Marvelous 3
By: Noah Tarnow
In Rolling Stone Issue 806 - February 18, 1999
RADIO, RADIO: A freewheeling blast of power-pop bombast, "Freak of the Week," currently Number Thirty-five and rising on the Billboard Modern Rock chart, is the New Wave-y single by a confident trio - singer-guitarist Butch Walker, bassist Jayce Fincher and a drummer named Slug - that calls itself the Marvelous 3. Is it really that marvelous? "Absolutely!" says Walker. "There just comes a time when you gotta quit being so f*cking humble."
THIS YEAR'S MODEL: Marvelous 3, all childhood buddies from a town outside of Atlanta, attribute their springy guitar sound to a variety of influences, mostly picked up from their older sisters' Top Forty record collections. "Anything from Duran Duran to Queen," Walker says of what turned him on as a kid. "But Elvis Costello is definately the god of the moment. My favorite songwriter ever. Nobody can tell him he's not the king."
WHAT'S SO FUNNY 'BOUT PEACE, LOVE AND UNDERSTANDING: Despite the anxious, misfit lyrics of "Freak of the Week," Walker tries to keep a positive outlook: "I was sick of all this insecure, apathetic attitude that showered the Nineties. I just missed that whole boat. I actually still like my mom and dad; I graduated with a B average in school. Nothing makes me want to crawl into a corner and lash out at everybody."
PUCH THE CLOCK: The 3 slaved away on the touring circuit before scoring a major-label deal last year. "We've been touring 250 dates a year for five or six years," Walker says. "When that's all you do, every birthday becomes a road story, every relationship becomes a road story, every pair of pants ripped in the crotch onstage becomes a road story. I don't want to come off the road until I can't rock anymore."