Nashville’s longest running home music venue, The Mouthhole, is coming to an end after 12 years of providing a safe space for musicians, artists, and other creatives to experiment with their art. They’re celebrating with one last FEST(er) on August 1-2, an annual music and art festival that I know from experience is gonna be pretty wild — I read poetry at a previous FEST(er)! Here’s my conversation with The Mouthhole’s Michael Sadler about the venue, and what’s in The Mouthhole’s future.
How did The Mouthhole get started?
“When I was going to college in Huntington, WV, I was in a car accident that ended up paying me a decently sized insurance settlement. I had the idea to take that money, buy a house, and fill it with my artist friends from college. I hoped it would be an incubator for art and community, but my parents talked me out of it. Years later, I moved to Nashville with the lingering idea still stuck in the back of my mind. That’s when Travis and his brother Zac joined me. We were living in a small apartment with too many people when we all decided to find a place with a basement and take a stab at making a DIY art/music space. We came up with the name and the concept and have endured as Nashville’s longest-running house/DIY space!”
What do you have planned for The Mouthhole’s last FEST(er)?
“For the Mouthhole’s last Fest(er), we have two days jam-packed with music, and a comedian! We managed to talk some bands from years past into coming out of hiatus and gracing the Mouth stage one more time. We have over 20 acts performing on Aug 1-2. As always, it’s free, so come on out!”
What’s the future like for The Mouthhole?
“We’re very sad to say goodbye to this house, and we’re grateful for everything it’s given us and our community! That being said, we’re also excited to have a fresh start at a new house. We have a GoFundMe right now that will help us with moving expenses. We won’t have shows there in the same sense that we had them at The Mouthhole, but we will continue to throw some parties and have bands and artists on a lower scale. We will also continue booking as The Mouthhole, like at Springwater in West Nashville, where we do a comedy game show, The Psycho’s Quiz Show, every second Friday of the month.”
