‘Butcher’s voice is smooth and beguiling.....there’s a genuine intensity to it and signs of an agile mind feeding it..... he has plenty to say.....Butcher is also musically agile, ‘Speed Of Sound’ delivering a portentous energy driven by an incessant bass line and shards of angular electric guitar’ Martin Jones Rhythms Magazine
‘Brad Butcher has the potential to achieve considerable critical acclaim and commercial success...he has already attracted the attention of key media tastemakers including the pivotal Australian national radio station - Triple J.' John Watson, Manager - Gotye, Silvverchair, Missy Higgins, Wolfmother.
Eleven: A Music Company
‘Brad is an intense songwriter who has plumbed the depths of his soul to create thoughtful vignettes of those small but powerful moments in life that affect us all.....Brad Butcher is world class and has a very bright future ahead of him.’ Susan Jarvis Capitol News
BIOGRAPHY
As a youngster,
Brad Butcher mimicked the sounds of his mother playing Bach and Beethoven on
the family piano; he wasn’t yet old enough to realise that it was the sign of
an instinctive connection to melody, but he knew it made him happy. A central
Queensland country kid with a sense of community and a tight family bond, he
wrote songs on a hand-me-down guitar to entertain mates, commemorate momentous
occasions, and to work through troubles. And then he did the right thing – he learned
a trade, got a job, earned a living.
For over a
decade, Brad kept his voice and his songs largely to himself, privately honing
a singer/songwriter style that mixes the working class grit of Springsteen with
the tender expression of Ray LaMontagne. From the confines of a coalmine crane
though, an adage once shared kept rattling around his brain: Find your
obsession, make it your profession and you’ll never work a day in your life.
At the age of 28,
it was time to implement a plan for his life-long obsession of crafting honest
stories set within stark melodic landscapes. In 2012, Brad released his acclaimed
self-tilted debut album, which earned him a showcase at BIGSOUND, Australia’s
foremost international music conference. Finalist nominations for a range of
Australian and international songwriting and artist development awards
followed, as well as supports and guest appearances alongside Busby Marou, Bill
Chambers, Mark Seymour and Pete Murray. His music filled the homes of dozens of
Australians who welcomed him as part of a year-long house concert series; they
piled onto rural kitchen benches, and spilled into suburban backyards, to share
in the intimate tales of their own neighbourhoods from Tassie to the Territory.
While his debut
effort was a tribute to family and friendship, and the love, hope, loss and
redemption experienced amongst such relationships, Brad explored new themes as
he wrote prolifically for his forthcoming sophomore album. Recorded in New
Jersey by Grammy award winning producer Marc Swersky (Joe Cocker, Diesel), it centres
around themes of travel and the contrasting lifestyle of a fly-in fly-out
worker who always has home in his heart and a guitar close to hand. At the core
of it all though is an uncomplicated country bloke striving to connect, inspire
and remain true.
Jamestown is scheduled for release in early 2015