Houndmouth talk live performances, traveling

Just a week and two days after the Houndmouth show Aug. 30 at Upland Brewery, frontman Matt Myers headed to a bar in his hometown of New Albany, Ind., for a beer.

The brew pub is home to the draft brew “Houndmouth,” named for the local band, which he said he doesn’t drink often because it would seem pretentious.

And even if it weren’t, he’s not given a free supply.

In the last year, Houndmouth has focused on traveling and performing, playing on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” and “The Late Show with David Letterman,” as well as at Lollapalooza, Forecastle and Bonnaroo summer music festivals.

At their Bloomington show, the band seemed at ease in front of their loyal hometown fans from New Albany.

A few minutes in, drummer Shane Cody raised a toast to all the New Albanians in the crowd, which received a rowdy response.

Before Houndmouth was formed, Myers studied general studies and minored in philosophy at Indiana University Southeast. 

The first stage of Myers’ musical career, however, involved him and fellow Houndmouth member Katie Toupin playing as a duo. They wrote songs and played gigs at wineries.

“Our souls were just dead, dying,” Myers said. “You can’t play original music at a place where people don’t want to hear original music.”

After the duo joined with Cody and bassist Zak Appleby two years ago, Houndmouth was formed.

Their album, “From the Hills Below the City” released this June, was recorded right across the river from their hometown in Louisville, Ky. The band recorded the LP in recording engineer Kevin Ratterman’s recording studio, now known as La La Land.

For the first half of the recording sessions, the apartment of the future La La Land was half-finished. The band, with their own hands and the guidance of Appleby, put down the hardwood floors, which Myers said was “more tedious than mowing the lawn.”

Myers said this year has built a foundation for future successes, and the band has grown stronger as a unit.

On the road, they said they’ve absorbed and been inspired by different things they’ve seen, all the while becoming more comfortable with each other.

Myers said by “writing more collectively,” they have developed a process of “stealing” each other’s ideas.

As Myers explained, if one of them shares an idea, someone else takes it and builds on it, and suddenly they’ve co-written new material.

This summer, Houndmouth performed with folk rock band Dawes at the Newport Folk Festival in Newport, R.I.

Myers said the group was accommodating, inviting him and his band members out following the performance.

“Their after-party was the best show I’ve ever seen, by far, and they’re the nicest people,” Myers said.

Myers described the skills guitarist Blake Mills, who played with Dawes at the festival,  as “probably the best guitar play I’ve ever seen.

“He inspired me to go back and start studying guitar more,” Myers said.

Follow reporter Shayna Goldsmith on Twitter @shaynahbg.