Indie rock gave me the belief that I could be in a band. It wasn’t about polish or perfection; it was about possibility. For me, that possibility first arrived in the slippery, sloppy sonic pleasures and clever, sideways lyrics of Pavement. At sixteen, driving around small-town Iowa, Pavement was my soundtrack. Their songs painted the world in new colors, smart and arty, but never pretentious and they whispered to me, you can do this too.
Little did I know, halfway around the world, Adem Kerimofski was having the same revelation in Australia. Pavement was opening his eyes too, but he also found himself drawn to another band, one much closer to where I was growing up, though I had somehow missed them at the time: Butterglory. Adem grabbed hold of this Midwest indie rock crew and never let go. Butterglory genius tilt on indie rock made them the only band Merge Records ever signed straight off a demo. If that doesn’t make you a believer, I don’t know what will.
And while both of us were being made into believers, Rudy Fischmann was already out there in indie rock bands himself, passing the torch forward, making someone else feel that same spark. That’s the beautiful thing about indie rock—it feels like one of the most inclusive forms of music. The point isn’t to be untouchable. The point is to make your 15-year-old self proud with the music you create. And without even realizing it, that’s what lights up another 15-year-old kid somewhere else, makes them believe they can do it too.
That’s what we talked about on Discograffiti Patreon only Podcast today: The Under-Appreciated Music of Butterglory. A conversation not just about one overlooked Midwest band, but about the bigger truth—that indie rock’s greatest gift isn’t only the songs, but the way it quietly convinces us, across oceans and small towns alike, that we belong here. That we can do it too.
Big thanks to Dave Gebroe for creating the greatest music podcast ever for music obsessives in Discograffiti
Listen to the podcast and join the patreon today - https://www.patreon.com/posts/226a-soldiers-of-139891406...
By Patrick Tape Fleming