Drink Up Buttercup – Green Room – Sunday, May 9th, 2010
Montreal’s own Key of K took the stage first, with their guitar-driven psychedelic tunes. The band consisted of three guitars and one drummer. Two of the band members were female which is always a nice bonus. Key of K’s drummer was rocking out on a lonely three-piece drum set, but managed to make it sound as complete as a full-sized kit. Although the girls both had songs on which they sang individually, the true magic occurred when their voices combined. Upon first listen, the layers of guitars wrapping over one another sounded interesting, but they quickly became a little bit dissonant and over-crowded upon further inspection. Key of K get an A+ for effort and perhaps with a few fine tunings and simplifications the rest of their marks will improve as well.
Next up was Montreal’s own Lights Off, a recent group created by The Stills guitarist Greg Paquet and Pat No, ex-Xavier Caffeine member. As soon as they took the stage, they immediately awakened the crowd from it’s cold weather blues. They had a more edgy, powerful sound the night’s openers, and were just straight up more rock’n'roll, which on this night was a good thing. They were delightfully upbeat and poppy, with roaring bass lines and solid drum fills. Singer Pat No kept us enthralled with his charismatic singing style, and had the audience, which was still quite small, captivated throughout the entire set.
Drink Up Buttercup‘s performance can be summed up in one word: intoxicating. Throughout the entire set it was impossible to shake off their contagious energy which plastered an everlasting big smile on my face. Although the crowd was somewhat sparse and a little spandoffish, the band still put on a wickedly entertaining show regardless. It’s almost a shame that they had to play a venue like Green Room, because front man Jim Harvey’s crystal clear and tremendously powerful vocals truly deserve a more grandiose and majestic venue. His vocal talents were especially apparent on the eerily devine “Lovers Play Dead”, where the four band members all sang together in perfect harmony. Mike T., the bands drummer, showed incredible multi-tasking ability as he used both hands to drum, as well as tap the tambourine that was clenched tight between his teeth. Bassist Ben Mazzochetti (who we recently had the pleasure of interviewing) looked like he was having the time of his life up on the stage, jumping around and absolutely loving every second of it. The four guys were a bit crowded on the small Green Room stage, and ended up knocking drum sets off the stage and bumping into each other on more than one occasion, but it was all in good fun. Their set ended with the infamous garbage-can smashing-session, with the whole band thundering about the stage and making as much noise as possible. One thing is for sure. The select few that did show up for this Sunday night romp will be able to say they knew about Drink Up Buttercup before everyone else. – Amelia Robitaille
Drink Up Buttercup
Lights Off
Key of K
Photography by David Gosselin
