Jon Butcher
Jon Butcher is an American rock, blues songwriter, guitarist and freelance multimedia producer.
Influences
Many people have made comparisons between Jon Butcher and Jimi Hendrix particularly in the early stages of Butcher's career. These comparisons were fueled by Butcher's onstage appearance and mannerisms, patterned after Hendrix, and his choice for the band name Axis, a reference to Hendrix album Axis: Bold as Love. Butcher's stated influences are Richie Havens, John Lennon, Phil Lynott, Bob Dylan, and Taj Mahal, and he maintains that the Hendrix comparisons are superficial, saying "... outside of the surface aspect, I don’t think there was much about me that was Jimi Hendrix-like, if you disregard the fact that I’m black and play a Stratocaster."Johanna Wild
During the middle to late 1970s, Butcher toured the Northeast U.S. with the Boston-based band Johanna Wild. Other band members were Jeff Linscott, Derek Blevins and Troy Douglas Sutler III. Their song, "Suzanne" was played on local radio stations such as WBCN. Johanna Wild opened for Foghat at the Alosa Civic Center in Concord, New Hampshire on May 2, 1977.Jon Butcher Axis
Butcher appeared on MTV and radio station WBCN in Boston, Massachusetts. He formed Jon Butcher Axis with Sandy Higgins, Chris Martin in October 1979.Soon after, Higgins left to be the front man for Balloon, while Charlie Farren fronted the Mk3 lineup of The Joe Perry Project. Later Axis became a power trio and performed throughout New England.
American tour opening for The J. Geils Band
Jon Butcher Axis has toured with J. Geils Band on their 1982 Freeze Frame American tour. Jon Butcher Axis secured an international record deal with PolyGram Records which led to the albums The Jon Butcher Axis and Stare at the Sun, both produced by Pat Moran, who produced for Robert Plant, Edie Brickell and Lou Gramm.1983
1983 saw the release of their first and self-titled album, The Jon Butcher Axis, featuring "Life Takes A Life". Other notable tracks included "Ocean in Motion" and "Walk Like This". This album reached No. 91 in the Billboard Pop Albums chart and Jon Butcher Axis' video "Life Takes a Life" became one of the few videos by a black artist to receive airtime on MTV. At that time, the following black artists had appeared on MTV: Tina Turner, Prince, Michael Jackson, Eddy Grant, Musical Youth and the Busboys. The band's second album, Stare at the Sun, reached No. 160 on the Billboard album chart. The result of these two albums' successes afforded further growing popularity for the band, which added the opportunity to tour with Rush, Def Leppard and Scorpions, among others.1985–1986
In 1985, Jon Butcher Axis signed with Capitol Records and released Along the Axis. The track, "The Ritual", earned multiple writers in the band a Grammy Nomination for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. On that same album, singles and videos were released for the songs "The Sounds of Your Voice" and "Stop". "The Sounds of Your Voice" was the only single to hit the Billboard charts Hot 100 reaching No. 94. Quotes Jon, "The Capitol Records experience was a positive one. Jon Butcher Axis frequently toured major venues across the US during this period, opening for INXS".1987–1989
The following releases, Wishes and Pictures from the Front were simply recorded under the Jon Butcher name. Wishes was Butcher's most successful album. Rumored to have achieved Gold Award status, there is no evidence of this on the RIAA database. MTV videos released from both of these records included "Holy War", "Goodbye Saving Grace" and "Wishes".Barefoot Servants
[Image:Barefoot Servants.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Barefoot Servants line-up]In 1991, Jon Butcher Axis ended its run. Jon Butcher himself spent most of the '90s on various multimedia projects. In 1994, he formed Barefoot Servants which released their self-titled album on Epic Records. The band included Leland Sklar, Ben Schultz and Ray Brinker. Their second record, Barefoot Servants 2 was released by in August 2005. Drummer Ray Brinker was replaced by Londoner Neal Wilkinson.