A review by thischarmingamy
Drinking with Strangers: Music Lessons from a Teenage Bullet Belt by Butch Walker, Matt Diehl

4.0

I feel like I read this book in about two seconds. It's a great read; a cautionary tale of the perils of the music industry as recalled by Butch Walker (with Matt Diehl). If you're not familiar with Walker, I like to call him "the man who writes the songs the whole world sings." He's been in, like, a zillion bands (i.e. SouthGang and Marvelous 3) and has been a successful "mid-level" solo artist for over a decade. Where he makes his bread and butter is writing and producing with folks like Katy Perry, Pink, Avril Lavigne, Weezer, Bowling for Soup, Sevendust, The Donnas, Hot Hot Heat, American Hi-Fi, Midtown, Puffy AmiYumi, Pete Yorn, Fall Out Boy, All-American Rejects, SR-71, Dashboard Confessional and ... Lindsay Lohan. If you're a fan of Walker's you gotta read this memoir. If you love music and/or have ever had your heart broken by the music biz, it's a must. The ending gave me goosebumps.

Now excuse me while I go watch that SouthGang "Tainted Angel" video again.