Tom Zutaut, also known as Zoot, is the creator of the Classic Rock on Vinyl Radio Show “Capturing Lightning in a Bottle” broadcast by Cumulus Media’s KZ106 Chattanooga. The show streams worldwide and airs live on Sunday nights. Tom is also a co-writer and a producer of the 8 episodes TV show “Paradise City” which debuted at #1 on Amazon Prime, Google TV and Apple TV. The show was titled after the hit song by G n’ R, a band Tom discovered in 1985. Just like the infamous Alfred Hitchcock, Tom can be spotted in cameos in both “Paradise City” and the “The Dirt”, a Netflix film about the early days of Motley Crue. Can we all agree that Pete Davidson, who plays as Tom in “The Dirt” looks nothing like him!
Before moving to Chattanooga in 2019, the Motor City Detroit native left Chicago at 19, spent his early years in Hollywood pursuing his passion for music and following his dream to find the biggest rock bands in the world. That dream would become a reality when at the young age of 20, Tom discovered Motley Crue at the Whisky-A-Go-Go on Sunset Strip. He then went on to sign them to Elektra Records. After the success of Tom’s 1st few signings, David Geffen recruited Tom to work at his new label Geffen/DGC Records where Tom’s signings had 5 of the top 20 Billboard charted albums for one week.
Tom was quite often referred to as the “Boy Wonder” because of his young age and his knack for discovering huge talent. Tom spent most of the 80’s and 90’s working with Motley Crue, Riot, Dokken, Berlin, Metallica, Tesla, Guns n’ Roses, Edie Brickell, Enya, Lisa Loeb, Waterboys, Steve Forbert, Veruca Salt, Elastica, Stone Roses and many others. In 1996 Tom founded The Enclave, a record label based out of New York City. There he developed artists such as Belle and Sebastian, Snow Patrol, Fluffy, World Party and Canada’s Sloan amongst others. Tom ended the 90’s at Mercury Records working with Rusted Root, Nashville Pussy, Saliva and Def Leppard. Tom managed, produced, and created a record label for the band Tesla in the mid 2000’s.
The Zoot went International in 2009 when he booked the Quart Festival in Kristiansand, Norway. Tom booked performers such as Ozzy, Black-Eyed Peas, Marilyn Manson and Korn. Slash debuted his solo album at the Quart where he performed a one-off exclusive show where Fergie, Ozzy, Ronnie Wood, John 5 and others joined him on stage.
Tom currently resides in the mountains of Southeastern Tennessee where he is working on the book about his life, advises aspiring new talent, fields biopic and documentary film offers, and does live storytelling events in clubs. He feeds his passion for all things motor city by selling cars at Kia of Chattanooga where he enjoys making new friends while guiding them through the process of buying a car with a few rock n roll stories along the way!