Photos by Sergio Estrada
“Who here is from LA?” says The Buttertones‘ lead singer Richard Araiza. Almost everyone’s hands go up and the crowd screams. “We’re from LA too”, he replies. On Friday, May 4, Los Angeles heartthrobs, The Buttertones, played to a sold out house at the Regent Theater for their record release show of the new album Midnight in a Moonless Dream. I’ve heard the band described as The Beatles of LA and I can see why. The five member group is pretty fucking dreamy and played moody, surf rock jams to a crowd of stoked (and stoned?) high schoolers. Not everyone at the show was in high school, but since it was all ages, I assume it was a good percentage. We arrived just as they started playing. There was only one opening band, Traps PS. This night was for The Buttertones.
Sergio and I made our way through the crowd to the front of the theater to take pictures. I snagged a spot on the left of the stage, while Sergio went into the photo pit. I watched proud parents of the band come through the side curtains and take photos and videos of their rock star sons. On stage, the group wore buttoned-up shirts and suit jackets, with clean cut, short hair, with the exception of drummer, Modeste ‘Cobi’ Cobián, who rocks long locks that he occasionally whips out of his face during their set. Told you they were dreamy. Lead singer, Richard, serenades the crowd with songs off the new album, including “Baby C4” and “Midnight in a Moonless Dream”, along with old favorites, like “Orpheus under the Influence” and “Sadie’s a Sadist”. The final song was a cover of “La Bamba”, sung by drummer Cobi. The crowd went wild! On the ride home, Sergio and I talked about how fun the show was and who our favorite band member was. It’s hard to choose just one. Who is your favorite Buttertone boy?
