CrumbSnatchers

Formed two-and-a-half years ago, the group is composed of four members: Sam "Guetts" Guetterman, Philip Mosteller, Sam Burchfield and Rylan Bledsoe. For Guetterman, who does vocals, guitar and keyboard for the band, CrumbSnatcher's music embodies a certain impulsivity usually lost with age.

"Overall, CrumbSnatchers is about celebration," Guetterman said. "It's about celebrating that freedom to act like the kid inside that got pent-up and wasn't allowed to run wild and act crazy." - The Daily Beacon

Having secured its place among Knoxville’s most-promising, indie rock outfits, Crumbsnatchers’ clout has landed an elite permanent drummer in Rylan Bledsoe. Despite a lengthy and gradual transition that lasted half a year, the band maintained its grueling schedule of local shows throughout and has at last begun the slow process of expanding regionally. The act’s reach outside its hometown will not come at the expense of maintaining its local status, however, as the group is set to compete for Knoxville’s biggest battle-of-the-bands title for the second time in as many years. - Knoxville News Sentinel

And it is no surprise that that roster includes 2013 B.E.B. finalists the Crumbsnatchers. The pride of Lenoir City won their first-round heat sounding, if at all possible, even tighter and more explosive than they did last year. Their particular brand of crunchy, loopy indie rock continues to be a crowd favorite.

That they won their first-round matchup in 2014 is all the more impressive for the fact that they edged out surprising, and relatively new, contenders Sidecar Symposium. Purveyors of cheeky, well-crafted cabaret pop, Sidecar had played local stages occasionally, if irregularly, in the past. But their performance in B.E.B. this time so impressed that the judges awarded them a rare on-the-spot wildcard bid into the semis, tho they had lost the night to the Crumbsnatchers’ fearsome tour-de-force. - Scruffington post

Before indie rock quartet Crumbsnatchers had spent six months together as a band, it found itself in the thick of Preservation Pub’s Band Eat Band contest, one of the largest band battles ever put on in Knoxville. The finals recently were held, and votes for the act poured in, but despite resounding crowd support, Crumbsnatchers were edged out for the grand prize. The results, however, were anything but discouraging for the young and optimistic group whose debut EP release will mark the further expansion of Knoxville’s top new act... - Knoxville News Sentinel

“We just want our fans to be happy,” says Sam “Guetts” Guetterman (CS frontman).

It is easy to see they are doing their job, and doing it quite well. With a quick glance across the dance floor during a typical CS show, one is sure to see a party full of smiles, laughs, carefree dance moves and quite possibly some crowd surfing.

CS consists of a unique scientifically patented formula made of stage performance and songwriting that could be compared to the likes of Modest Mouse, Ramones, The Shins, The Doors, as well as many others. When asked what of their band’s songs were his favorites, Guetts’ recommended checking out “Box on Cox” from their album entitled Asbestos You Can and to try to catch their new song “Arrogance” being played live at a show.
While loud, caffeinated, crowd-pumping stage antics take the front during a CS live show, a closer examination of their album will reveal a hidden element of witty, thought provoking songwriting such as “I lost my job and found a vacation” carrying the CS message to a deeper, more introspective level. - UnPlanned Events

At this year’s Preservation Pub Band Eat Band contest, local outfit the CrumbSnatchers stood out as much for their collective demeanor as for their performance and songwriting savvy.

Which isn’t to say the band didn’t rock righteously; truly, their wild abandon onstage, their stellar chops, and their infectious melding of prog-rock and loopy indie pop were impressive to behold, plenty good enough to land the four-piece a spot in the B.E.B. finals this past August.

But what really distinguished the ‘Snatchers from their peers in B.E.B. was their free-wheeling, charmingly unaffected outlook on the whole bloody affair. While many of the 40 or so groups that entered the contest seemed uptight, at times, pinning their hopes to the mood of the crowd, the vagaries of judging, the luck of the draw, the CrumbSnatchers—regardless of circumstance—seemed blithely immune to drama, just happy to be on the stage.

“I would never have expected to be playing on the Market Square stage [in the B.E.B. finals] with those bands if you had asked me last year,” says CrumbSnatchers frontman Samuel “Guetts” Guetterman. The ‘Snatchers will play Preservation Pub on Thursday, Oct. 10 in the downstairs Smokeasy.

“It was a great thing to have happened to us as quickly as it did.”

And by quickly, he means less than two years. Because it was just the fall of 2011 that Guetterman and fellow guitarist Philip Mosteller got together with bassist Sam Burchfield and drummer Matt Collins to work on songs together in the practice room/apartment Guetterman kept above his parents’ garage in Lenoir City.

Those first practices often played host to many of the group’s friends, local kids who dropped in to hang out and watch the fledgling outfit sketch out the details inherent in starting a new band.

It was fortuitous that so many of their pals took an interest, because those early practice-space drop-ins turned into a made-to-order fan base when the ‘Snatchers finally took to the stage. CrumbSnatchers shows never fail to draw a solid core of fresh-faced, pogo-happy F.O.C.’s (Friends of the CrumbSnatchers), giddy, early twenty-somethings who are almost as hyper-animated and enthusiastic as the band members themselves.

“By the time we had our first songs together, our friends were really anxious to see us live,” Guetterman says; he notes, too, that their fans’ enthusiasm has a galvanizing effect on the rest of an audience. “A few people dancing around and having fun is contagious.”

But the single most combustible element at any ‘Snatchers show is Guetterman himself; tall, stork-like, with a riotous mane of black hair and a joyfully unhinged stage presence, launching himself into songs like “Box on Cox” and “Zing” with a lunatic intensity.

It’s no accident that he’s such a kinetic presence. Guetterman says he’s always followed frontmen who bring the noise and draw mad response from a crowd. “I was a huge fan of Nirvana, and how they made such a ruckus when they played a show,” he says. “And I love Freddie Mercury, the way he ran back and forth across a stage.

“In general, I’m kind of a spastic person who loves to move around. And I have a blast playing our songs. When you see someone like that, seeing the happiness in the music is a lot more powerful than just hearing it.”

And there’s that root word again—happy—which seems to loom so large in the CrumbSnatchers’ M.O. Says Guetterman, “Those kinds of shows are the ones I enjoy watching the most. So it’s sort of a musical version of the Golden Rule—put on the kind of show you’d most like to see yourself. So we try to be happy, but aggressively happy. So it’s that way on purpose. And you leave feeling better.”
- Scruffington Post

, local indie rock outfit Crumbsnatchers has developed a staggering buzz, when taking into account only a single year of activity. Playing one show per week on average, a quick glance at most venues’ events calendars will turn up at least one Crumbsnatchers sighting. The band stresses that its high show frequency is reflective of its own love of performing, but the band isn’t alone in enjoying its shows.

While on the verge of recording its first studio EP, Crumbsnatchers show no fear of oversaturation with weekly local gigs. And why should they? The turnouts haven’t suffered yet. Playing on diverse bills at a variety of venues, the act has won new fans with consistency, as praise for its live show abounds. The band cites its “obvious” joy in putting on a show for the acclaim, but its infectious style of music is definitely another factor. Creating danceable rhythms in unconventional time signatures, Crumbsnatchers’ shows are known to erupt in fits of spastic, um, dancing, for lack of a better word.

“I think part of it is that you can tell we love the music,” explains vocalist/guitarist Guetts (pronounce Goots). “The music is good too, but we could play music and look like we’re bored up there, and that wouldn’t transfer. We really love playing these songs, and it’s obvious.

“We wanted to make music that we really liked and hopefully that other people like as well. To make people dance was a big thing we wanted to do, to see audiences dancing and have a party. There are times when people are confused and don’t know how to dance to it, but (they) do dance. Rock ’n’ roll is what we tell people it is — shake-your-butt rock ’n’ roll.” - By Jer Cole