CHIRP: The Chicago Independent Radio Project

Dustin Drase writes

The Birth of Buttflower

The final day of the Pitchfork Music Festival 2008, was a hot and sweaty affair filled with an exceptional array of talent. As the day wore on, folks hoping to catch a set by Cut Copy were told that the band had been delayed at the airport. Many immediately filed away in hopes of catching a prime spot for Spoon who were playing at the opposite side of the festival. Those who stayed were treated to an impromptu set by a band comprised of King Khan (of King Khan & the Shrines), Bradford Cox (Deerhunter), and Jered from the Ponys on drums. At first the band struggled through perhaps one of the worst renditions of a Bo Diddley song ever played. But as more and more people left the stage area, the band got better and better. At one point they were joined on vocals by Jay Reatard, who tore himself into a fit, flailing about wildly while writhing on the ground. After his guest stint, Jay Reatard retreated to the side of the stage, only to emerge later with a bouquet of flowers that a fan had brought up for King Khan. Jay Reatard promptly pulled down his pants and stuck the flowers into his butt before throwing the flowers into the audience. Stage hands wrangled him back behind one of the speakers where they stood guard to make sure he did not make another appearance.

Witness the birth….of Buttflower

Photo by Francis Chung

After the festival, Pitchfork interviewed King Khan and he had this to say about the performance.

Pitchfork: Let’s talk about your weekend at the Pitchfork Music Festival: You performed Saturday night at a local club, you put in a great Shrines set on Sunday afternoon, and instead of calling it a day, you performed double duty with Bradford Cox and Jay Reatard…

King Khan: Oh, are you talking about the birth of Buttflower?

Pitchfork: Well, I was wondering if we were in fact witnessing the dawn of some Traveling Wilburys-style supergroup.

King Khan: That’s basically the ultimate Kukamonga dream: It’s the future salvation of rock’n‘roll. We all played in the afternoon, so we had the whole day to just celebrate. I rarely get to see Jay Reatard nowadays, except for a show here and there once a year. I’ve known the guy since he was 17— it’s been nearly 12 years— and he’s like a brother; l love him. When the Cut Copy dudes didn’t show up on time, they sent this Jeep out and were like “Bradford Cox! King Khan! Get in the car! Do something on stage!” We had Jered from the Ponys there, and he was dressed up so beautifully in a white wife-beater. We started playing and Jay showed up, and we did some punk stuff, and then Jay miraculously licked the stem end of a Hawaiian flower and shoved it in his bum-bum, and thus Buttflower was born.

We’re actually going to do an album together now. We’ve all been friends for so long, and it’s just so great to be able unify in front of 20,000 people and watch your best friend stick a flower up his butt, and then spear-chuck it into the audience, and then almost get beaten up by security guards for throwing a flower at the audience!

You can read the full interview here