Episode 65: Demitasse & Buttercup RADIO

Episode 65: Demitasse & Buttercup RADIO

Thanks for tuning in to 210 Local media Podcast, I am your host, Mario Zamarron. In this episode, I wanted to bring you some music from Demitasse and Buttercup. For those in “the know,” both are connected via Erik Sanden and Joe Reyes, and have been a staple of the scene for over 10 years. The bios for both bands are way too long for me to read here, so be sure to check out the show notes and their pages on FaceBook. Coming up first, we received a request from our friend Laura Marie, also a musician and friend of the podcast, to play Demitasse’s Comfy Coffins.

So, diving right in, we’ll start with Comfy Coffins, Couples Therapy, Dear Diary, and Leave the House from Demitasse. After that, I’ll come back on to introduce Buttercup’s album, Captains Of Industry.

That was Erik Sanden and Joe Reyes’ band, Demitasse. Now, we’ve got their other band, along with bass player, Odie. For Buttercup, I wanted to focus in on their album Captains of Industry. The track list from the album is as follows;

Softest Strike
Instant Coffee Part 2
Suffer (No More Pain)
Flowers and Elephants
Sun In The Sky
Identity Theft

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Demitasse Bio: Demitasse is a two piece acoustic group. This is the side project for Erik Sanden and Joe Reyes of the Texas art rock band Buttercup. Singing at the very limits of their range, the band gets sherpa high, mixing melody, spoken word, and noise. The sound is somewhere between Simon and Garfunkel, Leonard Cohen, and the Beach Boys on a dark day. Or Elliott Smith on an extremely bright, sunny day. Or John Cage throwing his car keys at Yoko Ono.
The band records under a strict series of self-imposed rules: their "Vow of Chastity." These guidelines forbid the use of metronomes, click tracks, auto tuning, and unwarranted studio trickery. Being a two piece, they always record together as a duo: so any overdubs are done two at a time, simultaneously -- drums and piano, for instance. They always begin each session singing the lead vocals and harmony together, while playing guitar, and then proceed to build the rest of the song.

The live show is almost like beat era music: like two wide eyed, smiley poets, freaking out, but refusing to smash their guitars. Their set up is hyper minimal: two guitars, a drum, and an tiny plastic box. They've been able to travel to a gig on a tandem bicycle, or a scooter with a side car. They plan on touring the country one day in a Smart Car.

Hoping to cure sadness with sadness, Demitasse offers catharsis with their upbeat/downbeat melancholy songs: where audience members leave changed, and smiling.



Buttercup Bio - Buttercup, a life-affirming art-rock band from Texas, has written hundreds of original songs that NPR calls “jangly art rock for the left side of the brain.” Since 2004, the band has released 7 full length recordings and a DVD documentary. They have toured the US, and have shared the stage with Jonathan Richman, Elliott Smith, Rhett Miller (the Old 97s), Ian Moore, Jad Fair, The Apples in Stereo, Salim Nourallah, and Willie Nelson.

Buttercup is a trio of distinct personalities: singer Erik Sanden, guitarist Joe Reyes and bassist odie. The three joined forces in 2003 and have remained the best of friends. In this way, Buttercup is a real band, like U2 or the Osmonds, with long term membership (original members) and a large body of work. Erik Sanden functions largely as a frontman: he is terribly handsome, nigh-literate and his humor tends towards the absurd. Joe Reyes is famous for his unwavering smile, generous nature and, oh yeah, for his Grammy. Odie, a Texas treasure, brings unconventional voicings, deep sartorial sense, and rock-and-roll-animal power both to the bass and to his cooking (he has been known to craft high quality sandwiches on stage).

Buttercup’s live show blends visual art, performance art and installation. For example, the band often takes “phone calls” from a red rotary phone that has been rigged to function as a microphone. These conversations heighten the drama and narrative already wound into the show. The band once staged a live talk show with celebrity guests and comedic interviews. That night Sanden handled a snake on stage. On three separate occasions Buttercup delivered a signature piece, Audience of One, where individual audience members were led into a back room (all by their lonesome) and therapeutically prescribed songs depending on their specific musical needs. These unusual shows lead their fan base, affectionately called the “Buttercult”, to expect the unexpected.

The band has most recently recorded a full-length record of what Tiny Mix Tapes calls “minimalist pop” with producer Danny Reisch, scheduled for release in 2016. Their side project, Demitasse, was recently picked by NPR as one of the top bands to see at SXSW in 2015 and their song “Comfy Coffins” was featured on All Songs Considered. Currently, Buttercup is already deep into the recording of yet another record of louder original rock songs also slated for release in 2016. On this project Buttercup is joined by the Navaira brothers, Diego and Emilio Jr., sons of Tejano legend Emilio Navaira. Several songs will be mixed by Tim Palmer (U2, David Bowie, Tears for Fears).

website: www.buttercult.com
twitter: @buttercult
management: [email protected]
press: robert vickers, proxy media [email protected]
booking: joe estrada, upstart entertainment [email protected]


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