Coyotes in Boxes

You already know you can count on Vinyl Mag for all your AthFest coverage needs, and we figured that with such a killer lineup this year, you might need help cherry-picking which artists to see. Peep this playlist of some of our favorite bands, both big and small. As per the usual, don’t overlook the deep cuts. - Vinyl Mag

"Every now and then, a band manages to adopt rock sounds that are decades old and craft them into something that is genuinely current and cutting edge...Take equal parts The Libertines and early R.E.M., soak them in the fuzz of the British Invasion, add a distinctly mature songwriting prowess and that’s the general flavor of Coyotes in Boxes." - Anniston Star

Audio Interview Available at Link - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

"Stepping aside from the melodic folk of their 2013 LP, and Curtis and Fox, Nashville’s Coyotes in Boxes up the amps on “Astrid,” the first single from their forthcoming EP, 'Yowler.'" - Bucket Full of Nails

While it may be forever time-stamped as the place for the mainstream radio country and Christian rock scenes, Music City has in recent years been well known as the new space to hole up and hang out for a slew of rockers from The Black Keys to Jack White.

In the undertow of the city over in East Nashville now resides the hook-laden, Marshall University-built indie rock unit Coyotes in Boxes that's been grinding hard for the local scene here connecting many a fellow West Virginia band traveling through.

Last gigging in Huntington in August as part of the Huntington Music and Arts Festival's pre-party at Heritage Station, Coyotes in Boxes roams back Friday with fellow West Virginia rockers Goodwolf.

The two ace indie rock units team up for a show at the V Club, 741 6th Ave., Huntington at 10 p.m. Friday, Jan. 16. Admission is $7 for those 18 and older.

Motown punk rocker J Marinelli, whose last record is a 10-inch out on a German label, opens the show.

Drummer Kyle Baughman said the band, which also includes keyboardist Steven Holland, guitarist Sean Knisely and bassist Chris Miller, is stoked to come back to Huntington to kick off the tour, which includes a stop in Athens, Georgia, where they will head in the studio and record with Drew Vandenberg (Of Montreal, Drive-By Truckers, Kishi Bashi).

"The last time we were in it was before HMAF and Steve didn't have his voice. It's always good to be back but you want to have your A-game, but that was just some illness that was dragging him down but he's been babying his throat and we are ready and can't wait to be back," Baughman said.

Tightening and growing their sound, Coyotes in Boxes has been marinating in the Nashville scene, seeping out into the region for tours and continuing to strengthen grassroots connections in their tour circle.

The band, which was featured on the two Huntington Underground compilations when it was based here, has appeared in the past year on a Twin Cousin Records vinyl compilation, Pittsburgh label Cool Shoes' Vaticomp sampler, and Nashville-based Soundstamp's rock sampler.

They've picked up radio play on Lightning 100 (Nashville) and WUGA radio/television (Athens, Georgia), and their albums, including the latest, "Yowler" (recorded in Nashville by Evan Redwine, mastered by Hank Williams) are prominent at Nashville record stores Grimey's and The Groove and through Soundstamp, and digitally everywhere.

"One of our friends, Drew Blake, said you don't come to Nashville to make it in Nashville, you come to Nashville to get out of Nashville," Baughman said. "We only play about every month or every other month here because people will grow so tired of you here. You can't succeed just here, so what we try to do is be more strategic and play more sparse and do it if someone we like is coming through."

In the meantime, the band has been tumbling inside, polishing the rock that's morphed a bit from the more acoustic, floor-tom pounding indie rock it started with in 2011 and captured on the first LP "And Curtis and Fox," engineered by Knisely and recorded at the Orpheum Theatre here.

What has evolved from "Yowler" to today, is what Baughman feels like is a truer, deeper portrait of the band which scouted out relocation destinations from Austin to Philadelphia before moving to Nashville together in 2013.

Baughman said it was a particular groovy tune, "Swanky," that got the band exploring more electronically and rhythmically.

"Steve wrote that while we were passing through Nashville," he said. "That was two years ago, on our way to Texas and it was this idea that I couldn't figure out on the current set up that had me playing a melodica, and two acoustics and a floor tom so I said by God if we are going to play something 'Swanky' we need to play it the way it is supposed to be," Baughman said. "So I got behind the kit, and Sean got on electric guitar and that is when we gave up trying to be this kind of band that preserves this organized image. That has translated into telling stories the way they are supposed to be. These songs are very narrative-based and you can't fit these narratives into one kind of music, so whatever serves the story is what it sounds like. We just wanted to tell the stories better and that led us to creating 'Yowler' and being a lot more aggressive and frustrated and joyous."

Baughman said when they found out that Morgantown rocker Tyler Grady was taking his band Goodwolf out for a week-run through the Southeast, they were ready to jump on board.

"Honestly I have been a fan of Goodwolf since Paste did that piece on the bands from West Virginia that you've got to listen to," Baughman said. "It is that kind of garage rock that you want to listen to and I was just digging it and so it was always in the back of my mind that they'd be a good band to hook up with."

Baughman said the connect for the tour came through Dave and Dan Mistich, of Twin Cousins Records, the indie label that has been putting some muscle behind a slew of WV indie rock acts. Coyotes appeared on the label's LP compilation and they just released a well-received full-length, "Car in the Woods," from Goodwolf, recorded in Huntington at the studio of Bud Carroll, who is in the band.

With Dan Mistich (who is also the Coyotes in Boxes manager) living in Athens, Georgia, and giving West Virginia bands a southern city to loop out a tour of the Southeast, Baughman said they feel as proud of, and as connected to the Huntington scene as ever.

"It was a tough decision to leave Huntington, because first off we all love Huntington so much and it was tough to imagine playing music outside of Huntington because all of the bands and all the acts are so encouraging there," Baughman said. "It is such a close-knit scene and everyone is so excited to see everyone. It's been really exciting to see the growth and to see Tyler Childers playing all over the place and Ona playing all over the place because that is what I have always wanted for Huntington. We knew that we might have to leave first and proselytize and preach the good news of Huntington music so now we are connected with Athens, Georgia, and there are all of these bands looking for places to play so we are like let's route you out and go to Nashville and then hit these places along the way and so there is a lot of stuff we are all getting to do. Ona just got to go play WUGA last week and that's fun to be able to push them all into these places. We have been able to see that by leaving it becomes all the more important that we keep West Virginia on our shoulders and talk about it often and show how great the traffic is coming in and out of West Virginia, and help make it what it is, a place with great music." - Herald-Dispatch

Coyotes in Boxes is ambitious alternative rock. It is a grassroots effort with vintage and modern equipment that delivers melodic awesomeness. - WDVX

We’re proud of the work on our first album, and Curtis and Fox, but for our new, six-song EP, we wanted to capture a more eccentric side of the band. YOWLER represents our move to East Nashville from Huntington, WV nicely—the production is slicker and weirder. The songs were inspired as much by cultural archetypes and our own invented mythology than any particular artists that we’ve been listening to lately. Here’s our track-by-track run down on what gave life to YOWLER. - Flagpole Magazine