An Ocean in Motion - Live in Boston 1984
Jon Butcher Still Has A Passion For Making Music By: Scott KinnisonOriginally based in Boston, 80's rocker Jon Butcher is alive and doing well in the Los Angeles area. With a new Jon Butcher Axis CD just released, A Stiff Little Breeze, we caught up with Jon to talk about his past, present and plans for the future……According to Jon, the Jon Butcher Axis, which consisted of Jon on guitar and vocals, Chris Martin on bass and Derek Blevins on drums, paid it's dues in the early 1980's by playing all over the greater Boston/East coast area. "We got our big break in two ways. One by being played on Boston's WBCN, who was great at the time for promoting local music. Secondly, the J Geils Band, specifically Peter Wolf, became a fan and got us signed to open for the J Geils Band on a national tour.""This was all before we even had our first record out. So we went from playing anywhere that would pay us, to 10 to 12,000 people at the Boston Garden. It was quite an experience at the time."Due to the exposure created by the Geils opening slot, the Jon Butcher Axis signed with Polygram Records and released two critically acclaimed albums, Jon Butcher Axis in 1983 and Staring At The Sun in 1984. Several songs, such as Life Takes A Life, Don't Say Goodnight, Ocean In Motion and Victims, received successful FM radio play and/or rotation as videos on MTV.In fact, Jon's video for Life Takes A Life, from the self-titled album, was one of the first, by a black artist, to receive airtime on MTV. This was over five years before black rock artists, such as Living Colour, were commonly played on the music channel.In 1985 the band moved to EMI/Capital Records and released Along the Axis. A song on that album, The Ritual, earned Jon a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. Singles and videos were released for The Sounds of Your Voice and Stop. It also marked the last time the Jon Butcher Axis moniker was used (prior to the just released album).The following releases, Wishes (1986) and Pictures From The Front (1988) were simply under the Jon Butcher name. Jon reflected on the reason for the change. "After Chris (Martin) and Derek (Blevins) were no longer parts of the band, it didn't seem right to keep the Axis name. Because the three of us were the Jon Butcher Axis."Wishes would turn out to be Jon's most successful album, eventually reaching Gold sales status. "There are a lot of strong songs on that record. It is also an album where I had a lot of control and I think the album turned out better for that fact. Wishes, Holy War and Goodbye Saving Grace still get a lot of radio play to this day," Jon commented.Pictures From The Front contained the popular songs Send Me Somebody and Waiting For A Miracle, but according to Jon "with that album there were a lot of forces telling us what we should be and what we should sound like."In 1991, while touring with INXS, the Jon Butcher Axis ceased to exist. "The band had run it's creative course, just like any band does, including the Beatles. In addition, there was the strain of me living in California, versus the East coast. Along the Axis was recorded in the Los Angles area and after it was completed, I decided to stay in California." Jon stated.Looking at the years from 1983 to 1991, Jon was asked why the Jon Butcher Axis never obtained multi-platinum sales success. "Of course I think we deserved to sell millions of records (chuckle), however I believe the problem stemmed in the diversity of the music we made. Diversity can be a blessing and a curse.Diversity helps with your critical success, but it is probably not a good thing for a young band trying to make a name for itself to the masses. But I love all types of music and it is hard for me to not reflect that into the music I produce."Jon spent the 1990's on several projects. In 1994, he led a group called Barefoot Servants, which released a self-titled album on Epic Records.