The Beatless: David Butler

It has been rumored that Dave "Macca" Butler was born into this world John David Fitz-Walter Butler and was so very young, some called him a baby. A bouncing baby boy, that is, and he's still bouncing, despite knee troubles. The event occurred March 20, 1970 at the only place in Rome, Georgia that such a birth can happen, in a nameless hospital on Turner McCall Boulevard.

Soon after being labeled a baby, he became a child who was fascinated with music. Wherever there was a piano, he would sit and make horrendous noises, much to his pleasure. Later he actually learned to play the thing.

At the ripe old age of six, "Macca" Dave took part in his first recording session: singing a duet with his grandfather B.C. Akins, in the kitchen. The device used was a state of the art Sony portable cassette tape recorder. The song of choice: "The Mickey Mouse Club." It was never released, but a bootleg remains somewhere in a shoebox underneath the singer's bed. The recorder has long since been thrown in the trash.

Just three years earlier, Dave recalls a musical turning point in his life. "I can remember when I was about three years old listening to the radio while Mom was getting ready for work. I'll never forget the D.J. saying 'that is the latest hit from Paul McCartney, "Band On The Run." The name of the singer was cool to me, as was the song and thus began my fixation on Beatles music."

A few years later, Dave would inherit his mom's Beatle albums and throw on the headphones for hours and hours learning how to drum while listening to Ringo thump his sheepskins. About the same time Dave started learning piano, and focused on that as well as imitating the sounds of John, Paul, George and Ringo. Not long after, he was affected by the murder of one of his heroes, John Lennon.

"To this day, I can remember watching the outpouring of grief shortly after the senseless killing took place. I was among those who grieved, though I didn't quite understand the complete ramifications to the music world, as I was only ten years old at the time. It is now forever magnified in my mind what a great loss it was to music, peace and love throughout the world."

The summer following Lennon's death, Dave and Gene hooked up at a mutual friend's house and over 20 years later that friendship would be the foundation for forming The Beatless. They listened to Beatle albums for hours picking every nuance apart over and over again.

As Dave grew through childhood, he sang in the Rome Boy's Club Choir, several different church choirs, and garage bands. He was also a first chair trombone player for the West Rome High School Chieftain Band. "Many of those bands never saw the light of day, thank God, but they all played an intricate part in forming my tastes and talents." "One band that I am proud of is Alliance which was a Christian Metal Band with a Stryper sound. That's where I learned to hit the high notes."

He didn't even pick up a bass guitar until he reached the age of 19. Shortly thereafter he borrowed a friend's guitar and started learning to play that as well. Dave explains, why so many instruments: "When I really started getting into the solo material that The Beatles came up with, I listened to the album McCartney which contained the original version of "Maybe I'm Amazed" and I found that Paul had actually played all the instruments in a studio in his living room. Needless to say that in itself left me amazed." "When I picked up bass some of the first songs I learned were "Nowhere Man," "Something," and "With A Little Luck" because I perceived them to be difficult, and in order to play the easy stuff I felt I had to learn the hard stuff first." Through the years Dave became acquainted with Ralph Peters, as he was once a neighbor, and John Schroeder through musical things in and around his hometown. Dave would have never guessed that what was put together in the spring of 2003 would turn out to be such a special place in his history and in the history of his hometown. "It has made many of my local dreams come true, especially being able to play what I love for literally thousands of my friends at the First Friday show in June of 2004."

In addition to The Beatless, Dave is an aspiring songwriter who has had a lot to write about in recent months and hopes to cut an album soon of his own material, and give birth to his first child in the form of a CD.

Dave gave thanks for the past year by saying, "I can't thank the fans enough for supporting us, especially those who are always there listening, and smiling as we in the band appreciate the music that the four lads from Liverpool have blessed us, and the world with."

P.S. If you haven't guessed, Dave is no longer a bouncing baby boy anymore, he's just a bouncing Rock & Roll bass player who loves The Beatles, and anything that speaks to him musically.