MONEY

Nashville's underground music finds spotlight in the shadows

Nate Rau
USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee
Travis Caffrey and Michael Sadler of The Chewers are curators of the “evil demon home" known as the Mouthhole.

Not all rock and roll belongs on a bright shining stage, or as the centerpiece of an advertisement by the Nashville Convention and Visitors Corp.

Some rock and roll belongs in the shadows, in basements and garages, in dingy corners of Nashville where Music Row executives would not dare venture.

The city’s government, media outlets, public relations firms and marketing gurus have neatly crafted a new narrative in recent years, one about the “other” side of Nashville. But while they may come from different genres, the bands most often offered up to prove the city’s musical diversity often have one thing in common — they are commercially mainstream.

Standing in direct opposition to the glitz and capitalism of Nashville’s music industry is a growing undercurrent of off-the-grid music bands and underground music venues.

One such venue is the Mouthhole, in the basement of a home in North Nashville. (The Tennessean agreed not to identify the address of the venue in exchange for permission to visit and photograph there.).

The Mouthhole is the brainchild of the Chewers, an avant-garde, art-rock band with a style that stretches Nashville’s music landscape. The Chewers are the centerpiece of an art collective of bands, visual and performance artists, videographers and other creatives with an aesthetic that favors slasher flicks, gory comic books and no-frills music meant to be played loud on dingy concrete floors.

Aleisa Moussa, a videographer who helped film the Chewers’ most recent video, said she regularly goes to the Mouthhole regardless of who’s playing, knowing the music will probably be good.

“They’re really accepting anyway and it’s a non-intimidating place, even though it’s deemed to be an evil demon home,” Moussa said. “It’s actually really inclusive, and I honestly think it’s a treasure for Nashville — the fact they changed their house and lifestyle to a place where they have art going all of the time.”

Chewers ‘violent and funny’

The curators of this “evil demon home” are singer-guitarist Travis Caffrey and drummer Michael Sadler, who comprise the Chewers. Caffrey’s brother, Zac Caffrey, emcees shows, and all three contribute art that hangs on the basement walls.

Sadler and Travis Caffrey met at Marshall University in West Virginia where they were theater majors. They shared an appreciation for the same bands, mostly left-of-center artists — Captain Beefheart, the Butthole Surfers, the Residents and especially a reclusive underground singer-songwriter, Johnny Dowd, who has flirted with mainstream success.

They’re both self-taught on their instruments. Their music is simplistic in its lyrical approach (a song called “Dead Dads” about both their fathers dying within a few short years repeats the words, “Dead dads. Our dads are dead” for two minutes). Sonically, the Chewers sound like much more than a two-piece on recordings, incorporating harmonica, percussion, fiddle and droning guitars.

But for as minimalist as the band is musically, their approach to their live show is quite ambitious. At a recent performance, the band had two friends wearing giant papier-mache mouths over their heads slowly dancing around on stage.

In a decision that would go on to accurately reflect their music, they chose the name “the Chewers,” Caffrey said, because it was equally violent and funny. That’s the dichotomy of the Chewers — visually jarring and musically simple performances combined with sarcastic lyrics with an aesthetic pulled straight out of a pulpy, R-rated comic book.

“There’s a frustration that comes along with being here, and the way people do business, and the way bands are formed and the replication of a sound that everybody is going for,” Sadler said. “So by the time we get around to our thing, we’re not trying to make something different, but we don’t really have a choice. We make what we want to make, but we are inspired by frustration with our surroundings.

“Nashville is a great place for lots of music, but it’s not exactly diverse. And it’s not exactly welcoming to music that’s different most of the time. But there are pockets of that, of course.”

Mouthhole a gathering place for outsiders

Enter the Mouthhole. The Caffreys and Sadler went shopping for a house to rent knowing they would put a music venue in the basement. That made their requirements very specific. They didn’t want to be bad neighbors with noise or visitors parking.

They struck gold with the location of the Mouthhole in a North Nashville house at the end of a street tucked under a major interstate. Even on a night when about 30 people attended a show that featured mostly raucous music, one couldn’t hear a peep when approaching the driveway to their house.

The Mouthhole is always free, and although alcohol is served, the band is diligent about making sure minors do not drink.

The goal at the Mouthhole is to be a place for outsiders. Art, much of it by the Caffreys and Sadler, lines the walls. On a concert night, an artist sets up a table offering to paint portraits for $15. An April show featured a folky singer-songwriter, a cabaret rapper, a noisy surf rock band and, of course, the Chewers.

The Mouthhole is not home to self-conscious crowds — the audience is friendly and involved in the music.

“For other people who wanted to come, we wanted to make an underground place for that fringe artistic mindset,” Travis Caffrey said. “When we started the Mouthhole, we went to pretty much every house show venue we could find. The thing that felt missing was it was pretty much all the usual punk house, there’s s--- on the walls. But we try to curate something more or less.”

The Chewers perform at The Mouthhole.

Zac Caffrey said that while the vibe may seem casual and laid back for visitors, there is definitely some structure. He intros and outros every band. The hosts try to greet everyone who visits, and crowds reach into the hundreds for the largest shows. In addition to concerts, there have been plays, stand-up comedy and art showings. Most Mouthhole events are promoted on social media.

“We are trying to bring a sense of old school entertainment,” Zac Caffrey said. “It’s a house show, but we want there to be some Vegas showmanship to it.”

While the Chewers concede their music is not tailor made for mass appeal, they are not approaching their music as hobbyists. They’re trying to build a following, and hoping for the kinds of music business connections that all bands desire — managers, booking, record labels. It’s just that the partnerships would have to make sense and not intrude on the integrity of their music.

By creating a free venue that’s building fans, independent Nashville marketer and publicist Wes Davenport said the Chewers are actually employing a savvy business strategy. While there’s no band around town quite like the Chewers, Davenport said they’re part of a new trend in independent music that embraces bold visuals and incorporates dramatic performance art into concerts.

Davenport said he believes it’s crucial that Nashville’s music scene is broad enough to be welcoming to bands such as the Chewers.

“It’s the same thing as Austin and Portland as far as keeping those cities weird,” Davenport said. “Nashville needs that. It needs to be weird, it needs that for people who don’t conform to commercialized country or the big rock hits. It needs that as part of its soul and its spirit.”

Reach Nate Rau at 615-259-8094 and on Twitter @tnnaterau.