Saltine City

Saltine City is an alternative rock group from near Syracuse, New York, that formed in April 2008 as Sugar Crash. Formerly a musical collective and now a fixed ensemble, the current lineup consists of John Buterbaugh (guitar/bass/keys/other), Tom Droppa (guitar/bass), and Ryan Sayko (drums/percussion). The band draws its influences from British and American artists when writing originals for their two demo albums, Resolution and John Buterbaugh and Friends and for their upcoming studio album Saltine City.

Background
The band formed on April 4, 2008 as a fusion of two groups and two solo artists: Young Halogen (John Buterbaugh), Knee Deep in Corpses (Colin Wentworth and Shiva Sharma), Sean Cooper, and Mitch Lucas. John saw Colin's band on MyBand called Knee Deep in Corpses and John was interested because Young Halogen broke up. With Sean Cooper named as an official member of the group, John officially joined and successfully lobbied to change Colin's band's name to Sugar Crash. Mitch Lucas joined, bringing his guitar, keyboards, and ukelele playing skills. Colin's drummer Shiva was also a founding member.

However, Shiva Sharma left the band due to lack of faith after only a few weeks, later focusing on side project Framing Chris. Colin Wentworth was removed because he did not sing when asked. At the time, Jake Simmons joined, bringing in multi-instrumental skills in guitar, bass, drums, mandolin, and piano. Mitch left the band to become manager; Nick Simmons took his place but left shortly thereafter. The most dramatic departure was that of Sean Cooper, leading to a search for a bassist and drummer. During this vetting process, however, the band lost contact with Jake Simmons. Mitch Lucas offered to be bassist/keyboardist as well as be manager. Dan Lemp joined, and Shiva returned with his brother Kartik on guitar.

However, as the Skaneateles All-School Show approached, he could get not those three to play. Scott Bruening, Mark Cannucciari, and Tanner Scarr tentatively took their place as the All-School lineup. As John realized that Scott, Mark, and Tanner wouldn't play at the talent show, he hired Mitch Lucas as the bassist and Andrew Ebert as the drummer.

Kartik and Shiva left the band, causing the band to go on a short hiatus, while John continued to record demos. Eventually, John asked Kartik and Shiva to join the band again. However, Nick Simmons suggested that Jake Simmons and Ryan Sayko take their place. Still, the band was essentially a one-man band, leaving John to rename the band John Buterbaugh and Friends on October 8, 2009 to account for the constant lineup changes. The two Simmons cousins and Ryan Sayko backed John for the Pride Day concert and the Collective Car Challenge performers, but only Sayko remained.

John has completed recording of the lead singles, "Resolution" and "Quicksand," with drummer Ryan Sayko for the album Saltine City, which is due sometime in Summer 2011. Tom Droppa joined the group to record "Don't Worry About Me" and returned to play a show at Creekside as well as provide instrumentals for the rest of the album.

Flannel Fridays and Resolution (2008-9)
Originally, the band's first album, Resolution, existed as a digital album available on their ReverbNation account. 20 CDs of the album were pressed, and now the online catalog can only be streamed. Many of the songs are attributed to Buterbaugh/Cooper although John wrote a great deal of the songs by himself.

The band has received critical acclaim and their music has been described as "refreshing," "original," "a different way of looking at things," and "living up to its word." Many have stated that with some practice and better recording quality, the band will go far. Those who criticized the album say the keyboard drums plagued many of the tracks; a few criticized the band for its lack of technical skill. Nevertheless, many have praised the album for its originality and concentration on making good songs.

Track listing
All songs are written by John Buterbaugh except where noted.


 * 1) "Resolution" - 3:00
 * 2) "Mystery River" – 4:00
 * 3) "Forget the Night" – 3:35
 * 4) "Dharma" – 6:30 (John Buterbaugh, Sean Cooper, Jake Simmons)
 * 5) "Lonely Clouds" – 2:20 (Sean Cooper)
 * 6) "Vocal Minority/Silent Majority" – 4:30
 * 7) "Red Rose Princess" - 1:14
 * 8) "Deethang" – 1:49 (John Buterbaugh, Mitch Lucas, Dan Lemp)
 * 9) "Huluna" – 3:37 (John Buterbaugh, Sean Cooper)
 * 10) "School" – 7:55 (John Buterbaugh, Sean Cooper)
 * 11) "In My Trace" – 3:39
 * 12) "Today's Today" – 4:45
 * 13) "Vox Demos" - 3:51 (John Buterbaugh, Sean Cooper)
 * 14) "Voxfree Demos" - 3:38

Flannel Fridays and John Buterbaugh and Friends (January 2009-January 2010)
John Buterbaugh released demo album John Buterbaugh and Friends on December 7, 2009 to a limited audience, after moving from the original release date of December 1. Factors such as quality and equipment came into play and delayed the release of the album. John Buterbaugh and Phil Grimshaw of Wavemaster Studios in Marcellus, New York, produced and engineered. Two songs from Resolution were re-recorded for the album, and ten new songs appeared as well. The album features less electronic drum work, more guitar, and a more cohesive album structure than the first album, Resolution.

Track listing
All songs are written by John Buterbaugh.


 * 1) Resolution
 * 2) Mystery River
 * 3) Something There
 * 4) Pickup Song
 * 5) She Burns In My Soul
 * 6) It's You I Can't Get Enough Of
 * 7) Want You
 * 8) Nothing Can Erase This Moment
 * 9) Red Rose Princess
 * 10) One of These Days
 * 11) It'll Hurt Someday
 * 12) This Is How It Ends

Saltine City (January 2010-)
Saltine City will release their studio album debut in summer 2011 to iTunes, AmazonMP3, and Zune. All songs will be recorded with John Buterbaugh on vocals, guitar, and bass and with Ryan Sayko on percussion. "Don't Worry About Me" and "One of These Days" will feature good friend Tom Droppa on guitar. "Tom's work really added a new dimension to the song," said Buterbaugh. "This song went from this drippy, dreamy piece to a funk rock jam."

There is no word as to what song the trio will be recording next, but it is estimated that the song will be recorded in the middle of May. "I'll choose a song that the band can work with," says Buterbaugh.

"I'm not really trying to chart," John says, "But I would like to get noticed by listeners, and I can't expect someone to sign me when there is so much noise and not enough music in the system. I just need to make more music and that's exactly what I'll do."

Buterbaugh said that working in the studio with Droppa and Sayko was a pleasure. "They're interested, they know what they're doing, and they're committed. Musicians committed to help a group at this age are hard to find, and these two give me exactly that."

While recording their album, the group performed a show at Creekside Books and Coffee in Skaneateles. The concert was the first event at Creekside to be streamed live on the internet.

Track listing
''All lyrics are written by John Buterbaugh. All music written by Buterbaugh except where noted.''


 * 1) Resolution (3:13)
 * 2) Quicksand (2:49)
 * 3) One of These Days (3:18) (Buterbaugh/Droppa)
 * 4) Don't Worry About Me (4:10) (Buterbaugh/Droppa)
 * 5) She Burns In My Soul
 * 6) Standing in the Rain (?:??) (Buterbaugh/Droppa)
 * 7) Something There
 * 8) Mystery River
 * 9) Red Rose Princess
 * 10) Type X
 * 11) Don't Worry About Me [Loney House Version] (1:46)