Biography
Chris Butler functions as a connector between Ohio’s early proto-punk circles and the more accessible wing of New York’s downtown music world in the 1970s and 1980s. A composer, producer, multi-instrumentalist, and bandleader, his output consistently displays exploratory impulses alongside a persistent strain of dry wit.
He first gained notice inside the storied Ohio group 15-60-75, also called the Numbers Band, before joining the critically praised, Dada-influenced Tin Huey. That path led to unexpected commercial traction with the Waitresses, whose dance-oriented new wave merged with Butler’s characteristically deadpan, humorous lyrics.
Once the Waitresses disbanded, he turned to production work for other artists and television scoring while pursuing his own idiosyncratic projects. These included the 1996 release The Devil Glitch, which expanded into a single track surpassing three hours, and the series of singles known as The Wilderness Years, cut on obsolete formats. His first proper solo album, I Feel a Bit Normal Today, appeared in 1997, after which he continued issuing his distinctive brand of intelligent, off-kilter pop at a measured pace.
Born in 1949 in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, a Cleveland suburb, Butler studied sociology at Kent State University during the early 1970s. While there, he witnessed the Ohio National Guard shootings of student protesters on May 4, 1970, and became active in the Kent/Akron/Cleveland scene that later supplied members to Devo, the Pretenders, Pere Ubu, and numerous other bands.
Throughout the 1970s he played in several local outfits, most prominently 15-60-75 (the Numbers Band), the semi-legendary blues-rock ensemble fronted by Robert Kidney, later of the Golden Palominos. After leaving that group, he contributed two solo tracks to Stiff Records’ Akron Compilation, then formed Tin Huey with saxophonist Ralph Carney and pianist Harvey Gold. The surrealist avant-rock trio drew strong influence from Frank Zappa and the Soft Machine. Despite its determinedly non-commercial stance, Tin Huey signed with Warner Bros. and released Contents Dislodged During Shipment, an often fascinating and deeply weird slab of rock Dada that sold poorly; Warner dropped the band and it dissolved.
Butler next revived a track he had recorded before joining Tin Huey. In 1977 he wrote and played every instrument on “I Know What Boys Like,” recruited friend Patty Donahue for the deadpan sarcastic vocal, and credited the result to the fictional Waitresses. After settling in New York following Tin Huey’s collapse, he passed the song to club DJ/producer Mark Kamins, who secured the “band” a deal with ZE Records’ new wave imprint. Legend holds that Butler wired his last fifty dollars to Donahue so she could bus to New York; he then assembled the group from unemployed local musicians, among them ex-Television drummer Billy Ficca and free jazz saxophonist Mars Williams, who had served as Anthony Braxton’s copyist. The reconstituted Waitresses issued the hit album Wasn't Tomorrow Wonderful? in 1982 and the EP I Could Rule the World If I Could Only Get the Parts, titled after a Tin Huey song. Both releases sold well and drew widespread praise for Butler’s smart, funny lyrics and Donahue’s inimitable vocal style—she sang like she was chewing gum, talking on the phone and painting her toenails at the same time. Internal tensions during a tour caused the band to fracture while recording their second album, 1983’s Bruiseology, obliging Butler to finish it with an instrumental and a track sung by bassist Tracy Wormworth. An attempt to relaunch the project with former Holly and the Italians leader Holly Beth Vincent proved unsuccessful, and Butler permanently retired the Waitresses concept late in 1983.
Following several years producing albums for the dB’s, Scruffy the Cat, Freedy Johnston, and Joan Osborne, plus serving as musical director for several cable television programs, Butler resumed solo recording in the mid-1990s. Volumes one and three of the projected four-part series The Wilderness Years appeared in 1994 and 1995; the first was recorded on an Edison cylinder, the third on a 1940s wire recorder.
His next undertaking proved still more ambitious. Conceived partly as a joke, Butler wrote and recorded a 69-minute song, “The Devil Glitch,” containing no repeating verses and no instrumental breaks. He captured the entire piece live in one acoustic-guitar take, divided it into three- to five-minute segments, and distributed those segments to musician friends for overdubs. After reassembling the material over a year and a half, he released it, together with a five-minute radio edit, on his own Future Fossil label. The 1998 edition of The Guinness Book of World Records listed “The Devil Glitch” as the World’s Longest Pop Song; once all contributions were incorporated, the track exceeded three hours.
Butler issued his first proper solo album, the comparatively straightforward I Feel a Bit Normal Today, in 1997, drawing on songs written and recorded over the preceding seven years. The Museum of Me, Vol. 1, a mixture of studio and home recordings, followed in 2002. Easy Life, a concept album reflecting his Kent State years and the 1970 shootings, appeared in variant editions in 2001 and 2014. In 2018 he released the solo album Got It Together! and the collaboration Songs for Unsung Holidays with former Tin Huey bandmate Ralph Carney.
He first gained notice inside the storied Ohio group 15-60-75, also called the Numbers Band, before joining the critically praised, Dada-influenced Tin Huey. That path led to unexpected commercial traction with the Waitresses, whose dance-oriented new wave merged with Butler’s characteristically deadpan, humorous lyrics.
Once the Waitresses disbanded, he turned to production work for other artists and television scoring while pursuing his own idiosyncratic projects. These included the 1996 release The Devil Glitch, which expanded into a single track surpassing three hours, and the series of singles known as The Wilderness Years, cut on obsolete formats. His first proper solo album, I Feel a Bit Normal Today, appeared in 1997, after which he continued issuing his distinctive brand of intelligent, off-kilter pop at a measured pace.
Born in 1949 in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, a Cleveland suburb, Butler studied sociology at Kent State University during the early 1970s. While there, he witnessed the Ohio National Guard shootings of student protesters on May 4, 1970, and became active in the Kent/Akron/Cleveland scene that later supplied members to Devo, the Pretenders, Pere Ubu, and numerous other bands.
Throughout the 1970s he played in several local outfits, most prominently 15-60-75 (the Numbers Band), the semi-legendary blues-rock ensemble fronted by Robert Kidney, later of the Golden Palominos. After leaving that group, he contributed two solo tracks to Stiff Records’ Akron Compilation, then formed Tin Huey with saxophonist Ralph Carney and pianist Harvey Gold. The surrealist avant-rock trio drew strong influence from Frank Zappa and the Soft Machine. Despite its determinedly non-commercial stance, Tin Huey signed with Warner Bros. and released Contents Dislodged During Shipment, an often fascinating and deeply weird slab of rock Dada that sold poorly; Warner dropped the band and it dissolved.
Butler next revived a track he had recorded before joining Tin Huey. In 1977 he wrote and played every instrument on “I Know What Boys Like,” recruited friend Patty Donahue for the deadpan sarcastic vocal, and credited the result to the fictional Waitresses. After settling in New York following Tin Huey’s collapse, he passed the song to club DJ/producer Mark Kamins, who secured the “band” a deal with ZE Records’ new wave imprint. Legend holds that Butler wired his last fifty dollars to Donahue so she could bus to New York; he then assembled the group from unemployed local musicians, among them ex-Television drummer Billy Ficca and free jazz saxophonist Mars Williams, who had served as Anthony Braxton’s copyist. The reconstituted Waitresses issued the hit album Wasn't Tomorrow Wonderful? in 1982 and the EP I Could Rule the World If I Could Only Get the Parts, titled after a Tin Huey song. Both releases sold well and drew widespread praise for Butler’s smart, funny lyrics and Donahue’s inimitable vocal style—she sang like she was chewing gum, talking on the phone and painting her toenails at the same time. Internal tensions during a tour caused the band to fracture while recording their second album, 1983’s Bruiseology, obliging Butler to finish it with an instrumental and a track sung by bassist Tracy Wormworth. An attempt to relaunch the project with former Holly and the Italians leader Holly Beth Vincent proved unsuccessful, and Butler permanently retired the Waitresses concept late in 1983.
Following several years producing albums for the dB’s, Scruffy the Cat, Freedy Johnston, and Joan Osborne, plus serving as musical director for several cable television programs, Butler resumed solo recording in the mid-1990s. Volumes one and three of the projected four-part series The Wilderness Years appeared in 1994 and 1995; the first was recorded on an Edison cylinder, the third on a 1940s wire recorder.
His next undertaking proved still more ambitious. Conceived partly as a joke, Butler wrote and recorded a 69-minute song, “The Devil Glitch,” containing no repeating verses and no instrumental breaks. He captured the entire piece live in one acoustic-guitar take, divided it into three- to five-minute segments, and distributed those segments to musician friends for overdubs. After reassembling the material over a year and a half, he released it, together with a five-minute radio edit, on his own Future Fossil label. The 1998 edition of The Guinness Book of World Records listed “The Devil Glitch” as the World’s Longest Pop Song; once all contributions were incorporated, the track exceeded three hours.
Butler issued his first proper solo album, the comparatively straightforward I Feel a Bit Normal Today, in 1997, drawing on songs written and recorded over the preceding seven years. The Museum of Me, Vol. 1, a mixture of studio and home recordings, followed in 2002. Easy Life, a concept album reflecting his Kent State years and the 1970 shootings, appeared in variant editions in 2001 and 2014. In 2018 he released the solo album Got It Together! and the collaboration Songs for Unsung Holidays with former Tin Huey bandmate Ralph Carney.
Albums
Singles
