Houndmouth’s First Impressions of Each Other? Not Great

Two of Houndmouth's members, bassist Zak Appleby and guitarist Matt Myers, have known each other since they were in their late teens and early 20s -- and let's just say that their first impressions of each other were not particularly favorable.

"Probably, 'That son of a b---h!'" Appleby tells The Boot of what he first thought when he met Myers, prior to forming the Americana outfit together in 2011. Although Appleby was partially joking, Myers admits that's a pretty close interpretation.

"[Appleby] was a bartender. I think I was 19, so [he was] 21, I guess ... but his parents had a bar, and he was bartending, and I went in there because I wanted to play," Myers recalls. "I saw him, and I gave him my CD and was like, 'Can you pass this along to whoever?' and he was like, 'Yeah,' and he kind of gave this pretentious laugh or something.

"So I hated you at first," Myers adds, with Appleby confessing, "That sounds about right, honestly. I was probably an a--hole."

"But after that, we were all good," Myers notes.

Houndmouth released their debut album, From the Hills Below the City, in 2013, with their second record, Little Neon Limelight, debuting in 2015. The latter project's single "Sedona" has earned the band -- which also includes drummer Shane Cody and, until very recently, featured Katie Toupin on keyboards -- a No. 1 on the Billboard Adult Alternative Songs chart and Top 20 hits on the Rock Airplay and Alternative Songs charts.

The group isn't letting that sudden lineup change throw them: They're moving forward, as they would have no matter what.

"It's kind of refreshing to get a new sense of how the song is heard through somebody else's ears, you know?" Appleby says. "I mean, I think you kind of always have to look at the music differently, because if not, you're just playing the same s--t, and it gets old."

Adds Myers, "And still, we're playing the same stuff we've been playing for a year and a half, but with new ears on it and a new approach to it ... It's just like a rejuvenation."

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