RECORD RELEASE: JAMES BUTTON'S "MIDNIGHT SPECTACLE"
"Midnight Spectacle" is the latest full-length release by James Button. A collection of 8 dreamy, hazy psychedelic pop songs for elevating the mind & enjoying life.
James Button turned 30 on Feb. 3rd. But instead of planning a birthday party and opening presents, his idea of a party was releasing his second full-length album "Midnight Spectacle," to the social media masses. You might know his music from a previous moniker CONTINENTS, releasing his first full-length "Land of Plenty" in 2010 and "The Spiriting EP," in 2011 - both on The Record Machine. Visual artist by day and drummer for The Conquerors by night, Button is a one-man-band, writing, performing and producing all of his music in his home studio in KCMO. He refers to himself as a "cosmic feeler" in his Bandcamp artist description and references White Fence, Ty Segall and Thee Oh Sees as a source of inspiration for this album. So sit back and groove on "Midnight Spectacle," for some sweet sweet dopamine release!
On why he released his latest album on his 30th birthday: I had been working on it for almost three years and had two songs that I didn’t end up including but that I kept re-mixing. I was happy with the eight songs that were already finished and just decided to call it good as it was getting closer and closer to my birthday. It felt good. It was like a milestone in my life.
On when he started playing music: I started beating on pans and things when I was around 8 or 9. And then my grandma bought me some really crappy, toy kit when I was 10. And I think I ripped holes in all the drumheads until finally I got a real kit when I was 12. I was never trained really. And then I picked up guitar when I was 17 or 18 and started tinkering with songs. But I probably didn’t start really writing songs until I was like 20, 21 in college down in Florida when I was really bored and didn’t know anyone.
On writing/recording vs. playing live: I love recording and writing songs. I love the process of feeling out where things can go. I always tend to think of myself as a drummer first, so I always begin the writing process with a beat in mind. But the live thing is just a little less rewarding for me. I love playing drums live but trying to sing and play guitar is kind of stressful. I’ve never really reached that point of zen that I do when I play drums. So I kind of shy away from playing live and I’m not the type of person that wants to be in the spotlight in that way.
On changing his name from CONTINENTS to James Button: It’s funny, it’s one of those kind of epic names. It’s a testament to that time period, like 2011-2012. I wanted somethingpsychedelic that didn’t really mean anything in particular but it was just an epic word. And then these other bands came out, like Cults and Guards, and I just grew really tired of it.
So with this album, I was going to go under Jim Button, which is how my friends and everyone really knows me as. But I guess there’s a pop group in Berlin under that name and they just came out with some new video a couple months ago. I Googled it just to make sure and these people have like 14,000 hits on their video. There’s also a Scandinavian cartoon called Jim Button and it has this hilarious theme song. And also, James to me sounds cooler. I’ve always wanted to switch to that name because I think it sounds more distinguished!
