Real Rock: The Buttertones – “Matadors”

The Buttertones

“Matador”

Gravedigging

From the first note, you know you’re listening to genius.  Sometimes the Buttertones sound like The Breeders, but then that sax comes in and the lead vocalists hits some notes that are amazing high.  As their press says:

The Buttertones started their own journey in 2011 as three music school misfits (or drinking buddies, they say) in the heart of
Hollywood, happy to learn how to to play, produce and perform but less excited about frequent go-nowhere conversations with classmates who had little interest in either the past or the future of music. So that’s why bassist Sean Redman (also a former member of Cherry Glazerr) felt like he’d lucked out when he found guitarist/singer Richard Araiza and
drummer/polyinstrumentalist Modesto ‘Cobi’ Cobiån: “Cobi and Richard were the first guys I met where I thought they knew what they were talking about,” he says. “They had good influences—they weren’t just trying to pander.

Their first rehearsals were in a Hollywood bedroom where Redman was living on an air mattress, then Araiza finally locked
down Boettcher—who he’d often see responding to the same casting calls as he did—to replace another guitarist who was
transitioning back to family life even as the Buttertones prepared their debut release, a self-titled cassette on L.A.’s garage-pop
Lolipop label. Then they absorbed sax player London Guzmån (formerly in Long Beach’s Wild Pack of Canaries with breakout local Rudy De Anda) after spotting him at a local DJ night, recruiting him for their sophomore album American Brunch—and discovering the kind chemistry they didn’t know they were
missing. Says Araiza: “We’re proud to be a legit band. It’s a very collaborative process—we rely on each other. I feel that’s rare
nowadays, especially with rock bands.” 

All I know, the chemistry that exists among these guys is amazing.  And Araiza has that voice that starts low and then squeaks in an amazing way.  Where have I been that I missed these guys?  I’ll tell you, I’m not missing anymore.