Hoots & Hellmouth is an American band from

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, United States.

History

Hoots & Hellmouth was formed in 2005 by Sean Hoots and Andrew Gray. The formation of the band was partially a reaction to and a rebellion against the grandiose rock-star attitude of modern rock bands, with which they were previously involved. The group was initially started as a duo, playing roots music intended to evoke the revival feeling. They eventually expanded to four members after adding Pilot Round The Sun guitarist Rob Berliner and John Branigan. Most of the time, they play without a live drummer, instead stomping and using hand percussion such as

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though ...

s. The group's self-titled debut appeared in 2007 on

MAD Dragon Records The Music Industry Program Entities, or the MAD Dragon Music Group (MDMG), is an umbrella company owned by Drexel University, run by university students and overseen by faculty and staff. The purpose of the company is to provide industry experienc ...

, distributed by Warner. In early 2008, the album, ''Hoots & Hellmouth'', won in The 7th Annual Independent Music Awards for Best College Record Label Album. Their follow-up album, ''The Holy Open Secret'', was released in 2009. On Friday, August 21, as part of their months-long CD release tour, the band headlined their second

WXPN WXPN (88.5 FM) is a non-commercial, public radio station licensed to The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that broadcasts an adult album alternative (AAA) radio format, along with many other format shows ...

Free at Noon concert, playing an 8-song set. The show, which was videotaped for WHYY-TV's weekly On Canvas program, took place at World Cafe Live and was broadcast live via radio. On April 19, 2010 "The Window in the Woodshed" was unveiled on HootsandHellmouth.com. A video for unreleased new material titled "The Photograph is Still." In early November 2010 the band unveiled through their

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page,

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, and other media that they were no longer carried by a label. They had been working on new material for some time and still wished to release a new album. Their Kickstarter project, titled "It came from the woodshed!" was announced on November 5, 2010, with an initial goal of $6,000 to produce and record a 6-song EP. Eventually, when the pledged total reached the $10,000 mark on November 23, the band issued an update asking for fans to reach the $15,000 mark so a full LP could be produced. By December 6, 2010, the campaign achieved $23,882 and was listed in Kickstarter's Hall of Fame, which lists 100 of the most successful Kickstarter campaigns since the company's inception in 2009. The album is presumably set to be recorded in February, 2011, while they are on tour in

Ann Arbor, Michigan Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County, Michigan, Washtenaw County. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851. It is the principal city of the Ann Arbor ...

, which is where the band has studio time booked.

Members

*Sean Hoots - guitar, vocals *Rob Berliner - mandolin, banjo, piano, organ, vocals *Todd "Bud" Erk - upright and electric bass, vocals *Mike Reilly - drums, vocals

Discography

*''Hoots & Hellmouth'' (

, 2007) *''The Holy Open Secret'' (MAD Dragon Records, 2009) *''Face First In The Dirt'' (2011) *''Salt'' (2011) *''In The Trees Where I Can See'' (2016)

References

External links

Official site
*
Hoots & Hellmouth
at

Last.fm Last.fm is a music website founded in the United Kingdom in 2002. Using a music recommender system called "Audioscrobbler", Last.fm builds a detailed profile of each user's musical taste by recording details of the tracks the user listens to, e ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoots and Hellmouth American folk musical groups Musical groups from Philadelphia Musical groups from Pennsylvania MAD Dragon Records artists Independent Music Awards winners