Soot
Back in pre-pandemic halcyon days, small-scale fests like Spewfest gave East Nashville music appreciators semi-regular crash courses on rising regional artists. But only the hardest partiers ever stuck around for the late-night acts — bands like Soot. Since 2015, the foursome has gleefully unleashed multi-guitar cacophony on the after-hours crowd.
However, performances filmed as part of The 5 Spot’s run of streaming shows gave other folks a glimpse into what Soot — still known at the time by their previous name, Lacquer — and other pavement-pounding small-venue regulars were up to. Of the dozens of gigs the club’s head honcho Todd Sherwood and his audiovisual crew captured, few hit harder than the one the quartet delivered in January 2021. Their set included a ferocious cover of Drive-By Truckers’ “Lookout Mountain” and an even more intense original called “The Family Gun,” a studio recording of which appears on Soot’s 2022 full-length Talons of Empathy.
Saturday, Soot co-headlines The Blue Room with local hardcore-and-metal agitators Waxed, commemorating Idlewild, the two groups’ new split 10-inch recorded by Israeli American guitar guru and All Them Witches consiglieri Elad Shapiro. Rapper Brian Brown and punks Circle K support. Ahead of the gig, Soot frontman-guitarist Micah Mathewson, his cousin and fellow six-stringer Cole Cosby, bassist Zane Lake and drummer Dan Hinkle caught up with the Scene over post-practice beers at Mickey’s in East Nashville.
What’s behind your name change from Lacquer to Soot?
Micah Mathewson: We got a cease-and-desist from an electronic artist from France who’d been inactive since 2001, but was about to do a split with Fischerspooner. He was like, “Could you just change it, because you’re small?” To be fair, we were. Are. [Laughs]
How far back do y’all go?
MM: I moved here from Knoxville 10 years ago. Zane moved shortly thereafter from Birmingham. Cole and I are cousins; he’s from near Chattanooga, and started playing in Lacquer at the tail end of 2015. Dan I met when I was in high school in Florida. He’s from Sarasota; we met in ’13, been music friends since then, but it’s been pretty effortless since we started.
Cole Cosby: My dad Craig taught Micah and I our first few chords, then set us loose. He’s a hobbyist, but taught us everything. We’d bring guitars to Thanksgiving starting at age 10, 11, and play.
Dan Hinkle: I’ve been in Nashville four years. I used to identify as a guitar player, but when I moved here, I realized the skill set of playing drums is a lot more in demand. Since starting playing in Soot, I’ve just tried to put my own spin on how [former drummer Luke Fedorko’s] parts were … hit the drums as hard as I can.
MM: There’s been a definite shift in the sound since Dan joined, in an organic way … leaning into things he loves. Momentum, drones … grooves.
Zane Lake: I love all kinds of metal, and try to utilize that with the bass. Lots of fuzz.
Was the material on Idlewild the first you’ve written together?
MM: Yeah, in this configuration. These songs feel like the best representation of where we’re at, right now.
DH: Not to get too sentimental, but I feel privileged. … These guys are my best friends. I got to see them at shows, now I get to play with them, and that feels pretty special.
Are the Waxed guys part of your extended local-music family?
MM: They’re newer friends, but while we’re drastically different in our approach to heavy music, it complements each other. They’re good boys. Real sweeties.
CC: Only intimidating from the outside.
ZL: Ultimate sentimental meatheads.
Is All Them Witches a major band for y’all?
MM: I worked at Eastside Music Supply for five, six years. We all have, at some point. [ATW guitarist] Ben [McLeod] recorded some of the early Lacquer stuff. [Drummer] Robby [Staebler] is Elad’s best friend; they have a band called UVWAYS. It’s incestuous.
I’d imagine being around all those pedals and guitars all day would make you contemplate your sound, make you want to try new things.
MM: Yeah, it helps a lot. [Laughs] Maybe too much.
Talons of Empathy is pretty intense — unhinged, sometimes.
CC: A COVID baby, for sure. A remote album.
ZL: Take a month, make it weirder. Do whatever we want.
MM: That’s an important aspect of Soot. Nothing’s off limits. Genuinely.
You’d do remixes? An acoustic song?
MM: Yeah, anything’s fair game. We just got off a Midwest tour that went well. The 10-inch is coming soon. That’s exciting. We’re doing the Northeast circuit in October, and the hope is that funds Talons of Empathy vinyl.
CC: The pandemic was actually a beautiful time for me. Since 2015 I’d been driving up from Chattanooga for rehearsals. Then when it all shut down, I finally got those dang ol’ Donnie dollars, saved up and moved [to Nashville].
MM: Serendipitous noise excursions are some of our favorite sounds. On the song “Monksdream,” Luke was recording a drum solo and there was echo delay on the microphone hitting his snare. … He picked up a trumpet, played some noise, and we kept it.
ZL: Then, on “Angels,” radio frequencies were bleeding into my fuzz. This cool old country song. That house had terrible electricity.
MM: But it was the fabric that held that album together.
CC: The sound of people going insane in a small COVID house.
A song that stuck out from your 5 Spot livestream was “The Family Gun.” What’s that one all about?
MM: Southern mania. Characters we’ve all met, coming into a room, occupying a story. Leonard Cohen, Gillian Welch, Tom Waits … influences I can’t help but incorporate.
Whose idea was the Drive-By Truckers cover?
ZL: They’re secretly a heavy band.
CC: That song got me through high school. Like, “Throw myself off Lookout Mountain.” “Oh shit, that’s 30 minutes from me. I’m thinking about it.” [Laughs]
ZL: On tour, I had the visceral realization that we’re so much more Southern than anyone else playing up here. We’ve embraced that ever since.
