buttercup

Founded in 1992, buttercup released four full length albums on Ron Schneiderman's Spirit of Orr records. Considered an outstanding americana act, (mojo, cmj, gaurdian, time out, village voice), until 2000 the rock group played happily on the fringes of the music scene with a series of fourth and fifth members providing guitar, steel and keys to the songs. Today the band as a fresh and energized power trio the 'cup will offer new recordings and a retrospective compilation of their music soon.Buttercup's first full length cd originated as an unaffiliated recording project intended for independent release as a cassette with original artwork by Tony "King Feeb" Fitzgerald and liner notes by Tom "Highwater Books" Devlin. The recordings for "Gold" were pulled together in fall and winter of '92 and '93 in the South Boston basement of Hugh O'Donovan. The place was a vacant storefront that Hugh had converted into a studio apartment with a makeshift recording paradise in the basement. There was a pizza place nearby, a coffee shop and plenty of on street parking. Mix in some beer and the occasional joint and you're talking every garage band's dream pad. All of Hugh's equipment was funky. He bought one of everything he needed for what he could afford. No tube mic pre's, only crappy digital reverb, and alot of 57's. Buttercup was mighty lucky to have his services and energy at this seminal time. Within a year he was running a business, booked solid, really busy, with paying customers and accumulating real equipment, forcing the band to bigger, "nicer," usually less happening pastures. The band self-produced "Gold" on an 8 track Tascam reel-to-reel. In order to get the requisite tracks packed in, tambourines, keys, layered, vox, even doubled drums on some tunes, the band often resorted to bouncing entire mixes to tracks 7 & 8 freeing up tracks 1-6 for more action. The result was a spontaneous album free from inhibition and full of commitment. In the winter of 1994 the band played a series of Tuesday night shows at the Plough and Stars in Cambridge. These were great shows free of a big stage or sound-man, intimate and full of energy. By the end of the run the place was packed and there was a fresh buzz going around Boston. The cassette was circulating and one listener, Larry "Tiger" Glaser passed it on to his business partner Ron Schneiderman of Surefire Distribution. Ron decided to release the cassette as a cd and put a ton of energy and vision into manufacturing, designing and promoting the album entitled "Gold." Needless to say the band was overjoyed and a bit surprised that someone cared enough to release the material. The cd was released in the Summer of 1996 after a year and a half of planning. In an early CMJ Jackpot review, Dawn Sutter wrote, "'Gold,' Buttercup's first release is a pop treasure. (their) stripped down, unorchestrated pop lets the songwriting speak for itself; actually it yells to get it's point accross. .. incorporating a lo-fi Raspberries vibe with a layer of Jayhawks-ian Americana twang running through the middle and sprinkles of Neil Young and Big Star on top." This isn't fools gold, it's the real thing. Jeff Copetas of No Depression wrote, "The last song on "Gold" seems is a suitable microcosm for what the band seems to be about. 'That Shirt' backs you into a corner of the ring and just socks you one with a hook that'll knock you senseless. Buni, chants the chorus "you're not so repulsive after all" all the while the band backing it up with the sound of 70's and 90's pop sharpness." Adding a note on Jim and Colleens signature harmonies, Copetas continued, "Buni and MacDonald's harmonies are sublime... it's truly something to behold."But how did the band come into existence? Many threads lead to this unlikely convergence of history and sound. One thing's for sure, every member of the band and all of the characters in this story were victims of 60's, 70's, and 80's American rock dreams. They also shared a geographical and historical moment, the early 90's Boston rock scene. A high school fan of Bowie, the Police, the Pretenders, and Led Zep growing up in a house full of blues, folk and jazz records, Jim's true awakening to ROCK came in 1989 when he left the band Blue Rhino where he was playing lead guitar for a band of older guys. (a'la the Police meet the Fix meet Living Colour), to join up with what he thought were a group of super cool rock gods "Smoke Shop" as their drummer on the promise to introduce the oft ridiculed double bass drums. These guys, Tom "Dirty Trucker" Baker, Tom "Scrapple" Scanlon, and Roland "Slubber" Smith educated him in what was happening in ROCK, Replacements, Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Junior, Sup Pop, Husker Du, and countless lesser knowns and locals. SMoke Shop were hard partying serious 24 year old rockers (ha!) some of whom had worked in college radio and knew what time it was musically. This was the kind of band that practiced three nights a week and went out to clubs on most of the other nights. At any rate it was too rocking to last and for reasons of youth and attitude it splintered. Baker, Buni, and Smith set out to form Pouch, a raunchy power-pop band that released two 7" singles on Jeff Pachman's Rockville label, one entitled "Stain City Sessions" named after their basement practice space which had what could only be described as a pathetic and useless sound barrier of stained old mattresses encirling the band leaning on the single sheathed sheetrock walls of a storage room of an Allston Basement. (the tale of how the mattresses were aquired is funny). The cigarette smoke and heaps of empties were probably grosser than the mattresses. There were regular poundings on the rear bulkhead door and the band would greet an incredulous flashlight waving policeman who would share a chuckle and ask us to cool it. Pouch was really LOUD and obnoxious fun. Meanwhile, across town there was a band called Slump. A great pop rock band fronted by multi-instrumentalist Dan "Heat Sink" Lech with Colleen "Union of Concerned Scientists" MacDonald handling bass and backing vocal duties. Jim first crossed paths with D & C on a shared bill at Bunrattys in Allston. Jim was impressed by Slump's rock solid mid tempo rock, good humour and sincerity, and their faithful cover of Pink Floyd's "Time." At the time Slump had one of the few natural drum talents around in Jeremy "Done Lying Down" Parker. The band was excellent. Strangely, when Jim moved to lead guitar in Pouch a few months later, Dan joined up as their new drummer, and Jim began moonlighting as drummer in Slump. Jim's move to guitar proved deadly for Pouch which was founded as a power trio and aleady had an outstanding frontman in Tom Baker. Everyone knows, one band of can only stand one leader. Pouch dissolved and Jim and Tom moved off to greener pastures both benefitting greatly from their three year rock'n'roll collaboration. Jim had already recorded solo material at Hugh O'Donovan's studio during Pouch's period of demise, so it wasn't long before Dan, Colleen, Hugh and Jim were all recording together in Southie. Jim had taken the high power rock of his Pouch days and incorporated his childhood roots/folk nice guy sensibilities with Dan's classic rock drumming, Colleen's lovely harmonies and rock solid bass chops, and Hugh's joyful guitar playing and aspirations as a producer: thus Buttercup was born. The band exemplified an approach to music that was thoughtful, pretty, sensitive, rocking and a bit irreverent. Jim loved listening to the new mixes on his ride home from Southie, through Dorchester, to West Roxbury in his '84 diesel VW rabbit. At this time he was career oriented, not, living with his divorced history professor dad in a creaky W. Rox house while attending grad school in American Studies, investigating the history of anthropology vis a vis pop culture, working as a carpenter and, oh yeah, starting another really promising rock band. Out to lunch? Most definitely. Strangely, with danger lurking at the door, the obsession with buttercup was enough to keep things moving in more or less of a good feeling direction. The band was receiving enough positive reinforcement from the outside to make the trip seem worthwhile. Ron's other partner Dave "Witch" Sweetapple hooked the band up with his old employer Tom "Mgmt" Johnston who set up a bunch of shows for the band, most notably a residency at the Mid East up with lots of cool guest bands and a fancy silk screened poster. Tom was a great supporter and did what he could for this average looking group of traditionalists. An association with him meant a sudden leap in status which led to more offers for shows at clubs etc. The band played a few shows in New York and had a meeting with a real lawyer who told us that he was sorry for being late to the meeting because he was on the phone with Fab Five Freddy but that the world was ready for and needed to hear buttercup. If we had any questions we could contact him with a category one or category two phone call depending on the level of urgency. Would their stoner highschool music head friends approve? MORE TO COME