4/11/25.
I have a decided soft-spot for bands who resurface for one reason or another. For example, Salem 66's compilation came 35 years after the bands relative "heyday". Some bands reform and make a new album (Action Painting!), while others just reissue older work. Butter Utter look like their doing both.
Butter Utter were, according to their Bandcamp page, one of Sweden's first punk bands. And apparently at an early gig, attendees fled. The band was told they needed to learn to play their instruments better. 40 years later, they learned that punk doesn't have to be played great. It just needs to sound great. So the band released "Legacy" - a compilation of demos and rarities (released by Leonid Brezjnev Records - a label that has two releases to its name - both by...you guessed it, Butter Utter)
Honestly, this sounds great. I wish I could have been in Uppsala, Sweden in 1977 screaming "MORE"!!! Perhaps I could have helped change the trajectory of Swedish punk.
This doesn't sound like traditional punk. This is really the kind of genius that happens when musicians get together without too much of an idea of what they want to accomplish. So, in that way, "Legacy" reminds me of the sound of early Flying Nun - The Clean (listen to "Kejsarens nya kläder"), and The Chills. It's also reminiscent to some degree of the New York City punk scene captured so well by Ork Records (early Feelies, Television, etc.). The band also mention Nick Lowe as an early influence.
If you're in Sweden this August, it looks like you can catch them in Gävle.
