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"They're so fucking good!" - ULTRAGRRRL
"Describe a band with the words "Beatles" and "pop" and people think they've got nothing to worry about. A little music hall piano, a clever turn of phrase, a few well-placed power chords, and there you have it: a pleasant but nonthreatening evening. Well, Drink up Buttercup may belong to the Beatles pop family, but it's made of more aggressive stuff. Signature song "Mr. Pie Eyes" rides a primal punk-ish lurch, all four band members slashing away at the same iron-giant-toppling riff. And when "Seasickness Pills" comes up, singer James Harvey works maniacally, guitar rampaging, tambourine banging and mike cowering before him. Visceral, exciting, theatrical, yes-but "Penny Lane" it definitely isn't."
© 2008 Jennifer Kelly - PHILADELPHIA WEEKLY
"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."
© 2008 Meridith Valiando - ALMACK’S DANCE HALL
"The Pennsylvania natives completely floored us with their Man Man meets Beatles meets O'Death meets Pink Floyd soundscapes. Drink Up Buttercup's live show incorporates ample shouting, rich harmonies, chaotic skedaddling and garbage pale demolition into one hypnotic and otherworldly conglomerate. Witnessing the collective's engaging performance was more than just a breath of fresh air. It somehow managed to lift all jadedness from our respective souls (a truly difficult feat, indeed)."
© 2008 Matt - THE MUSIC SLUT
"Riding high on a wave of pure adrenaline tempered with the steady ebb and flow of bloggers' off-the-cuff reviews of recent Gotham gigs, Drink Up Buttercup surf a riptide through Old City's frat boy-polluted undercurrent before dropping anchor in the Khyber's welcoming refuge. A New York residency-like the one Drink Up just wrapped up—can drive fear into the hearts of even the most seasoned veterans on the rock and roll battlefield. As relative infantrymen on the front lines, though, the boys in Drink Up continue to dodge not only blog-based barbs but big-ticket bullets and bayonets with impressive agility. It's almost ludicrous that a group of kids could garner the sheer amount of media fawning that's been basically foisted upon Drink Up-all before they even play their one-year anniversary show. Furthermore, critics citing comparisons ranging from Zappa to the Kinks and the Beach Boys in relation to a band with a 17-year-old drummer truly borders on lunacy. That said, it appears the lunatics are finally running the asylum-and it's about damn time. Drink Up has yet to even scratch the surface of their studio sound but they're already the reigning darlings of the underground press. Perhaps youth is the secret of the young."
© 2008 Joshua Valocchi - FISHTOWN SPIRIT
"Their sound is a grab bag of delicate chamber harmonies nestled in between swaggering boogies and gruff, drunken sing-a-longs, a mashup of the Beatles, early Pink Floyd and Captain Beefheart."
© 2008 Mike Grimes - EAR FARM
"If you've never seen Drink Up Buttercup, you better have a damn good excuse. The Bucks County natives mix Beatle's-style pop music with gigantic psychedelic waves of perfection that seem to drip from somewhere in space. Like the perfect combination of 60s catchiness and 70s weirdness, Drink Up Buttercup pose the question, what if John Lennon snuck into Gentle Giant?"
© 2007 David "Scout" Tafoya - STAGGERED WORKS
"Roustabout! promoter Jesse Ruegg said he checked the band out after its performance at the State Theatre and was hooked on the strength of Drink Up Buttercup's "ramshackle kind of experimental sound."
"It's like a poppier version of Animal Collective, or a more manic version of the Beach Boys."
© 2008 Adam Clair - THE DAILY COLLEGIAN
"The psychedelic pop plied by Bucks County's half-teenaged Drink up Buttercup is as shadowy and sickly sweet as Village Green-era Kinks, and they've got the saloon-style piano, sideshow percussion and batty harmonies to drive the comparison home. Behind it all, of course, is a tuneful glare that jumps out like a 3-D movie. "Evil Pink Sunshine" and "Alien Toes", namely, inhabit their own freaky universe with a leering slant on fringe-pop worthy of Elephant 6."
© 2007 Doug Wallen - PHILADELPHIA WEEKLY
"Sometimes when people use words like quirky or eclectic it doesn't always connote a positive thing. However as I think of these words to describe what these lo-fi demos sound like to me, I say it in only the most positive manner. This is the sound of a young band with an ambitious musical vision."
"Drink Up remind me of Love You era Beach Boys and early Frank Zappa. Drink Up!"
© 2007 Bruce Warren - PHILADELPHIA FREEDOM
"Without a moment to waste they started with the song "Mr. Pie Eyes" that was delivered with gusto, playing garbage cans, big shakers and their vocals in full throttle. Especially enthralling is their ability to slow things down and instantly pick up the velocity. They are FUN to watch.
They combine theatrics. experimental instrumentation and rough percussion with added Beatle like harmonies. Yes, their harmonies and vocals are always on pitch and that good. They sound like Animal Collective goes pop.
It is great to see a young band with so much promise and enthusiasm, who are eager and ready to make somebody's day. They made mine."
© 2007 Artifact - OBSESSION COLLECTION
