Jackboots: Music's jack-of-all-trades

Jackboots

Jackboots

KNOXVILLE — With its innate diversity of styles, gender and subject matter, local rock quartet Jackboots has acquired an equally diverse following, serving as the "show glue" for otherwise discordant multi-band bills. The band's open-mindedness in booking gigs has paired it with widely varying genres and audiences much to its benefit, as Jackboots offers something accessible yet assertive, and above all, memorable.

Jackboots' casual origins provide a window into its unapologetic songwriting. The offhand whim of starting a band exchanged between vocalist Lara Hitchcock and drummer Carissa Stolting upon their first meeting ultimately took shape two years later with the introduction of guitarist Adam McBryar and bassist Jeremiah LongBear. The melding of backgrounds and experience levels amongst the roster gave the group a distinct, all-encompassing sound which has drawn interest from fans of all genres.

"We are 'all-kinds' rock," describes Hitchcock. "We have punk rock, indie rock, classic rock, and I love musical theater. When you bring in all of that, people who like trained singing, people who like screaming, people who like a blues riff, people who like a strong beat can get it. We like all those things."

"We tend to always play with two bands that have no business playing shows with each other, but we kind of manage to tie them together somehow," adds LongBear. "For example, once we played in between an experimental band so experimental most people couldn't handle it and a jam band. How did those two bands get together? It must have been because our music kind of works with both, because they would never work together by themselves. Our music varies pretty extremely."

Jackboots' diversity is reflected in its lyrics, as each member contributes songs to the overall catalog. Irate songs are scattered amid sensual material amplified by the lounge-esque stage presence of Hitchcock.

"It just happens naturally, I think," says Hitchcock of the recurring themes. "Sex and violence is Freudian. It's been around for a while. Typically things that make you feel really sexy are also really easy to get upset about. It's much easier to write an angry song than a sweet song. Everything I've tried to write to somebody I'm not angry with and feel sweet toward has been (garbage). Someday I'd like to write a song that's happy and not just happy about smashing something."

Hoping to record by summer, Jackboots points out that forcing such progress conflicts with the simple concept that brought the group together. While the band has achieved many modest goals established during its short time together, at the forefront of Jackboots' to-do list is "have fun." The rest of the band's achievements are expected to follow naturally, as it subscribes to a supply-and-demand philosophy on performing and recording.

"We'd like to get some shirts and an album made and see how that goes," Stolting says. "If people want shirts and an album, we'll come up with some new goals. It's always better when someone asks you than when you ask them. When people start asking, 'Do you have an album for sale?' that's the best time to record."

Saturday night Jackboots will take the stage in what The Longbranch Saloon is calling its "Valentine's Day Show." Also scheduled to perform are Mother Mange, Ever Vigilant and Blasticus S.S. Blastica. The show kicks off at 8 p.m. and costs $5.

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