Hoots and Hellmouth crosses demographic lines

By John Benson

Considering roots rockers Hoots and Hellmouth’s press release boasts something crazy like “gospel fury,” well, that’s something one must discuss early on in a conversation with one of the band members.

The opportunity comes quickly when Sean Hoots mentions the outfit’s upcoming spring release of its sophomore album, which is the follow-up to its 2007 self-titled debut. So, will the new album feature more gospel fury?

“Sure, I guess,” says Hoots, calling from his Philadelphia home. “I’d definitely say that it expands on the first album in a lot of ways and takes a lot of the themes that we were first toying with – all of the strains of Americana – and got a little bit more personal with it but it still has the soul and gospel vibe in there somewhere. I think that would be impossible to repress at this point.”

In case you haven’t figured it out, Hoots and Hellmouth – Hoots (acoustic guitar), Andrew “Hellmouth” Gray (acoustic guitar), Rob Berliner (mandolin) and Tim Celfo (upright bass) – isn’t your ordinary indie band. Built around three-part harmonies and foot stomps, this outfit has evolved quite a bit over the last three and a half years.

While its first album featured the upbeat “Want On Nothing,” the elegant “Backwoods Don’t Lie” and the folk-ish “Forks & Knives” tied up nicely with psychedelic organ sounds and intricately weaved vocals, the new effort finds the outfit feeling more comfortable in its skin.

“With our first album, we weren’t entirely sure who we were as a band and we were just starting to figure it out,” Hoots said. “We had a drummer that was playing with us live at the time, but we haven’t toured with a drummer in over two years. Now we use wooden platforms [stomp boards] with tambourines attached as we play our guitars. On the first record, we were sort of experimenting with these early forms of American music because none of us had really done that before.

“We were never trying to be a traditional band or a revivalist of any type of music, but at the same time we were sort of finding our feet and using the markers set before us to figure out where we were and how we were going to move forward. And I think this next record is us taking a step beyond that and moving forward with what we’ve learned.”

Still, the one description that continues to chase Hoots and Hellmouth’s around is its gospel tag, which Hoots expands to include a hint of soul music. In fact, he cites artists such as Johnny Cash, Aretha Franklin, Sam Cook, Al Green and especially Otis Redding as helping shape his sound and defining the real meaning of gospel music.

“Gospel is a feeling, a very deep, soulful, spiritual feeling,” Hoots said. “It doesn’t have to be connected to a particular tradition. Religiously speaking, none of us are practicing anything. But once everybody is singing along, it’s this transformative kind of power and to me that’s the gospel: the spirit when it stirs something deep inside of you in connection with the people around you as a group.

“A catharsis is going on, and it’s powerful and moving in a lot of ways. You don’t have to attach a specific name or culture to it. It’s a very human connection and we’ve seen it work across all kinds of demographic lines and at various shows. It’s pretty phenomenal.”