Going Home Again
Hoots & Hellmouth return to their Philly roots for a mid-December show to mark their 20th anniversary.
I’ve talked to, and written about, a fair few musicians over the years, but this is the first time I’ve written about a band that includes someone I’ve known for a long time. Mike Reilly—the bearded blond guy, pictured at the end of the bar—introduced me to Phish back in high school and, definitely possibly, took me to my first Laser Floyd show (which, last century, was a thing).
So when I was scrolling through upcoming shows at Ardmore Music Hall and saw Hoots & Hellmouth had an anniversary performance coming up on December 12, I was keen to reach out. My brain flooded with hipster questions like, “How does love of a craft evolve and change an artist’s work over time?” More than that, I wanted to know: “What does childhood passion put to work look like after 20 years?”
Turns out, it looks a lot like Hoots & Hellmouth.
Sean Hoots, a rural South Carolina native who moved to Chester County as a kid, and Pennsylvania-born Andrew “Hellmouth” Gray founded the band back in 2005, but both had been playing music long before. High school, middle school—Hoots even tells me about performing a rap in fifth grade, complete with Casio beats, about going to the grocery store.
Wikipedia describes Hoots & Hellmouth as “gospel rock,” but their sound defies easy description. No single genre can embody the synthesis of influences as varied as Elvis, The Beatles, and Otis Redding for Hoots, jam bands and theatrical musicals for Reilly, and Dead Kennedys for Gray.
The Ardmore show promises more than great tunes inspired by multiple American genres, but also the frenetic energy of a chosen family playing music just as loud as they please.
“I look forward to every show we play,” says multi-instrumentalist Rob Berliner, “but … this one seems to feel more important—like, we are really celebrating something that a lot of bands don’t get to do.”
“The last 10 years have included a lot of reflecting on the previous 10, and continuing to appreciate every opportunity to play for and with old friends,” says Reilly. “What is true about our band is true about every band, act, or artist that earns the love of its fans: the part that is special is concerned with the histories of everyone sharing the space, and the passing years are marked by remembrances of loud, joyful evenings spent together.”
Gray, who actually left the band in 2010 but rejoined in recent years, echoes reverence.
“Ardmore is such a wonderful venue to play,” he says. “To have such a warm and welcoming audience, our friends and family, to share in something we love doing all together, I’m really looking forward to a night with the people we love. When we’re together on stage, the chemistry there is not just musical, but the embodiment of what we all have when we’re together making sounds.”
“Anybody who’s been to one of our shows knows that it’s a completely heightened experience compared to anything we’ve ever recorded,” says Hoots. “There’s something in the live collaboration—feeling the vibrations from each other, the instruments, and the moment in the room.
“We’re very expressive, and we play with everything we’ve got,” he continues. “We leave it all out on the stage at our live shows. They’re sweaty, loud, soulful affairs. This one, we’re going to make it a really fun sort of celebration more than anything.”
As for what’s next for the band, it’s up in the air—a hopeful non-conclusion that lands in a space between “forward” and “farewell.”
“At the moment, we have no other shows on the books, or plans at all,” Hoots shares. “That’s kind of how it’s been for the last eight years. But things always come up. It’s not something we plan too heavily.
“We’ve never been a terribly serious band,” he adds, clarifying immediately: “We’re serious about being a band, but we don’t take ourselves too seriously.”
Published (and copyrighted) in Suburban Life, October 2025.
