A couple of years ago, before they were reborn as acoustic act Hoots & Hellmouth, Sean Hoots and Andrew Gray had grown weary of what Hoots calls “the rock ‘n’ roll game.”
“We both had similar experiences,” said Hoots, 32. “We were tired of the whole rock ethos, where image and what’s hip are larger than the music.”
Hoots, a North Carolina native, had just spent five years singing for Pilot Round the Sun. From 2000 to 2005, the band cut three albums and toured the country.
Gray, a Springfield Township, Pa., native, was coming off a four-year stint as guitarist in Mid Iron Blast Shaft.
Neither performer was quite ready to give up on playing music, however.
Fortunately for both, a mutual friend, Max Spiegel, was running an open-mic night at a West Chester, Pa., coffee shop, so Hoots and Gray got to hear each other.
“We realized our two styles really clicked,” Hoots said. “Mine was soulful, gospel-influenced stomp. His was laid-back, mellow finger-picking. They were yin and yang approaches, so we decided to combine them.”
Eventually Hoots & Hellmouth (Hellmouth is Gray’s nickname.) became a trio, adding mandolin player Rob Berliner.
Over the last year, Hoots & Hellmouth has become a hot commodity in Americana circles, touring all over. They visit Chicago on Monday night.
On its latest round of concerts, H&H is previewing material slated for the group’s sophomore CD.
“Right now, live, we don’t have a drummer,” Hoots said. “It’s just guitar, mandolin and a big bass — and plywood planks we stomp on.”
One of the new songs is “Just You and All of Us,” which Hoots described as “having an old string-band vibe, bouncy and soulful.”
“It’s about people in the country sick of living in the country who move to the city to escape, and vice versa, and then realizing they might as well get used to the fact they’re going to have to be around people no matter what and deal with people,” he said. “It’s me saying I’d like to make the world a little bigger.”
Another is “Dishpan Hands,” written by Gray and possessing, according to Hoots, “the pacing of an Otis Redding ballad.”
“The first line is brilliant — ‘In this kitchen all I see, are a thousand dishes and me,’ ” Hoots said. “It’s a picture of domesticity, but not too much.”
The group started recording its first proper CD, “Hoots & Hellmouth,” in June 2006 for Mad Dragon Records, which is part of Drexel University’s music industry program.
“We were experimenting with a bigger band, using three sisters as backup vocalists on some songs,” Hoots said. “Before, we had always been ragtag. This required a little more focus.”
The multifaceted disc is being played on more than 200 radio stations across the country, Hoots said.
HOOTS & HELLMOUTH
When: 8 p.m. Monday
Where: Schubas Tavern, 3159 N. Southport Ave.
