Sophomore efforts can be a bit of a challenge for a lot of bands. After the glow of a successful debut album wears off, the reality that you’re expected to bottle that magic again begins to set in. But that pressure didn’t phase Houndmouth, at least not in a way that reduced the quality of their art.
Following the critical success of 2013’s From The Hills Below the City, Houndmouth–Matt Myers (guitar), Shane Cody (drums), Katie Toupin (keys) and Zak Appleby (bass)–reached out to renowned Americana producer Dave Cobb for some help with their next record. The result was Little Neon Limelight, an excellent collection of songs that finds the group experimenting with new production techniques while still maintaining the down home, everyman sound of their debut. The ensemble (and they truly are an ensemble, all four members share songwriting and singing duties) even scored their first radio hit in “Sedona,” a catchy ode to the ups and downs of Tinseltown.
Houndmouth will bring their tour to New Orleans on Thursday, October 1, when they headline a show at Tipitina’s with support from Basia Bulat (Tickets are available here). I caught up with frontman Matt Myers for a quick chat about their upcoming New Orleans gig, writing songs with Wikipedia, playing instruments in the age of laptops and more.
You guys have a show in New Orleans coming up. Do you have any experience with the city?
New Orleans, yeah. We played Gasa Gasa one night. Actually, we wrote “Sedona” in New Orleans. I think it was in the Gasa Gasa green room. We were probably reading Wikipedia or something.
Is Wikipedia usually a part of your songwriting process?
Not always, but it’s there so we might as well use it. [Laughs].
What is the songwriting process usually like for y’all?
Everybody writes separately then we all kind of get together and bring up our stuff. That’s when you can tell if a song is good or not. But we don’t usually write together. Sometimes we do. We wrote “Krampus” together, but that song only has one line.
How has the tour been going for you guys so far?
We’re on the first week of the tour. We’re in New York right now. We try to pack our schedule while we’re here. The Pope’s in town today, so there’s that. They wouldn’t let us cross over from Brooklyn. We tried to get into the city with a bus and trailer, but they wouldn’t let us in because of the Pope and Obama. It’s been a hell of a time getting around.
I saw you guys at Bonnaroo earlier this summer and the show was packed, the energy was great. How was the festival circuit for you guys this summer?
It was real fun. Well, bands can’t really have a bad show per se at Bonnaroo, but I didn’t feel good about the set. I was kind of bummed afterward. The reception was really good, but it took me a while to get over that. It was really packed in that tent. It was warm and nice, but I wish I’d played better. Though I feel like nobody really notices at festivals, so you can get away with it.
Now that y’all are touring on your second album, have you noticed bigger crowds at festivals?
Definitely. Especially now because of the radio plays and stuff like that. Things are getting pushed a bit harder and we’re starting to get our foot in, I think.
What’s it like to be a folk rock band on the rise in an era dominated by electronic music?
I don’t know, we just play instruments. I kind of envy what electronic music is and I would like to experiment with a lot of stuff, but we just haven’t gotten into it. On this last record, we got into some mellotron weird stuff. I don’t know though, I guess it’s just the way the world is moving. I like it, but I also just like playing those classic instruments like drums, bass, guitar and keys. So I’m not sure. I guess we set out to experiment with sounds on the last record.
Do you ever get the feeling that, for some younger audiences, traditional instrumentation like Houndmouth’s actually seems like more of a novelty than electronic music made with laptops?
[Laughs] Maybe. That’s kind of weird to think about. I just love that classic sound, but I guess there’s only so much you can do with it. I guess it all depends on the approach. I know it definitely hasn’t become a novelty yet, but it would be strange to think about if that was to become a novelty. It would just be so fucking crazy.
On the track “My Cousin Greg,” there’s a refrain of “If you want to live the good life / then you better stay away from the limelight.” Is that just a great line or has the limelight really been more than you bargained for?
Yeah, kind of. I mean, we’re not famous or anything, but yeah. Especially when the radio play started to happen. I went out to watch the band opening for us at a show, and a lot of people came in and started talking really loudly. And it was like, if I don’t engage with someone then I’m an asshole, but if I do engage it’ll be loud and it’ll interrupt the set so I’m also an asshole. It’s kind of a no win when you have attention on yourself. It’s a really tricky position to be in.
What’s next for you guys after this tour wraps up? Is there another album in the works?
Eventually. We’ve got a lot more touring behind this record and then hopefully we’ll get some time, maybe early next year or middle of next year, to do some stuff.
