04022015 - Butch Walker "Afraid of Ghosts"

I had never heard of this guy before. Apparently he's had "major-label success" in the 80's and 90's, including hit singles with the bands SouthGang and Marvelous 3, both of whom I also missed out on. Lately he's worked as a songwriter and producer for people like Avril Lavigne and Katy Perry, and in my book that's far from a guarantee for greatness. At the same time he's worked with The Donnas, Hot Hot Heat, Sevendust, Weezer and several other poppy noiseniks, so to say there's several sides to him would be fair. Now to his latest album, released this week. The main reason I got interested is because he's got a song called "Chrissie Hynde" on it, which is pretty cool. The songs, however, are far from uptempo rock, but have more of a melancholy Tom McRae/Jesse Malin vibe to them. Which is nice. It will probably take a handful of listens for these songs to really sink in, but my first impression is that it will be worth it.