HourHouse Explores The Dark Side of New Orleans with Debut Album GOLD TOOTH GURU

Rap, nu-metalcore band HourHouse has released their debut album GOLD TOOTH GURU via UNFD. The New Orleans quintet is vocalist Milly, guitarist and vocalist Nick ‘Neeco’ Trahan, drummer Robb Barrio, bassist Travvy Thomas and guitarist Mattie Cortopassi. The band members were all raised in different outlying parishes around New Orleans. They found their way to each other via shared loves of nu metal and hip hop, horror films and country music, anime and streetwear, skateboarding and NFL, Meshuggah and…. Nickelback.

I live a few hours from New Orleans and have made plenty of visits to the Crescent city. The first things that come to mind are the French Quarter, Bourbon Street, jazz clubs, and street performers in Jackson Square with their trumpets and trombones blaring in front of the St. Louis Cathedral. The last thing I think of is rap or nu-metal. However, it’s not surprising that with the city’s diverse wards and districts that there wouldn’t also be diversity in music. In addition to the aforementioned jazz, there are plenty of heavy bands from the area including Cane Hill, Crowbar, and Goatwhore and rappers like Lil Wayne, Master P, and Juvenile.

It’s this local musical diversity along with other influences such as Meshuggah, Korn, Linkin Park, Kendrick, $uicideboy$, and Post Malone that have shaped the band’s sound. “Louisiana plays a heavy role into our sound and direction of the album – it’s like a huge melting pot down here, different music everywhere you turn,” says Milly; “Rap and metal are big here especially. We never wanted to box ourselves in with trying to be a certain type of band and only make one type of music.”

Forbes magazine recently named New Orleans as the 7th most dangerous US city. It’s this backdrop that lays the foundation for GOLD TOOTH GURU. “THE SIT DOWN” is a spoken-word track that opens the album. It’s a scene straight out of a gangster movie which sets the tone for the rest of the album. Milly expresses his frustration with the city with angry, brutal vocals on songs like “BODYBAG MUSIK”, “SWARM”, and the title track “GOLD TOOTH GURU”.

“‘BODYBAG MUSIK’ is exactly what the title says it is,” says vocalist Milly, referring to the song and its relationship the band’s hometown. “This is the soundtrack to the boot. It’s way more than just Mardi Gras and voodoo. It’s a real warzone out here no matter what walk of life you come from, and we wanted to let the listener into what our corner of the south is like on a daily basis.”

Milly sways back and forth between these brutal and rap vocals. He changes pace on a few songs “RIDE”, “INSTINCTS”, AND ‘CONSTRICTING THE ANIMAL” by introducing more melodic clean vocals. But make no mistake, the heart of this album is the combination of rap and hardcore vocals backed by viscous guitars and drums.

Life can be rough in New Orleans and the band portrays this in their debut album. They relay this through a combination of rap, hardcore, and melodic vocals drawing on their diverse musical influences. Gold Tooth Guru is available for streaming here.

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