Trucker Mouth Interview

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Trucker Mouth‘s front man Tim Atkins took a little break from the studio and was kind enough to answer few of our questions.

Can you tell us a little bit of background on Trucker Mouth?

We actually all grew up in the same small town though it wasn’t until 2006 that the four of us came together as a band.  We’ve played together in different combinations over the years prior to Trucker Mouth.  Chad and Patrick had a couple projects together, Tim and Joe were in a band, Joe & Chad were in a band, so it was just a matter of time until the four of us got together.  It would have been nice if we figured this out a long time ago though.

You seem to be greatly influenced by The Black Crowes, any other major influences I missed?

Tim’s always been a pretty heavy Crowes fan. There are plenty of others and probably too many to list.  It’s a pretty diverse and broad list between the four of us covering just about every style, but we all seem to love the great classic rock bands from the 60’s & 70’s (Stones, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Hendrix), southern rock greats new & old (Lynyrd Skynyrd, Drive By Truckers, Allman Bros, we play a mean version of .38 Special’s “Hold on Loosely” which just never gets old) and some of the more recent Americana/Alt-country bands.   We don’t try to sound like anything in particular, but our influences add up and all seem to make “guest appearances” in our songs.

Trucker Mouth released self-titled debut album last year, have you been pleased with the fan reaction and reviews for it?

The responses we’ve received have all been positive, but being without a label we haven’t done much to promote the album and get the word out. The last year has kept us pretty busy with shows and song writing so there hasn’t been too much extra time for promoting the band.  We’d love to see more. It’s always great to read some real feedback. Recently Trucker Mouth has received some great press and growing album sales in Germany.

You guys are from Boston, which is a bit north from the Mason-Dixon Line. What kind of southern rock scene do you have there?

I got to tell you, it’s not a big one, if any in Boston.  The funny thing about up here though is that the further North of Boston you go the stronger the Southern rock scene.  The northern New England states offer plenty of country living & southern rock fans.  Boston does however have a really good Americana/Roots Rock thing going on here, which we tend to gravitate towards.

Have you seen any growth of popularity with southern rock over the past couple of years?

Well, for the classic more traditional southern rock, not really….those that were born to be Skynyrd & ZZ Top fans, become Skynyrd and ZZ Top fans.  Definitely with bands like The Black Crowes making a real resurgence with their last and recent album and the Drive By Truckers gaining popularity in places you wouldn’t expect, like the North East of the U.S.

There seems to be a fuzzier line with what is considered “Southern Rock” with some great bands, such as The Drive By Truckers, Widespread Panic, Gov’t Mule, My Morning Jacket, even Kings of Leon, and several others that bring southern influenced rock to the table. There definitely seems to be a growing popularity for this stuff. I guess it’s an evolving genre. Call it southern rock, call it rock, call it great!

Trucker Mouth just entered into the studio, when can we expect the new album?

We’re hoping to have it finished for the New Year, but we’re not setting a deadline for this one.  We want to spend our time and not rush anything.  There’s a lot we want to do with this album and the tracking is being done in a few different locations.  We’re excited about the material we have for it and have a few more songs in the works that should make this album.

Besides the new album, any other future plans for Trucker Mouth?

We’ll keep writing songs and playing shows. We’ve always thrown around the idea of bringing in some full time keys.

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