Update: Mortar Kit – A Big Bang of a Band

UPDATE: Due to circumstances beyond their control, the previously announced April 21st concert has been CANCELLED.

The name Mortar Kit came one day while lead singer/guitarist Ed Dechert was “just writing s@#% down.”

Indeed, the four-piece Starkville rock band was a casual creation. Three of Mortar Kit’s members – Ed, bassist Ben Hodge, and guitarist Scott “Scooter” Thomas – were in a local three-piece band named Poacher. Poacher was on its way to Jackson for a show, when Ed mentioned that he would like to play some alt-country tunes in the future. Ben and Scooter were cool with this idea. Ed decided that if they were to play alt-country, they should form a different band altogether.

Upon hearing this, Scooter, Poacher’s drummer, asked if he could play guitar. “I’m not very good at it,” Scooter told me, but he figured that what he can do on the guitar would fit an alt-country mold. (I’ve watched Scooter’s playing evolve in Mortar Kit. In the band’s first couple of shows, Scooter was noisy and unpredictable – that is to say, pretty fun. His playing matched the band’s infant sound; I swear – none of their songs exceeded three minutes, at these first shows. Now that Mortar Kit’s songwriting and performance have changed, Scooter is playing more melodic and memorable guitar parts, particularly his lead riff on one of the newer songs, “Reverse Engineering,” the bright chord progression of which is unique in Mortar Kit’s set.)

The key to getting Mortar Kit off the ground was finding a drummer, since Scooter had left the kit for guitar. Ed found out that his friend, Troy DeRego, played drums – funny, given that they had once played in bands together. Mortar Kit had a show set up before they even had a drummer, so the discovery of Troy’s ability came at the right time. As a musician, Troy started out as a guitarist and bassist, but, as a drummer, DeRego is often the most entertaining member of Mortar Kit, and not just for his playing – I get a helluva kick out of his facial expressions.

A good bit of Mortar Kit’s success comes from the chemistry established in Poacher. Scooter insists playing with Ed and Ben has always been easy. Troy, the new guy, agrees. He says the flow of ideas during practice is inspiring. This freedom is partly the result of Ed’s laidback leadership. “It ain’t life and death,” Ed flatly says. Perhaps Ben sums it up best: “It’s like ‘Alright, how can we make this kick a$$’”

I asked Ed about the main difference between Poacher and Mortar Kit. His surprisingly blunt response was what I had been thinking: “Mortar Kit’s listenable.” Compared to Poacher, Mortar Kit brings in more people and keeps more people at the venue. It’s undeniable. But regardless of what a crowd might think, the songwriting in Mortar Kit is better. As good as Poacher could be (I bought their album, +/-, on vinyl), the music wasn’t as smart, from a pop standpoint.

“As a fan listening to Poacher, Ed’s vocals very rarely cut through the mix in a gig,” Troy said. “On the recording, it sounded great, and I loved the upfront nature of the lyrics; it makes the songs that much more in your face. But Ed’s got a great voice, and I think that’s a big part of what makes Mortar Kit accessible is that you can hear him.”

In another way, Ed is the same frontman. He has retained his hunched stance, and his eyes still have a cerebral intensity. Scooter is obviously the greatest departure from Poacher now that he’s on guitar. The one member who has changed the least is Ben, and that’s a very good thing: he’s simply a rocking bassist who can’t be ignored.

For some people, the disappearance of Poacher is disappointing. But for me, Mortar Kit shows us that you don’t know how good you are, or how good you can be, until you change.

Jed Pressgrove is a technical writer and master’s student in sociology at Mississippi State University.