The Cooters deserve to be worshipped. Their last disc The Moon Will Rise Again was so cool that I included it in my top of 2003. hands down this is an amazing band. Here is an interview I was lucky enough to do with these guys, who are funny, cool and hardworking musicians. You can check out their website and have a listen to the songs. And if you are so inclined, buy the disc. You won't regret it! The Cooters simply rule!

Neuter: Thanks Deanna! Its great to be doing this interview with you. I’m The Cooters bass guitarist. My name is Newt Rayburn, but I’m better known as Neuter Cooter. I’ll be answering your questions.

Deanna: The Cooters have been together since 1993. What was the impetus for forming a rock band?

Neuter: The impetus? I had a desire to express myself through music and art. I met up with Gentry Webb (aka Raw Cooter) in 1993 and armed with his blazing six string abuse and my booming bass, The Cooters was born. Tyler Keith (aka Enrique Jesus Suave del Cooter) was our original drummer and our mission was to experiment with music and noise. We took after bands like Sonic Youth, Crass, and Chrome in the early days. We even used a moog. We used slides and video at our performances from the get-go. Tyler decided he wanted to play guitar and he went on to form The Neckbones and The Preacher’s Kids. Mike Namorato (aka Judas Cooter) joined us in 1994 and we really started developing cutting-edge, heavy songs. We’ve released two albums and 7” record as a trio and are finishing up our third album now.

Deanna: The Moon Will Rise Again is a great album. I voted it best for 2003 but I now read it isn't actually a 2003 release. What's the history behind the album?

Neuter: The “Moon Rise” album was officially released in October of 2002, so I would say that it is essentially a 2003 release. But truth be told it was actually recorded at the end of 1998. The story of why the album took so long to release is complex, but I’ll try to break it down. In 1997 I was producing a compact disc compilation and magazine called the Southern Music Sampler. It was released by The Oxford American, which I was the Art Director. I met Rick Clark, a producer from Nashville through this project and we became friends. The Cooters had been working on the music for “Moon Rise” for a few years prior. Rick liked what we were doing and offered to produce an album for us at Ardent Studios in Memphis. Ardent is a world-class studio that has produced albums by ZZ Top, Led Zeppelin, and REM. It was a tremendous experience, but also tremendously expensive. We recorded most of the album in October of 1998. However, on January 6, 1999, our drummer Judas was sentenced to seven months at the Mississippi State Penitentiary Boot Camp for possession of once ounce of marijuana. Yes, you read that right, he went to boot camp at the pen for an ounce of weed. When Judas was released in Fall of 1999, The Cooters went on a touring tear for the next year, but unfortunately Judas violated his probation by failing a piss test. He went on house arrest in March of 2001 which meant he had a curfew that was imposed by an digital ankle bracelet that logs into the internet and tells the government you are at home. We still practiced daily that year, wrote most of our new album, and finished up the Moon Rise sessions with Tom Queyja. When Judas was released from house arrest on September 11, 2001, The Cooters went on another touring tear throughout 2002. We met Tim Ramenofski in Hattiesburg, MS on tour. He was the brilliant guitarist of the Nashville fusion rock band Loppybogimi (get their album if you can find it). He was running T-Bones Record Label and had found national success by producing and releasing Afroman’s “Because I Got High” record. We gave him a CD-R of “Moon Rise” and he raved about it and convinced us to release it on his label. Unfortunately, T-Bones lost its main distribution channel when Southwest went bankrupt. I hate to say it, but T-Bones hasn’t done much for us.

Deanna: I read on your site your work with Tom Queyja. What's so special about the relationship with Tom? How did you guys hook up?

Neuter: We grew up with Tom. We have all known each other since we were teenagers. He’s a great friend and a strong supporter of The Cooters. We all played in different bands with Tom before The Cooters was started. He’s a good guitarist and has a untapped voice. Tom built a recording studio in 2000 and wanted to record us. He helped The Cooters record a new album and now we are collaborating on a new record that Tom is signing lead. Tom’s not a full time member of The Cooters; he has his own jazz fusion band called Stoneface. But we like to play live with Tom every now and then. It’s a fun collaboration.

Deanna: Is your back catalogue available online? If there are items out of stock are you planning on re-releasing anything?

Neuter: Right now we have “The Moon Will Rise Again” CD and “Invasion of the Cooters,” our 1996 compact disc. There have been other 7” records and CD singles that have come out in the past, but none of them are currently available. Our main focus right now is to finish our new album, and find a label to release it. I would like to see some of our out-of-print material re-released someday, in addition to some great unreleased material from years past. But there are no plans at the moment to re-release anything.

Deanna: Your music is such a good blend of so many styles. There must have been some label buzz around you guys, especially with The Moon Will Rise Again. How are things going that way or would you prefer to do things DIY?

Neuter: We’ve done most everything D.I.Y. ourselves out of necessity. We aren’t opposed to finding the right label to help us. Our distribution to stores hasn’t worked out too well in the past so that’s something that we’d love to improve.

Deanna: What is the philosophy behind the band, including the name and the way you present yourselves on stage and in the studio?

Neuter: We just like to have fun, and enjoy playing in a band, even though a lot of our lyrics are influenced buy serious subjects. Our name, The Cooters, refers to certain types of turtle that are native to the South. The name "cooter" comes from "kuta", the word for turtle in several African dialects. Obviously, we get a kick out of the slang meanings of the word, too. Cooter makes the young people laugh and old fogies cringe! A lot of bands like to make a big, serious deal out of the image of their band. We don’t do that. Image means nothing. Mississippi is the most unlikely place to find a punk metal band, so we have to make fun of that fact. Seems like people have a pretty clichéd vision of Mississippi. We love to tap into that. Everyone is influenced by their surroundings. Our surroundings just happen to be Southern gothic, and you know what? Cliché‘s are based on reality.

Deanna: How do you feel about the current state of media concentration/ownership and where do you see bands such as yourselves in relation to this?

Neuter: We’re virtually at the bottom, if you lump us into the music industry as a whole. The internet seems like the only hope for competing with the conglomerates. We were lucky to launch our web page in 1995. It has helped tremendously. I don’t like the politics involved in radio and television. Clear Channel is evil, and like Wal-Mart, they are killing local color.

Deanna: What is the most memorable gig or tour you have done? Who did you most relate to? Who was the strangest?

Neuter: We’ve played some great shows with Nashville Pussy, The Groovie Ghoulies, Total Chaos, and Lost Goat. We’ve had some awesome times with bands like Antagonist Joe, From Ashes Rise, The Lewds, The Preacher’s Kids, Atomic Jefferson, and Ditch. We played a really strange festival last August. It was Montipaloosa in Monticello, Mississippi, with Seven Mary Three, Dishwalla, and Bad Company! That was a hoot! We played an interesting gig last Valentine’s Day. It was a Tribute to the Beatles’s “Abbey Road” Lp. A lot of musicians from North Mississippi were invited to recreate the album live. The Cooters did a rocking rendition of “Come Together.” We’ve also played some shows in previous years that resemble that scene in the Blues Brothers movie at Bob’s Country Bunker. We’ve also been known to just set up and play on city street. Luckily we haven’t got in trouble for that yet, knock on wood.

Deanna: What's the plans now after The Moon Will Rise Again? You guys appear to take fairly long breaks between releases. When is the next one coming out and how will it be different?

Neuter: I wouldn’t say we take breaks. We’ve spent a lot of time in the studio the last year or so. We are nearly finished mixing the new Cooters record. We’ve produced and recorded the entire project ourselves with the help of Tom Queyja. It is somewhat different from the Moon Rise album because it doesn’t have that big studio sound that we got at Ardent. But it is the most representative album of The Cooters so far. This new album is rawer, more rocking, lots of blazing guitar solos, plenty more vocals, and in your face lyrics of social discourse. I would say it sounds somewhat like Motorhead, MC5, Dead Kennedys, and Sepultura jamming together in a Mississippi Juke Joint! But its definitely a prime Cooters album.

Deanna: Your music is appealing to so many people across genres - stoner/metal/punk. How would you describe The Cooters sound? What is the typical audience member like who specifically goes to see you play?

Neuter: I call our music Punk Metal, but some people consider us stoner rock, stoner metal, or stoner punk. It all high-octane rock n roll. People who like The Cooters love punk, metal, rock n roll, and everything in between. But we also seem to appeal to music fans in general, not necessarily just rockers. Mississippi is hardly a utopia for punks and metalheads, but we manage to do well here.

Deanna: What type of equipment do you guys use to record and play? What do you prefer to use to get The Cooters sound?

Neuter: I have three basses: a Fender P-Bass, a Rickenbacker, and an Ibanez Ex. I’m currently using a Trace-Elliot cabinet for clean bass and a Peavy cabinet for dirty bass. We’ve recorded at different studios on different equipment. The “Moon Rise” album was record on 24 track reel to reel. Our current album is being done in Pro-Tools on a Mac G4. Raw uses three different Les Paul guitars, a custom, a standard, and a special. He uses Marshall JMC900 amp and cabinet. Judas uses Tama drums, Sabian cymbols, and Copenhagen snuff.

Deanna: If you could play with any one person or band (preferably breathing) at any place in the world where would it be and why?

Neuter: I would love to jam with Helios Creed and Voivod. Anywhere. Anytime. Anyplace. Those guys are great and far underrated.

Deanna: What is your main musical influences? What do you listen to for enjoyment? How much of your past (the music you grew up with) is evidenced in your songs?

Neuter: I think we are influenced by real life and the events that unfold therein. It’s hard to say how much of the music that I grew up with is evidenced. I’m a fan of all kinds of interesting sounds. My Dad influenced me greatly when I was young. He was a bass guitarist in the Memphis garage band The Kangaroos in the late 60’s. They recorded a cool single with Issac Hayes at Stax Studio. My Dad was always playing 60’s rock and blues music around me when I was a kid. I discovered metal around 1980 and punk shortly thereafter. Punk and metal just happen to be my favorite styles. Lately I’ve been listening to Amebix, From Ashes Rise, and the Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack.

Deanna: What things to you do to get your music heard far and wide? Do you mainly do your own promo? What is the general reception to The Cooters?

Neuter: The reception to our “Moon Rise” album has been very encouraging. Because we live in Mississippi, away from the national music scene, we have to send out a lot of promos to get our music heard elsewhere. I do a lot of searching on the web for zines, labels, and various folks in the punk, metal, and stoner rock scenes. Sometimes it works out. We found your great website!

Deanna: Your streaming songs don't appear to be working on your site. Where can folks discover the brilliance of The Cooters?

Neuter: We have four songs off of “The Moon Will Rise Again” for download on our website www.TheCooters.com I recently deleted some dead links because MP3.com went out of business. We will be putting some tracks from our new album on our website later this Spring. I encourage you to share your favorite Cooters MP3s with your readers.

Deanna: What are your touring plans? Have you thought of going to Europe or Canada?

Neuter: We play a lot of shows each year around the South. Hopefully this year, after our next record comes out, we will get to tour the North, Mid-West, and the West Coast, too. Our live show has really developed into a unique experience that folks aren’t likely to forget. We have slide projections that replace the traditional backdrop. We would love to go to Canada and Europe, but we’ll definitely need some help booking those…

Deanna: What advice do you have for new bands who aren't following the mainstream? What can you say to them that can help them get their music heard?

Neuter: Practicing your instrument is a must. I can’t believe how many touring bands travel around each year barely knowing how to play. Use the internet and network with like-minded music fans.

Deanna: Thanks so much for doing this interview. I love The Moon Will Rise Again and think all people should own the album. Any parting words for our stoner rock audience?

Neuter: Thanks so much, Deanna, for supporting The Cooters! I think you have a great website. If you’re ever in north Mississippi, let us know! We’ll show you where Elvis was born, William Faulkner‘s grave, and Robert Johnson‘s crossroads! I encourage stoner rock fans to be kind (ha, ha) and come rock with The Cooters!