Lots of bands in Columbus, and elsewhere, have their genesis at a party of one kind or another, are born in camaraderie and celebration. But Drift Mouth is the only one that comes to mind that started with the seed of a retirement gift. Frontman and songwriter Lou Poster’s father was retiring from the mines of his homeland in West Virginia after 37 years, so he reached out to the secret weapon of many Columbus bands (including Bob City, The Means, and The Townsmen), multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Brad Swiniarski to create an EP of classic country covers and originals in that vein. That record for private consumption planted a seed that, 10 years later, has blossomed into one of Columbus’s most refreshing bands.
When Poster, veteran of bands that trafficked in snarling noise and gravel like I Have Mass, Grafton, and The Ferals, decided to explore that melancholy balladry in a more serious way, Swiniarski was the first call he made and as a drummer and harmony singer, it’s no exaggeration to say he’s the band’s heartbeat. From there, Poster went on to form a supergroup of other Columbus players. He started with Craig Davidson on guitar and lap steel, at the time fresh out of the scorched earth blues of Righteous Buck and the Skull Scorchers, drafted Mark Spurgeon from Greenhorn, Big Back 40, and The Mooncussers on lead guitar, and completed the lineup with Josh “Roscoe” Draher from Josh Kayser and the Razers on upright bass and backing vocals and Regan Tonti on harmonies. Craig Davidson speculated everyone was recruited into the band on the word everyone else in the band had already said yes, “Of course I want to be in a band with all those people.”
As anyone who’s seen Drift Mouth in their first few years as a band, it seemed like new songs appeared every show. That fountain of material has resulted in 17 songs tracked so far for two albums they’re working on. For recording so far, they’ve worked with Joe Viers of Sonic Lounge, whose work with Lydia Loveless on Bloodshot Records has earned more than warranted national acclaim and has rapidly become known as one of the best producers and strongest sets of ears in town. Poster said, “[Viers] will suggest, ‘I’m hearing something missing from that’… We’re pretty simpatico, Joe will suggest an idea and either we’re having the same idea or we haven’t gotten there yet.” The first flower of that intense recording is the 7″ being released to the world at Ace of Cups, “The Ghost of Paul Weaver.”
The A-side of the single, “The Ghost of Paul Weaver” uses a rich baritone melody and lacerating guitars that recalls Dave Alvin to tell the story of a man who never got along with his fellow citizens but still tried to stand up to the mining company. When the character ends up dead, as Poster says, “By the time the story’s been told in town enough times and people start asking questions and figuring out what really happened, there’s nobody left to prosecute and nobody left to care. After the minerals are gone, the only lasting testament is the roads they cut through the hills to get to the coal.” Haunting a desolate town that’s outlived its usefulness to the machine.
Poster and Davidson both have roots in coal mining country, as Davidson said, “My Dad got out one generation earlier. [My grandfather] signed a release for him to join the military and sent him to the Korean War because going into a war zone was better than going down into the mine.” They don’t shy away from the parallels in the towns they grew up near with a combination of beautiful country and economic devastation by forces that had no interest in investing in people with what’s currently happening with fracking. Davidson said, “Now they’re giving out $30,000 payouts to someone who’s never seen $30,000 in their life.” Lou, “And it lasts 14 months. The land’s gone forever. There’s a patch [back home] with a well-spring that’s provided all the water for over 100 years and if they allow fracking, it’s all tainted. They use ‘post-industrial brine’ to melt ice on roads, with radioactive material, that washes into the river.” That ability to draw connections and to find the modern in this classic country material is one of the elements that makes Drift Mouth stand out in a scene that’s always had a strong strain of Americana running through it. As Poster says, “These stories aren’t being told here.”
B-Side “I Suppose” opens with a capella vocal harmonies, worked out around his melodic conceptions by Swiniarski, Draher, and Tonti. Poster said, “We figured out pretty early on we could do those strong harmonies and wanted to write something that really showcases that.” When the band kicks in and dark shadows creep up, as Davidson says, “You realize this is the happiest song ever about a guy on death row.” Throughout, the gospel chords and harmonies recur, along with other religious allusions like waking up “in absolution” cutting through desolate images and a story the audience gets the impression is being deliberately left ambiguous like flashes of golden light. “I Suppose” does a great job of working with a narrator who’s not just unreliable but hints he has every reason to be deliberately unreliable while crafting enough of a story that draws the listener in. A combination of haunting images and a hummable melody that both stick in the head long after the record stops spinning.
While the songs are brought in by Poster in largely finished form, he understands and trusts the skill of the players. As he said in our interview, “There’s a reason it’s not called Lou Poster and Drift Mouth. When we started everything was very stripped down and over time we’ve gotten better about stepping into being loud and wrapping our own sonic history around the bare bones of the songs.” At the same time, Davidson commented, “With any of the songs Lou brings to us, we’re all capable of writing cool parts but we know it has to serve the story. For my part, I may start playing [guitar] over the whole song, then start stripping things away.”
For the release show, they’re throwing a celebration in the style of classic country reviews of yesteryear. With a side acoustic stage set up inside Ace of Cups, there will be bands every half hour until Drift Mouth takes the stage at midnight. Leading up to the main event are the acts the follow: First up at 8:00 is Paul and Ginny, a duo of Paul Goll (The Bygones) and Virginia Pishioneri (Redbuds). 8:25, Reverbalines, a collaboration of David Banbury and Eva Owen from Nom Tchotchkes with Matt Benz from The Sovines, The Beatdowns, and New Gentle Soul, on lead guitar, and Jason McKiernan, Poster’s old bandmate in Grafton, on drums. 9:00, is Zach Whitney solo and acoustic. 9:25, Columbus Stonesy rock veterans The Bygones take the stage. 10:15, Daniel Myers from Gallon House Congregation. 10:45, “Cotton Candi,” former member of Shark Fight and Carson Drew.
At 2:00pm on the day of the release show, January 29, Drift Mouth will perform live on WCBE 90.5fm.
Drift Mouth releases “The Ghost of Paul Weaver” on We Used to Drink Together Records at Ace of Cups on January 29, 2016. Doors are at 8:00 with music starting immediately. Tickets are $5 in advance and $7 at the door and can be purchased at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2484977