By listening to the band’s most recent “Dixiana” EP, a roots-rock collection far removed from anything in the mainstream, one would never have guessed that Southwood’s lead vocalist Mitch Wetherington would be an “American Idol” alum. Having auditioned for the show’s 2012 season, the South Carolina native, who made it halfway through Hollywood week, incorporates such influences like Tom Petty into his and band mate Henri Gates’ unique blend of alt-Country.

Before making his way to Los Angeles to audition for Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler, Mitch (and Henri) spent years observing such musicians as Hootie and the Blowfish to perfect their live performance presentation and fine tune their songwriting craft. Admittedly, they didn’t always know they wanted to pursue music. In fact, Mitch’s background stems from a military academy education and a family that may not have understood his ambitions, at first. It was his deep-seated need to create something special that drove the singer-songwriter to make the plunge into music making.

Best New Bands: Are you originally from Charleston, South Carolina?

Mitch Wetherington: Actually, I’m from the Lexington area, right outside Columbia, South Carolina, right around the Lake Murray area. That’s where I grew up.

BNB: What led you there?

MW: I decided to go to school down here, to the Citadel. I graduated from there. After school, I played musical gigs [for several venues] and that’s where I met Henri. He was doing the same thing, but he was from the rival college, the college in Charleston. He and I decided we should start jamming and playing together, and we did. Further down the row, we said ‘why don’t we put together a whole band?’ And then, Southwood was born.

BNB: What did you listen to growing up?

MW: Growing up, I remember my first memories of music were two things as a kid. #1, when VH1 was on the TV, they still played music videos, and I remember it was Blind Melon “No Rain,” Tom Petty “Last Dance with Mary Jane” and Hootie and the Blowfish “Hold My Hand,” I think were the top three videos at the time. Growing up in Columbia, that’s actually where Darius Rucker and Hootie and the Blowfish kind of got started as a college band. There’s a park in downtown Columbia called Findlay Park. Back then, I think it was called Sydney Park. They had these summer concert series on Saturday night, and we’d go to those, set out a blanket. I remember watching Hootie and the Blowfish play live a lot. But then, as I got into middle school and high school, I was more into Matchbox Twenty…so I come from a more ‘90s era. Henri comes from more of a classic rock, Tom Petty kind of influence. Together, we write these songs that obviously have these South Carolina undertones. 

BNB: What was it like performing live together for the first time?

MW: The first time live was really interesting because we didn’t know exactly what was going to happen. Way before we started playing our own tunes, we were playing some cover gigs around town at Follies Beach and stuff like that. So, as we were playing together, we kind of were trading off songs. We didn’t know exactly each other’s song list. So, I’d play a couple, he’d play a couple, and we’d kind of follow each other. We’d just switch off and on. So, that was something that was really cool. It kind of killed the mundaneness of playing by yourself. We started learning songs from each other and kind of feeling out each other’s influences. It was a good time, and people really started responding to it. That’s why we decided to put together a full band after that.

BNB: Is it hard to go from a solo artist to a band?

MW: It’s a little different in some aspects. For me, it wasn’t hard because when we met it was a like a union kind of thing. We kind of complemented each other very well. Instead of being hard, it kind of took the pressure off our shoulders where I can concentrate on all the singing parts, and he can really focus on all the lead guitar parts. For that, it was easy. I will say the whole scheduling and business side of things was a lot different because as a solo artist, you really only have to worry about you. You have to coordinate with four other people, so sometimes it can be a little difficult. 

BNB: Your ‘Dixiana’ EP came out earlier this year. How did that project come together, and what’s the significance of the title track?

MW: We were really excited about that EP. We released an EP earlier on, I think a year before that, that was kind of our debut thing — once we became a band and decided to put something out. During that first one, we didn’t really know exactly what we wanted to feel like and sound like yet. So, when ‘Dixiana’ came around, we had really kind of honed in better on who exactly Southwood was. The significance of ‘Dixiana’ is a pretty fun story. There is a street sign, an exit sign on Route 26 that is between the Columbia and Charleston trip that we make a lot either going home to see family or when we play in Columbia. We always pass this sign that’s Dixiana. We didn’t know anything about this little town off the highway, but the sign kind of struck us sometimes. It just seemed that we should right a song about it. So, Henri came back to my apartment [and he said] ‘I passed this sign, let’s write a song about it.’ I said ‘yea.’ So, we came up with this song that was really almost like an anthem about being born and bred in South Carolina, that whole southern feel, like hot summer days, something where the lyrics might not be that special to you, but it’s home to me. It’s where we grew up, so it feels like home. That’s the overlying theme of that album. 

 

BNB: How did you decide on the name ‘Southwood’ for the band?

MW: Southwood was the result of a lot of other band names that we had that were all taken. [laughs] We went to the basics of ‘what are we trying to convey in one or two words?’ We knew there were kind of a lot of ridiculous band names that were very well respected, and I told the guys ‘I don’t think it’s necessarily the band name that’s gonna make us. I think it’s us that’s gonna make the band.’ I didn’t want us to get too worried about the band name. I just wanted whatever we presented to kind of build that band name up. So, we brought it back down to the basics after we couldn’t find anything. We said ‘what do we want it to be? Something kind of southern feeling.’ We had this whiskey barrel type feel. We want it southern, and we want it woody. I think, then someone just said ‘Southwood.’ We were like ‘eh, that’s pretty lame.’ Then afterwards, we thought about it, and it just started to grow on us. It’s simple, but it’s good. Then the venues were  like ‘hey, we need a band name. We’re booking you, and we need a band name.’ Once we said Southwood, it was planted and grew from there.

BNB: You actually opened for Eden’s Edge and Craig Campbell at the Windjammer, right? When was that?

MW: Yes, we did. That was towards the end of last summer about eight or nine months ago. Since then, we’ve been able to do some other stuff, too. We played at Hootie Homegrown Festival with Hootie and the Blowfish and Collective Soul. That was really cool for me, some ‘90s bands I grew up listening to. We just got done doing a festival with Old Crow Medicine Show. Then, a month ago, we [did another] festival with Craig Morgan, Kacey Musgraves, Eli Young Band, Zac Brown Band and Kenny Chesney. That was a crazy experience. We got to talk to the Eli Young Band. They’re super, super nice guys.

BNB: How did that gig come about?

MW: We were contacted by a bunch of people that heard about a contest that was going to be happening in three different cities…in Greenville, Columbia and Charleston. A lot of people contacted us saying ‘hey, have you heard about this contest. We think you should enter this Charleston one. We think you have a good shot. The winner is going to open for Kenny Chesney.’ We entered it, and the first thing was ‘can we get enough votes to be able to enter it?’ We weren’t really sure exactly how popular we were compared to some of the other bands, but we found out we kind of blew them out of the water. That landed us a spot in the contest. The incredible support that came out for us…I think we had 70% of the fans out there. [They] were there to support us. As soon as we walked on stage…it got so loud, and we played. It was a really cool thing for us, as a band to experience. We won that, and then they shipped us off to Columbia to do the lineup for that festival.

BNB: You’ve been able to play such large venues and events. Are you ever surprised by anything in live performance?

MW: I will tell you what never gets old. It’s seeing people that I don’t know that come to the shows and sing every word to our songs. I can’t really express how that feels in the right words. It’s so insane to see something that started from an idea in my head or heart, and we [put it] on paper, recorded it, and all of a sudden it becomes something, [and] someone else is singing it back to you. When I can step away from the mic, and the crowd is singing the lyrics, there’s no way to describe that feeling. That makes it all worth it.

BNB: In songwriting, what are you inspired by? And when you go in for a session, do you have a lyric, a melody or a general idea?

MW: Every song is its own animal. We’ve been noticing that trying to write certain songs and they just haven’t happened. Some just come out and there’s no stopping it, and it’ll be done in 15 minutes. [Sometimes] I’ll say ‘I want to write a song about this,’ and I’ll try to write it. Or, I’ll say ‘hey, I have a couple lines that I jotted down that came to me in my head and want to build something around these little lines.’ Or, Henri and I’ll have a little groove, lyric or chord progression that we think sounds really good. It’s always interesting, that’s for sure. 

BNB: I hear that you auditioned for American Idol for Season 12 and made it to Hollywood week. Why did you decide to do the show?

MW: [laughs] People wouldn’t leave me alone. I went, seriously not expecting to ever get past [the first rounds]. I was just doing it to say that I did it. When they said ‘we’re gonna have you come back for a callback.’ I was like ‘I’m sorry? Excuse me?’ I was like ‘man, I wasn’t expecting to stay. I’m hungry. I need to go get lunch and let my dog out. This is completely opposite of the world.’ So, I did a couple callbacks, and each time, I had to tell my roommates at the time ‘I got through to the next round.’ So, my friends started freaking out. They thought it was the coolest thing ever. The celebrity auditions were down in Savannah, and that was really cool because I got my family to come to that. They got to do the whole ‘wait outside the door and talk to Ryan Seacrest’ thing. When I came through that door with that golden ticket to Hollywood, I think it was the first time that my dad really accepted my music career as a legitimate career choice for me.  Coming from a military academy and not using my degree and telling him after I graduated that I was in a band wasn’t the best conversation to have. Once that happened, he said ‘hmm, maybe this could be a real thing for Mitch.’ So, that was really cool, and they were happy. My grandma and my aunt were crying. It was a good family memory that we have. It didn’t last too long in Hollywood. They kept interviewing me and asking me what my favorite part of Idol was, and I had to admit to them ‘I didn’t really watch the show ever.’ They didn’t like that too much. I made it about halfway through Hollywood week.

As far as the experience goes, maybe there wasn’t much benefit for my music career, but the experience and the memories (and being able to sing for Steven Tyler) was one of the coolest things. Hearing what he had to say back to me after I sang to him a few times…and Jennifer Lopez, obviously, is a beautiful woman. That was cool. It was a really quick plunge into the music scene, and right away, coming out of a military academy and jumping into music, it was a difficult transition. It was a crash course. I can tell you, after that, I’ve never been nervous on stage.

BNB: What kind of feedback did you get from the judges?

MW: I think my favorite feedback was from Steven Tyler. Jennifer Lopez was really sweet, and she right away was like ‘yep, through to the next round.’ She really liked me. Steven Tyler, I think, was the coolest. I could tell he kind of studied me. He said ‘you’ve got a really interesting voice. I think it’s good. I think you need some work, but I think it’s really good. I think you could be something really special.’ I knew that I was new in the game and hadn’t figured out exactly what I was doing yet either. For him to realize that, it was really special for me.

BNB: What is next for you guys?

MW: Well, we had a band meeting last night to talk about where we’re going from here. We’ve got a lot of good shows coming up. I think the thing we’re really excited about is we’re kind of riding off the ‘Dixiana’ EP release, and that has been a fun ride. Now, we’re ready for the next thing. Right now, what we’re really gonna be working on is writing, writing, writing. What I’d like to see us release is a single sometime this summer, probably by the end. Then, around January, try to release a full-length album. I think that’s something we’re gonna be working really hard towards, and it’s gonna be a fun process.

BNB: Is the new project going to be completely new material or will you incorporate tracks from your EPs?

MW: That’s a good question. We’ve talked about it before…on our first EP, there’s an acoustic version of a track called “Long Way Down.” Live, we play a full band version of that song, and we’ve always talked about doing a full band version that’s not a striped down acoustic version of it. That might be one that’s on [the new album]. All the rest of them will be ones we’re working on right now. We have a lot of songs in the works, a lot of little ideas, partial songs that aren’t all the way complete. We’re really excited for this full-length. Between all that, we’re actually not playing in Charleston as much, although this is our hometown. We’re working really hard right now to want to get out of town, to fly the coop a little bit, build markets in other towns. We seem to get a great response in Columbia, Charlotte, Greenville. We are spending a lot of time in Myrtle Beach right now. We’re spending a lot of time getting out of town, getting on the road and gaining followings in other towns.

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