Foot stomping, banjo picking, beautiful backup singing, and great story telling via lyrical and instrumental art defined the celebration of Hoots and Hellmouth’s Salt album release show at the Theater of Living Arts.
Opening the night was Michigan rockers Frontier Ruckus with a surprisingly eclectic sound with at the forefront folk vibes paired with Zachary Nichols’s trumpet manipulation, which exuded a flavorful Mexican brass demeanor. Nichols also wooed the crowd with the singing-saw as he stroked an aged handsaw with a fiddlestick. Matthew Milla caressed the guitar as he soothingly sang while David Jones maneuvered the banjo. Milla and Jones ended each song with a chest-to-chest finish.
Philly’s Buried Beds then took the stage and opened its performance with grand, repetitious claps and wooden drumstick clanks into feel good favorite “Breadcrumb Trail”. Serial killer song “Steady Hand” provided a much darker sound than the prior, yet still invited audience participation with its myriad of “whoa-oh’s.” Eliza Jones’ vocals provided a pleasant flow from song-to-song as Hallie Sianni played the role of femme fatale on the fiddle. Later in the performance, Dr. Dog’s Eric Slick joined in on the drumming and had many local friends and fans yelling, “Hi, Eric!” from the crowd.
As Hoots and Hellmouth set up the stage, the crowd chattered in surprise how their were drums for the performance. Upon the band’s entrance, “HOOTS” was incessantly chanted by audience with great anticipation. Hoots and Hellmouth played a mixture of songs from their new album Salt, the prior EP, and revisited old favorites from its self-titled album and The Holy Open Secret. The band rattled the crowd when they stomped out “Watch Your Mouth” with its harsh vocal chorus, while shortly after massaging the masses eardrums with “Roll, Brandywine, Roll”. With a solid two-song encore, Hoots and Hellmouth wanted to end the night “the way we end it on the new disc,” said Sean Hoots. “Being Borned Again” closed the evening, while the band ended the tune in a tranquil side-to-side sway, disoriented claps and hand-grasps to the rhythmic denouement, and soaked in the success of their celebration for the new album. You can also check out our photos from the event HERE. (Photo by Brandi Lukas)
