I was crushed to find out that I could’ve made the Drink Up Buttercup show (which started an hour and a half after their myspace said it would) when the adorable Meridith Valiando showed up to the Charleston (where I was DJing) and said I missed the best show ever. One listen to their songs on their myspace page and I’m certain that you will be hearing from this band very soon. They’re so fucking good! Read her review and get ready to be jealous!

(the above photo was taken at the cake shop in nyc back in january. it was too good not to share)

Center stage, mic is just over a foot off the ground, behind the low hung amplifier is a young scruffy boy crouching over a silver, Oscar the Grouch trash can lid holding maracas. The music starts and he crashes the shaker into the lid like a kid with a spoon and drum kit of pots and pans. The chaos builds as the long legged bassist stomps with stage-long strides back and forth making it unclear who is the leader of the band. Three of the four Bucks County rockers sing and swap mics, instruments, and places on the stage - the hustle and movement creates excitement in the crowd who believe they may be called upon next to front the band - towards the end I was thrown a tambourine which I slinked away from in fear I would not be able to keep up with the spastic tempo changes.

Drink Up Buttercup not only has a playful name, they have a playful stage show and sweet melodies doused in noisy stylings of trash can banging, passionate hand claps, and stage stomping that counters the strong pop songs with a jagged edge - The Beatles in a blender.

“Gods and Gentlemen” THE tune off the group’s EP and the showstopper of the night brings to mind Wolf Parade. The memorable chorus of “no’s” and the prominent melodica (mouth keyboard) was quirky and reminiscent of the cinematic scoring of Jon Brion in I Heart Huckabees. The show was strong, music catchy and I reckon Bucks County is giving the music world yet one more amazing band to join the ranks with Illinois, Dr. Dog, and the Eastern Conference Champs. The last song put a cherry on top as the band left the stage for the middle of the floor of the venue. The crowd formed a circle around them and as they strummed and banged on a trash can lid and demanded everyone chime in for a sing-a-long - and EVERYONE did - I felt like a little hipster girl scout.

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 6th, 2008 at 8:40 am and is filed under Live Shows. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.