was nothing that interesting, except
that we wore eyeliner to school. But that doesn't mean we don't appreciate
good songs, good songwriting and lyrics. "I think we're like Marilyn
Hanson," he concludes. "We fall somewhere in between the two."

-- Donna Freydkin
Creative Loafing, Atlanta (February 11, 1999)