Bottle Up and Go
BOTTLE UP & GO began at the Art School Pop Music Conservatory of Wesleyan University where, in their first performance at a basement talent show, they drove most of the crowd above ground. Their idea of pop music arrived in the form of a mosh pit that lasted 15 minutes for their 15 minute show, where the band was possessed by the spirit of Huddie Ledbetter and began demonically chanting his words fast and without breath, punk and unharmonized. Cult favorite quickly became Take This Hammer, way way before The Felice Brothers covered it...
Currently based out of a basement in Bushwick, Brooklyn, wedged between 99-cent wholesale vendors, BU&G consists of Keenan Mitchell (guitar, vocals), Fareed Sajan (drums) and saxophone accompaniment by either Lucas or his twin Andrew Carrico (alto and tenor respectively). The two-and-a-half piece neo primitive garage rock band is known across NYC for their frantic freak outs, described by various press sources as 'neanderthalic' and 'barbaric', often wondering through the crowd and breaking various kinds of alcohol containers.
Having toured the northeast several times, with friends such as Bear Hands, US Royalty, J.A.C.K. almost anywhere possible, BU&G play just as frantically to an empty room. The audience may wonder if they climb on top of their amps to scream when they are practicing alone in Fareed's bushwick basement. And they do. They seek to conjure the meaning of their lyrics with the movements of their bodies, and every death wish they sing about comes out in the frenetic seizures of movement that accompany their performance, as Keenan shakes like a drunk pentecostal preacher before collapsing to the floor in the middle of the audience.
There is no doubt that BU&G has a slight obsession with death and bones, taxidermy and bootleg whiskey. Keenan writes lyrics that mix the language of the bible with the spirit of ancient blues hollers, western iconography, murder ballads, drunken dreams, morning tremors, hospital visits, jail time--rhythms that are indisputably alive as they call for their own death. They are narratives that mix their own lives with the myths of their blues forefathers, and that emerge as neither, a new blues form that is as much a Leadbelly song as a noise collage. Saxophone lays tortured melodies on top of guitar played with a microphone stand, the drums beat their primal march, and blood drips on the stage from Fareed's hand and Keenan's knees, before easing into a gentle chorus where keenan sings, relieved and raw throated, "all my trials, lord, will soon be over."
Recently BU&G has been priveleged to perform with such touring acts as Crystal Antlers, Man Man, Deer Tick, Dead Meado, O'death, among others. You can hear their latest on the Jake Aron (recent clients include Yeasayer, Grizzly Bear, Acrylics) produced track Rather Be Dead, featuring percusion heavy driving rhythms, catchy self hating chorus.... The track is a preview from their soon to be released full length, due for a winter release. The band will also be heading to Vermont with Chris Edley (MGMT, Saul Williams) to shoot a music video for the track. In the meantime catch them at Pop Montreal, CMJ, or on their upcoming Decemeber tour with D.C. indie band Deleted Scenes....
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