New Albany, Ind.
Subliminal Band Influences
www.houndmouth.com

Houndmouth frequently earn comparisons to The Band, thanks to their laidback, country-rock step and multi-part harmonies. But, in actuality, the veteran Woodstock group is more of a “subliminal influence,” as drummer Shane Cody puts it. “None of us were really hardcore into ‘em until we starting getting the comparisons. Now that’s all we listen to.” The most important factor in the origins of the quartet – based in New Albany, Ind., just across the Ohio River from Louisville, Ky. – was a shared desire to escape the subdued music-making of their previous projects and join forces in something that felt more robust. “We were looking to jam out and get a little louder, play some shows,” Cody explains. The head of Rough Trade Records heard the band during a SXSW showcase in 2012 and their buzz traveled at the speed of Wi-Fi – from a Louisville blog to a booking agent to the venerable U.K. indie label, which released Houndmouth’s reverb-bathed debut album, From the Hills Below the City. “We were just so anxious because we’d all been doing these local gigs and none of us had ever toured before,” Cody says. “We just wanted to rent an RV and go, just to try it on.”

Houndmouth frequently earn comparisons to The Band, thanks to their laidback, country-rock step and multi-part harmonies. But actually…