{"id":18731,"date":"2014-11-12T17:42:10","date_gmt":"2014-11-12T22:42:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=18731"},"modified":"2015-11-10T14:07:09","modified_gmt":"2015-11-10T19:07:09","slug":"the-cooters-20th-anniversary-local-band-celebrating-milestone-nov-21-at-proud-larrys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/the-cooters-20th-anniversary-local-band-celebrating-milestone-nov-21-at-proud-larrys\/","title":{"rendered":"The Cooters 20th Anniversary: Local Band Celebrating Milestone Nov. 21 at Proud Larry’s"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"scanCooters-1\"<\/a>
Raw Cooter & The Tennessee Pride\u00a0at The Cooter Estate – July 15, 1993: Gentry Webb, Tyler Keith, Chris Robertson, and Newt Rayburn. (Photo: Dan Siskind)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Twenty years is a long time for an endeavor. Many marriages fail to last that long. A person born 20 years ago is deemed eligible to serve in the military and to vote. And for rock bands, only a handful manages to endure even half that time. Oxford\u2019s own punk metal outfit The Cooters<\/strong> represents one of just a few Mississippi bands that can make that claim.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"216Cooters_RockRollPatch\"<\/a>The three core members of The Cooters, Newt Rayburn<\/strong> (\u201cNeuter Cooter\u201d<\/strong>), Gentry Webb<\/strong> (\u201cRaw Cooter\u201d<\/strong>), and Michael Namorato<\/strong> (\u201cJudas Cooter\u201d<\/strong>), all born and raised in Oxford, have known each other since childhood. Having similar tastes in music, all three had been playing in various bands for years, and it was near inevitable that they would eventually come together as a unit.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1992, Mikey and Newt were already playing together in a band called The Backwoods Mississippi Anarchy Orchestra<\/strong> with friends Brian Walker<\/strong> and Tom Queyja<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Flyer_CooterFamilyEstate\"<\/a>\u201cWe played together for about a year,\u201d Newt said, \u201cand the band wasn\u2019t going anywhere really. Those three guys got together and decided that I was the problem, so they kicked me out of the band.\u201d The three remaining members changed their name to Bruthafiend<\/strong> and carried on.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gentry was playing bass guitar in a band called Nightmare on Sesame Street <\/strong>with Tait Graves<\/strong>, Chris Robertson<\/strong>, and Kwasi Buffington<\/strong>, but that eventually fell through as well, leaving Gentry looking for new opportunities.<\/span><\/p>\n

When Newt was booted from the Anarchy Orchestra, he decided to go for a drive to clear his head. \u201c[That] very night I was driving around Oxford and Gentry was walking down the street with his dogs,\u201d Newt said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"scanCooters-7\"<\/a>
The Cooters at Ardent Studios in Memphis, Tennessee, during the recording of their album, “The Moon Will Rise Again.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI knew that he wasn\u2019t playing with anybody. So I pretty much pulled over to the side of the road and said, \u2018We\u2019re starting a band together, dude.\u2019 And we ended up moving into a house on Highway 334 and started the first incarnation of The Cooters.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This precursor to the modern day Cooters was called Raw Cooter & The Tennessee Pride<\/strong>, and featured Tyler Keith<\/strong> on drums.<\/span><\/p>\n

The house on 334 was dubbed The Cooter Family Estate, and was their main rehearsal space, as well as party venue where they hosted house shows for other local bands. Robert Freeland <\/strong>and Chris Robertson were a big part of that scene. But about a year later, Tyler Keith left the band to join The Neckbones<\/strong>, and they brought in Jeff Lawrence<\/strong> as their new drummer, as well as Al Cotton<\/strong> and Jeff Allen<\/strong>. This led to another name change, and the group was now known as The Cooter Family Chaos Ensemble<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"216Cooters_ArtSketchy\"<\/a>\u201cThey were noise bands, for the most part. Like, really sloppy and noisy,\u201d said Gentry.<\/span><\/p>\n

Newt agreed with that sentiment. \u201cIn my mind,\u201d he said, \u201cwe were kind of a noise band.\u201d Newt cited Sonic Youth<\/strong>, Helios Creed<\/strong>, Neurosis<\/strong>, and Voivod<\/strong> as his favorite bands at the time.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s kind of where I was coming from, with the noise. We had songs, but it was a lot of improvising, too, just creating music on the spot, which was very popular in Oxford back then. There were a lot of jam bands and improvisation type things going on. It\u2019s not like that anymore.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Flyer_Phreds\"<\/a>Meanwhile, Mikey had left Bruthafiend due to a conflict of interest. \u201cIn the Fall of \u201994, I had a falling out with Bruthafiend. I [ran into] Gentry somewhere and he had heard about that falling out. So, he asked me to come play with them and I packed up my drums one Saturday before work. That\u2019s when we came up with \u2018Crusty,\u2019 the longest running Cooters song. So that was probably about October of 94. I just went over there and we hit it off. We had all played at some point together, so it just worked. They were bummed out that they had started a band and it fell apart, and I was bummed about what happened with Bryan and Tom, who were basically going around saying I was a rat and that I had betrayed them\u2014that\u2019s where the name Judas Cooter came from.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Newt recalled the story somewhat differently, that it was in fact August of that year and that Mikey approached them requesting to play drums. Either way, The Cooters\u2014Neuter, Raw, and Judas\u2014came together in 1994 and this lineup of the band is what we are celebrating now: the 20-year anniversary of Judas Cooter\u2019s entry to the band. The three have remained the nucleus for the last two decades, although there have occasionally been more members (more on that later).<\/span><\/p>\n

\"216Cooters2_withCooter\"<\/a>Oxford in the early 90s was a much different place than it is today. The Hoka Theater was the place to be. The Square in those days was much more rural, with hardware stores and drug stores in place of the bars we have today. \u201cCooter\u201d was a name given to Newt in high school by a friend who was making fun of him for hanging out on the Square. Back then, on the weekends, groups of teenagers, typically considered the \u201crednecks,\u201d would park on the Square in front of Nielson\u2019s Department Store and socialize, an activity that earned the nickname \u201cSquare squatting. Incidentally, \u201cSquare Squatting\u201d was a song written by George McConnell<\/strong> for the Kudzu Kings<\/strong>, and Cooter was the redneck from Dukes of Hazzard<\/em>, so that\u2019s where the name came from.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"scanCooters-18b\"<\/a>The first Cooters shows were mainly house shows, said Mikey. \u201cWe played July 4th at the Grandma\u2019s Attic house, right next to Local Color\u2014we called it The Padded Cell back then\u2014and we couldn\u2019t play any clubs so we were just having house parties all the time. We were too loud. We didn\u2019t really know what we were doing, we just wanted to rock and we thought we were immortal.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things about the early days of The Cooters is that we were kind of known as the party house in Oxford,\u201d said Newt. \u201cSo we had a lot of house parties, and we would have touring bands play at our house all the time. One time, the original members of Green Day played at our house. We had DDT play at our house, which is more commonly known now as The North Mississippi Allstars. Big Ass Truck played at our house. There were tons and tons of bands.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Flyer_BeforeIHangFirstShow\"<\/a>Bands from all over the place, including fellow Mississippi punk rockers Before I Hang<\/strong>, who will join The Cooters on the Proud Larry\u2019s<\/strong> stage for the big anniversary show. \u201cSome people like to think we\u2019re the longest-running band in Mississippi, but it\u2019s actually Before I Hang\u2014they\u2019ve been around a little bit longer than us,\u201d said Newt. \u201cI think maybe they started like a year before we did.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But Ron Shapiro<\/strong> gave them a home at The Hoka, and they played dozens of shows there in the early years, in addition to the infamous house parties. \u201cThe Cooters before the Hoka shut down probably played 30 shows there. If there was no Hoka, there\u2019d be no Cooters,\u201d said Mikey. \u201cRon didn\u2019t care as long as we played after midnight.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"scanCooters-12\"<\/a>
Gentry Webb, Max Hipp, and Tom Queyja playing at Proud Larry’s with The Cooters.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For the next ten years or so, The Cooters played widely throughout the Southeast, often for three-night stretches. They frequented Meridian, The Princess Theater in Columbus, Memphis, Nashville, Hattiesburg, and the Gulf Coast, among others. During this time, they self-released a 7\u201d vinyl, which featured \u201cCrusty\u201d and \u201cI Don\u2019t Know,\u201d and their first full-length CD, Invasion of the Cooters <\/em><\/strong>with help from musician friend Brad Boatwright<\/strong>, who later formed From Ashes Rise<\/strong>. In 1998, L.A.-based label T-Bones Records<\/strong> released The Moon Will Rise Again<\/em><\/strong>, again enlisting the talents of Boatwright, as well as Jim Spake<\/strong>. But then they had a hold-up on the next effort, which was recorded at Tom Quejya\u2019s studio, The Lip <\/strong>with Max Hipp <\/strong>(\u201cKin Cooter\u201d<\/strong>) and Queyja providing musical support.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"216Cooters_withImperialLeather\"<\/a>When The Cooters finally released the long-awaited album, Punk Metal<\/em><\/strong>, in 2004, they had been picked up by Minneapolis punk label Profane Existence<\/strong>, and decided to embark on their first tour outside of the Southeast. In 2005 and into 2006, they played about 15 shows in the Midwest with Swedish punk band Imperial Leather<\/strong>. Then, another tour in 2006 with Oregon label mates Happy Bastards<\/strong>, again in the Midwest. One standout show from that tour happened in Boston, Mikey recalls.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe played with this band I had never heard of called Mouth Sewn Shut<\/strong>. We had a really hard time finding this [venue]\u2014it was really weird; it was in a house in a suburb. Up to that point we hadn\u2019t had response like that before. It was a basement show, and there were so many people down there I couldn\u2019t even see the walls. And they were all over us. They had never heard of us but I had never seen people have that much fun. That band we played with\u2014Mouth Sewn Shut\u2014is probably still my favorite band we ever played with on a tour. They were just awesome. I remember me and Newt were looking in the basement window after we had packed everything up and I don\u2019t know how all these people fit in there, man, it was like this [tiny basement] and there were 100 people in there easy just going bonkers. We were playing on this makeshift little stage they had built and it was sinking in. I won\u2019t ever forget that. I still listen to them all the time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Brad<\/a>
Brad Boatright and The Cooters playing at The Longshot in Oxford, Mississippi. Photograph by Sandi Carson.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"scanCooters-3\"<\/a>Two years later, in 2008, The Cooters again teamed up with Max Hipp for another tour with Happy Bastards, this time on the West Coast to promote their 2006 release, Chaos or Bust<\/em><\/strong>. All the guys agree that the show in Oakland, California, was the highlight of the tour. \u201cNot just for the show itself but for the after party, said Mikey. \u201cNewt and Max [and their girlfriends, Nature and Jasmine] left and went somewhere but [Gentry and I] stayed and hung out with Dave [Edwardson] from Neurosis all night. Plus, one of our childhood friends, Chris Robertson, a.k.a. \u2018Skull,\u2019 we hung out with him, too.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Although Chaos or Bust <\/em>was the last full-length physical release for the band, they did release a digital EP called Sound and the Fury<\/em><\/strong> in 2010. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"scanCooters-14\"<\/a>
The Cooters playing at the Court Street Lounge in Tupelo, Mississippi.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s much harder for bands to sell records these days,\u201d Newt said. \u201cWe used to sell CDs for $20 easy, but now you can hardly even give them away. Gas prices are higher, but cover charges are still the same as they were in the 80s and 90s so touring is a lot more expensive.\u201d The Cooters have certainly seen the changes in the music industry over their 20 years of touring and recording.<\/span><\/p>\n

The three-piece has been working on some new recordings with Winn McElroy<\/strong> at Black Wings Studio<\/strong> this year. The project is at a standstill, but not for much longer. Gentry said, \u201cI decided to redo some guitar tracks out there, but nursing school is in the way, so it\u2019s hard for me to get time to do that. But this December I will finally have some time on my hands to finish it.\u201d Hopefully, a new Cooters album will be in our ears in just a few months; the release will definitely happen digitally but the band members don\u2019t yet know if (or what kind of) tangible recording will be available. Newt suggested that a crowd-funded, pre-sold vinyl is a possibility, but that decision is still forthcoming.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"216Cooters1\"<\/a>The Cooters are still going strong after 20 years together, still playing shows in Oxford and nearby. However, since the 2008 tour, Cooters shows have become more spaced out, almost like special occasions. The members all agree they\u2019d like to tour again, but as Gentry pointed out, \u201cDay jobs get in the way, more than anything. Family obligations and so forth.\u201d But Gentry will finish nursing school soon and is hoping for more flexibility once he\u2019s started a new job. The other members are optimistic about going on the road again, too\u2014perhaps next year after the record is completed and released. Gentry said, \u201cWe\u2019ll have a better picture of that in the coming months, I think.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

For now, the band is looking forward to playing at Proud Larry\u2019s. There are songs that they\u2019ve played since the beginning, and there are plenty of newer ones to rock out to. Each member has his own idea of what their favorite songs are.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"scanCooters-17\"<\/a>Mikey said, \u201cOf course, \u2018I Don\u2019t Give A F**k,\u2019 \u2018Bustin\u2019 Loose,\u2019 \u2018Life Like.\u2019 But probably it all comes back down to me for \u2018Crusty.\u2019 I guess it just has a nostalgia appeal to me, because 20 years is a long time. We\u2019ve got a lot of new songs now that I love\u2014\u2018High on the Hawg,\u2019 \u2018Danger.\u2019 But I would say that the two songs that always stand out to me and have the most sentimental value are \u2018Crusty\u2019 and \u2018Purge.\u2019 \u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Newt\u2019s said his favorite is, \u201cwhatever Cooters song we\u2019re playing at the moment. Because I work really hard on all of [them]. They\u2019re in the punk and metal realm, high octane rock \u2018n\u2019 roll realm, but they\u2019re all different. There\u2019s a lot of variety in our music.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"scanCooters-5\"<\/a>\u201c<\/strong>I always like to play \u2018Let\u2019s Rock Tonight,\u2019 \u201d said Gentry. \u201cBecause the show\u2019s starting, and it\u2019s a fun one to play. I get to just kind of play and not have to sing anything, really. Just some backups, and I can kind of start posing. I like playing them all.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Enduring for 20 years and watching not only Oxford\u2019s music scene but also the music industry in general change so drastically hasn\u2019t been easy, but The Cooters have rocked the entire time, and show no signs of letting up any time soon. This 20th anniversary show at Proud Larry\u2019s promises to be a raucous good time, with Hattiesburg rock veterans Before I Hang and Oxford\u2019s own The Heard<\/strong> opening up\u2014it\u2019s a triple threat! Come out to Larry\u2019s on the 21st and hear your<\/em> favorite Cooters song while showing your support for one of the longest-running bands in the state of Mississippi. \"The<\/a>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

More Cooters pics from over the years:<\/em><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
In the early part of 1994: The Cooter Family Chaos Ensemble. Top row: Jeff Allen (Linguine Buttafuoco), Newt Rayburn (Neuter Cooter), Gentry Webb (Raw Cooter). Bottom Row: Jeff Lawrence (Tikk Rikkets) and Al Cotten (Raven Mad Cooter).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"Flyer_2LiveCrewHaHa\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"scanCooters-16\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"scanCooters-15\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"scanCooters-6\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"scanCooters-2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"scanCooters-11\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"scanCooters-10\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"scanCooters-9\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"scanCooters-19\"<\/a>
The Cooters at Ardent Studios in Memphis, Tennessee in 1998 during the recording of their album, “The Moon Will Rise Again.” Left to Right: Mikey Namorato, Gentry Webb, Newt Rayburn, Producer Rick Clark, and Engineer Skidd Mills.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"scanCooters-4\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"scanCooters-20\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"scanCooters-13\"<\/a>
Tom Queyja playing with The Cooters.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"scanCooters-8\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"216Cooters_Cooters2014\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"216Cooters_QA_FavoriteSong-650w\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CootersMemories-692\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"216Cooters_MIkey2002\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"216Cooters_RawDD\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"216Cooters_Zoe\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"216Cooters_Mississippi\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Twenty years is a long time for an endeavor. Many marriages fail to last that long. A person<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18733,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[4677,4678,4668,4788,4222,4682,2975,2792,4688,4689,308,4658,4655,4702,4698,4661,4670,4666,4691,4785,4676,4791,4705,4699,4679,4690,3136,99,4696,2537,4671,4704,4683,4701,4695,4687,4669,4667,360,4694,66,4662,4707,4703,550,2837,4674,4652,4653,374,5,4692,4697,4664,4672,4654,15,4659,4,3140,4681,4686,3135,4792,53,489,4675,4706,4784,3512,4663,4786,4665,1409,4685,4790,4787,2000,4700,4680,3134,4660,4708,4684,4693,4789,4657,4656,187,249,649,4673,1959],"class_list":["post-18731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music-shows","tag-4677","tag-4678","tag-al-cotton","tag-ardent-studios","tag-backwoods-mississippi-anarchy-orchestra","tag-before-i-hang","tag-black-wings","tag-black-wings-studio","tag-brad-boatright","tag-brad-boatwright","tag-brian-walker","tag-bruthafiend","tag-bryan-walker","tag-bustin-loose","tag-chaos-or-bust","tag-chris-robertson","tag-cooter-family-chaos-ensemble","tag-cooter-family-estate","tag-cooters-records","tag-court-street-lounge","tag-crusty","tag-dan-siskind","tag-danger","tag-dave-edwardson","tag-dukes-of-hazzard","tag-from-ashes-rise","tag-gentry-webb","tag-george-mcconnell","tag-happy-bastards","tag-hattiesburg","tag-helios-creed","tag-high-on-the-hawg","tag-hoka","tag-i-dont-give-a-fuck","tag-imperial-leather","tag-invasion-of-the-cooters","tag-jeff-allen","tag-jeff-lawrence","tag-judas-cooter","tag-kin-cooter","tag-kudzu-kings","tag-kwasi-buffington","tag-lets-rock-tonight","tag-life-like","tag-max-hipp","tag-meridian","tag-metal","tag-michael-namorato","tag-mike-namorato","tag-mikey-namorato","tag-mississippi","tag-moon-will-rise-again","tag-mouth-sewn-shut","tag-neckbones","tag-neurosis","tag-neuter-cooter","tag-newt-rayburn","tag-nightmare-on-sesame-street","tag-oxford","tag-oxford-sounds","tag-padded-cell","tag-princess-theatre","tag-profane-existence","tag-profane-existence-records","tag-proud-larrys","tag-punk","tag-punk-metal","tag-purge","tag-rachel-phillips","tag-raw-cooter","tag-raw-cooter-the-tennessee-pride","tag-rick-clark","tag-robert-freeland","tag-ron-shapiro","tag-ronzo","tag-sean-schock","tag-skidd-mills","tag-sonic-youth","tag-sound-and-the-fury","tag-square-squatting","tag-t-bones-records","tag-tait-graves","tag-the-heard","tag-the-hoka","tag-the-lip","tag-the-moon-will-rise-again","tag-thomas-queyja","tag-tom-queyja","tag-tupelo","tag-tyler-keith","tag-vera-pa","tag-voivod","tag-winn-mcelroy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/216CootersFEATv2.jpg?fit=620%2C349&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18731\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}