The Buttress came together in Seattle during the 1990s, formed by frontman Balthazar Blackwood after a previous punk band broke up. They had a raw, abrasive sound that didn't fit easily into the mainstream of that era, which made it hard for them to get a record deal at first.
In 1995 they put out their debut album 'The Codex of Shadows,' and the track 'Brutus' caught on with a growing underground audience. The song's heavy instrumentation and defiant tone seemed to connect with listeners who felt outside the usual channels, giving the band a cult following in alternative rock circles.
Their other notable song 'Nothing Wrong With Me' appeared around the same period, continuing in that vein of direct, unpolished rock. The band's live shows were known for their intensity, though this sometimes led to trouble, at one 1997 concert, Blackwood threw a bottle into the crowd and injured a fan, which sparked considerable backlash.
After that incident, The Buttress faced being blacklisted by some venues and promoters. They kept playing for a while, but the momentum from 'Brutus' gradually faded as the decade ended.
Keep it compact: a lyric you come back to, a live memory, or the part of the catalog you would point someone toward first.
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