Rubblebucket

Rubblebucket sounds like a kaleidoscope looks -- a continually changing pattern of ebullient drum beats, harmonies and horn exclamations, led by the buoyant vocals and saxophone of Kalmia Traver and the hyperkinetic energy of trumpet player Alex Toth.
The musical couple formed Rubblebucket in 2007 after finding like-minded players at an art opening in a defunct milk bottling plant in Burlington, VT. Discontent with playing the typical accompanying roles so often assumed by horn players, the two built an eight-piece band with a vision to create pop-friendly music that embraces skill, complexity and atypical arrangements. Of their sound, Kalmia says, "We're children of this noisy age, with access to so much music from across time and space. We soak up all the sounds... what comes out can be un-predictable, but it will be uniquely ours."
After two years of non-stop touring, the group now calls Brooklyn home, even if it is just for short stints. Their inherently frenetic, communal performances are equal parts aural and visual. With often as many as ten people on stage including the usual guitar, bass, drums and keys plus trombone, trumpet, euphonium, sax, percussion and more, there is never a dull moment. The couple’s counterbalancing dynamic plays a big role. Kalmia rotates between hypnotic vocals and baritone sax while Alex indefatigably bounces from harmonies to a thundering floor tom to trumpet, which he often jumps into the crowd to play.
By 2009 Rubblebucket had won a Boston Music Award for Best Live Act, while SPIN declared the group a "must-hear artist from the 2009 CMJs”.
Meanwhile, their studio recordings show characteristics “of what’s been called the ‘Yes’ wave: an opposition to the ’90s ‘No’ wave, mainly consisting of people who are virtuosic on their instruments and focus on harmonious creations.” –Encore Magazine
On October 19, Rubblebucket continues this trend with the release of Triangular Daisies EP. The six-song set features a cover of the Beatle’s “Michelle” as well as the friendly, eponymous single, “Triangular Daisies”, written while the band took a brief time off from the road in the winter of 2010. Says Alex, “Love triangles occur on their own in nature. It’s sometimes sad, but it’s also true. Triangles are geometric and angular and pretty. We are triangular daisies. That is us: neurotic, deep feeling, love spirits filtered through trans-cosmic oblivion accumulators.”
To coincide with the EP release, Rubblebucket have planned a “Triangular Tour” featuring a weekend in San Francisco, a two-night Halloween special in Burlington, and stops along the entire East Coast, from Maine to Bear Creek Music Festival in Live Oak, FL.
BAND MEMBERS:
- Alex Toth- trumpet, vocals bandleader.
He sometimes has a mohawk with a quadruple side mohawk. And he loves Kalmia.
- Kalmia Traver- lead vocals, tenor sax
She loves reverie, berry-picking and skinny-dipping, pennywhistles and making artwork.
- Adam Dotson- trombone, vocals
He won an international euphonium competition at age fourteen and never wears shoes when he plays.
- Dave Cole- drums
Has also plays guitar and keyboards and has an amazing beard and smile. He also has a cyclops mask.
- Darby Wolf- keyboards
AKA Darbstar. He uses Goff organs and leslie speakers and is a vintage keyboard enthusiast.
- Craig Myers- percussion
He began playing percussion at age thirteen, and he has studied West African percussion extensively for ten years and traveled to Senegal, Mali, Cote Ivoire and Guinea. He's also taught and directed percussion groups in Hawaii and throughout Europe.
- Mark Stewart- bass
He spent much of his time as a fetus listening to his mom's classical bass stylings, and himself became a bass-giving device. He enjoys banana-flavored things.
- Ian Hersey- guitar
He lives in Brooklyn and recently bought a box of at least 15 Casio keyboards, and he takes them apart and fucks with them.