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From The Desk Of Butch Walker: “Boyhood”

Butch Walker built his reputation with hard-hitting, self-produced rock albums marked by a bright, polished sound. When he set out to make Afraid Of Ghosts, an LP partially inspired by the death of his father, he decided to forget about perfection and aim for a more visceral, acoustic feel. The songs on Afraid Of Ghosts were written over the course of a year, then recorded with Ryan Adams and his band in a four-day burst of creativity. It’s the first time Walker worked with an outside producer. Walker will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new feature on him.

Boyhood

Walker: This movie hit me right in the gut. As a parent of a seven-year-old boy, this was the coolest-yet-frightening movie to see about growing pains. Richard Linklater won my heart, way back when he did Dazed And Confused. Hell, I loved it so much that I somehow convinced my pal Matthew to put back on the “Wooderson” get-up from the film, and be in a music video of mine called “Synthesizers.” In his films, Linklater isn’t trying to throw a ton of visual stimulation or gratuitous action and violence into your face with them. He really just seems like a regular guy, who is drawing from his regular life experiences—that just so happen to relate to almost everyone. I mean, Dazed was not only the musical soundtrack to my youth when it came out, but I was that kid. I was the kid trying to fit in with the older cooler guys, while my older, protective sisters watched from afar to make sure I dint get too fucked up along the way. Boyhood is the same, but a tantric approach to film making. It’s the “slow and low” pot roast being cooked, if you will. Most directors, actors or even movie-goers wouldn’t have the patience to hear about a movie being made … that is going to take 12 fucking years to make. But Richard did it. And Ethan Hawke did it. And Patricia Arquette did it. The kids were pretty good, too, considering I don’t think they really wanted to be in it for some of the years that pass by in the film. Still, to see this kid start at my son’s age, learning to ride a bicycle, to finally walking out the door to go to college … it’ll leave a pain in your chest that you will never understand until you have one of your own. Thanks, Richard, for having the heart and patience to make this amazing film.

Video after the jump.