Drink Up Buttercup

Emerging from Philadelphia in 2008, the quartet Drink Up Buttercup developed their psychedelic campfire rock inside a barn, only to be displaced by intrusive livestock onto the wider Pennsylvania music circuit. Swift comparisons surfaced to throwback titans including Frank Zappa, the Beach Boys, and the Beatles, even as the group mounted three-ring circus-inspired interactive live shows that incorporated trashcan banging and drunken hipster singalongs at every stop. A modern, punk-tinged quality nevertheless endured, suggesting Animal Collective or a more whimsical rendition of the Arcade Fire. James Harvey’s vocals—sometimes melodic, often delivered in playground screams—anchored the bass, keys, melodica, and can-smashing interchanges supplied by Farzad Houshiarnejad and Ben Money, while Mike Cammerata’s drums completed the band’s dizzying texture. Their first 7", Mr. Pie Eyes, surfaced in England on Make Mine late in 2008, with the American edition, Farewell Captain, following on Brooklyn’s Kanine Records in April 2009. After securing a slot on the Texas spring bill at SXSW, the group issued the EP Complications of Fractured Spooks and Breakables at the close of March 2009, offering a set of free MP3s through Daytrotter.com. The full-length debut, Born and Thrown on a Hook, appeared the next year.