Feuds and Interludes (Rock ‘n’ Romance Legends #1)

Alt-Scene Magazine

August 2025

Feuds, Interludes, and Gratitude

by Krishnan Guruvayoor-Franklin

It’s a steamy summer evening on Frenchman Street in New Orleans. The chainsaw guitars blaring from speakers in the four corners of the ceiling and the buzz from tattoo needles provide the backdrop for my second exclusive interview with Shane Butler and Boone Collins, two remarkable musicians who spent the past year going from rivals to lovers to broken hearts to fiancés while their entire worlds were thrown into a maelstrom of family drama and professional upheaval. All of that is history now, according to Butler. He sits on a stool beside his reclined fiancé Collins, getting his hand squeezed to a pulp.

“You’re doing so well, babe,” he coos to Collins over and over, as veteran artist Jaylene Boudreaux works on shading the elaborate design Butler created for Collins. It’s a sweeping, colorful logo for their musical collaboration, Butler Collins and The Thompson Rhythm Section, and once Collins is done, Butler will be undergoing the process. It’s Collins’s first tattoo and he asked Butler to design it for him. Butler drew the design on Collins’s skin and, after five hours, Boudreaux has nearly finished.

“The plan had been to do a small tattoo first and see how I handled it, but we’re on a time crunch, so in order to not have a half-finished tattoo on tour, we went ahead with it now. And I’m totally fine.”

He doesn’t appear totally fine, but then, I recall getting my first tattoo at my husband’s urging. It was awful, yet totally worth it in the end.

I asked the songwriting duo if I could tag along tonight to ask them about their upcoming tour.

“Stellar spent the spring on the road doing festivals and shows in the U.S. and once we’d completed our commitments, we headed back to Bolder Breed Studios outside Portland and recorded the songs Shane and I had written together the year before. My bandmates Annie and Brandon Thompson welcomed Shane into our family and collaborated with us to make our songs even tighter, along with Morrison Jones, Leland Elliot, and Lydia Pride, who all share producer credits on the album.” Collins sucks in a breath and squeezes Butler’s hand tighter, this time with both of his hands.

“I know, this spot is tender,” Boudreaux says apologetically to Collins. “We’re almost done.”

Boudreaux is the wife of guitarist Devon Boudreaux, of the legendary metalcore band Maggie’s Bones, who Butler Collins will be accompanying on tour this fall. Butler is a longtime friend and collaborator with Boudreaux, and when the two met up at Rocktoberfest last fall, Boudreaux floated the idea of a co-headlining tour. Maggie’s Bones reunited for that festival and then went into the studio to record new material after their triumphant return to the stage. Devon Boudreaux stated that a lot of things had needed to line up before the band would be ready to play together again, and their success at the festival proved to the band that it was time.

But what does the future hold for Butler Collins?

“We’ll be on tour with Maggie’s Bones through the fall, and, if we survive and are still wild about each other, we’ll get married.” Collins smiles at Butler, who bends to kiss Collins’s hand.

“We’ve made it through a lot already. I’m confident we can survive anything.”

Over the previous year, in addition to Stellar’s tour, the pair have dealt with Collins’s health issues, Butler’s split with his band members in Wicked Soul, and the men’s grandparents, Vera Jean Collins and Bruce Duncan, eloped and set off on a world tour of their own with Duncan’s bandmates from the late-seventies band Brothers.

“We FaceTime with them every week and so far all is going well.” Collins winces one last time, and then Boudreaux announces she’s finished. She cleans him up and he stands, with Butler’s help, and takes a look at the finished product. I’m not at liberty to disclose where it’s located.

“You’re a goddess, Jaylene.”

She rolls her eyes. “Yeah, yeah. I’ve heard that before. I’ll be right back to start on you, Butler.” She leaves to take a break with her guitarist husband while their shop assistant, who I believe is Maggie’s Bones drummer Star Stevenson, cleans up her workstation.

When I ask Butler and Collins whether they see this musical collaboration taking the place of any future separate endeavors, and whether Stellar will continue, they merely look to one another.

“We’re taking this next year as it comes,” Butler remarks. “Too much worrying about the future and trying to control everything led to issues with us in the past, so we’re going to see how it goes.”

“Ask us after our wedding,” Collins calls over his shoulder while the shop boy-slash-metalcore drummer finishes bandaging his tattoo. Collins guzzles a bottle of water and attempts to get dressed without disturbing the bandage. I ask Butler if he has anything to add, but he seems to be preoccupied with watching his fiancé. I’ve spent enough time around musicians in love to know that this interview is over.

I’ll be covering the Butler Collins/Maggie’s Bones tour firsthand, as my husband’s band, Hush, will be joining them, along with opener, Ryan Wells and The Travelers. The tour is shaping up to be one of the most anticipated of the decade, so Stay Tuned for more…