MORE than a decade before he rebranded himself as one of Australia’s best-selling country newcomers, Brad Butcher aspired towards a career in the rugby league.
His critically acclaimed self-titled album, Brad Butcher, went on to earn him a finalist nomination in a multitude of high profile national and international song-writing and artist development awards.
Default’s music was borne by failure. As Brad grew older and became a family man, he began looking for a new sound; he turned to music, new and old, and the styles his parents had played throughout the house during his childhood.
What followed was an unlikely transformation from dedicated rugby league player to a successful grounding of three chords and the truth.
Born and raised in Dysart, Central Queensland, Brad was the middle child to parents Anne and Gary.
Trouble at birth saw Brad left with a defective voice box, meaning years of speech therapy as a child.
A demanding task for any individual despite yielding a rather unexpected outcome.
As a youngster, Brad mimicked the sounds of his mother playing Bach and Beethoven on the family piano; he wasn’t yet old enough to realise that it was the sign of his instinctive connection to melody.
A central Queensland country kid with a sense of community and tight family bond Brad developed his passion for sports competing in all school sporting carnivals throughout the Central Highlands.
His family left the baron countryside in 1990 and headed for Townsville, in the tropical north, where Brad completed grade three to six at Townsville’s Holy Spirit Primary School.
It was here that his passion grew for the game of rugby league playing for Brothers JRL.
"I can still remember when the Cowboys' 1300 Smiles Stadium was a horse trotting track and I would run onto the huge dirt hills they were building which are now the grassed hills thousands of fans sit on at each home game" he said.
With his parents originating from Mackay the Butcher family made the move back south for Brad, his older brother Ross and younger sister Heather to finish school.
Furthering his passion for football Brad joined Brothers juniors shortly transferring across to South’s where he stayed through to A-grade.
He continued to play a high level of rugby league in and around Mackay until a spate of injuries forced him out of the sport in his early 20’s.
Brad wrote songs on a hand-me-down guitar to entertain mates on weekends, before and after football.
Time off the footy field was spent jamming with team mate Scott Rehein and his younger brother Dean.
“We formed a covers band and began playing around at local pubs and clubs in Mackay, we had a lot of fun” he said.
Having finished school and unable to pursue a career in sport, Brad went and did the right thing – he learned a trade, got a job and earned a living.
Fresh from school Brad accepted a cabinet-making apprenticeship with Riverview Kitchens, owned by Graeme & Joyce Bloomfield.
Over the next four years he diligently applied himself and learnt the trade.
Creatively, Brad found relief in his music and long days on the factory floor were followed by even longer evenings writing songs, playing his guitar and singing.
With a cabinetry trade qualified and completed Brad packed up his tools and headed west to the mines in Central Queensland, in search of something new, where he worked for a local crane hire company.
A country-boy at heart, Brad worked in Moranbah for the next three years until a near fatal accident involving a crane rollover motivated him to rethink his future, his place in it and his relationship with music.
For over a decade, he kept his voice and songs largely to himself, privately honing a singer/songwriter style that mixed the working class grit of Spingsteen with the tender expression of Ray LaMontagne.
From the confines of a coalmine crane a once shared adage kept rattling his brain: Find your obsession, make it your profession and you’ll never work a day in your life.
Certain he had found his life's calling, Brad opened PJB cabinets a business he held for the next three years.
“I had to learn a lot, making plenty of mistakes,” he said.
“At one time playing music around town on weekends is what helped keep the business afloat.”
But times were tough for anyone in small business then and after 3 hard years Brad decided to close the doors and head back to the mines working a week on week off roster at Lake Vermont Mine which allowed him to focus on developing his songwriting during his days-off.
In between managing his music and cabinet-making careers Brad married long time sweetheart Erin Zeitsch.
In January 2011, with the flexibility of Brad’s fly-in fly-out (FIFO) roster, he and wife Erin moved to Brisbane to accommodate his growing audience base.
A year later he had released his acclaimed self-titled debut album, which earned him a showcase at BIGSOUND, as well as supports and guest appearances alongside Busby Marou, Bill Chambers, Mark Seymour and Pete Murray.
Brad was nominated for 15 awards including CMC Australia’s New Oz Artist of the Year Award.
His music soon filled the homes of dozens of Australians who welcomed him as part of a year-long house concert series.
Music-lovers piled onto rural kitchen benches and spilled into suburban backyards, to share in the intimate tales of their own neighbourhoods from Tassie to the Territory.
His tour skyrocketed overseas with Brad performing shows in Canada, New York and New Jersey.
While his debut effort was a tribute to family, friendship, love, hope, loss and redemption, Brad explored new themes as he wrote prolifically for his forthcoming sophomore album, 'Jamestown'.
Recorded in New Jersey by Grammy award winning producer Marc Swersky (Joe Cocker, Diesel), Brad’s new album centres around themes of travel and the contrasting lifestyle of a FIFO worker.
At the core of it all is an uncomplicated country man striving to connect, inspire and remain true. Jamestown is set for a March 2015 release.
For more information on Brad’s music visit www.bradbutcher.com.
*The 2015 Queensland Music Awards is now open for entries with emerging and established musicians across all genres encouraged to submit their songs.
The QMAs accepts submissions from published and unpublished original songwriters across all genres with categories that include; Pop, Rock, Blues/Roots, Country, Urban, Folk/Singer Songwriter, World, Jazz, Electronic/Dance, Heavy, Schools (Grade 6 – 12), Children’s Music and the new Music Video category.
Entries for the QMAs close on Sunday 14 December 2014 and applicants can apply here:
http://www.qmusic.com.au/qldmusicawards/2015/
