Horse The Band plays Thursday at the Magic Stick.
For Los Angeles based band Horse The Band, it is quite easy to say the band are some world travelers and don’t mind traveling to offbeat places for shows. The band played 45 countries, most of which were unannounced and played to fans who had no idea what sort of music the band was playing. The guys in Horse the Band are planning another tour of that sorts, with dates in Russia and Georgia (not the one in the U.S.) later this year. But for now, the band is out on a U.S. tour that saw the band on their way to Houston when I chatted with the band.
I spoke with guitarist David Isen, with a little help from frontman Nathan Winneke. During the interview, we discussed the evolution of their latest album “Desperate Living”, as well as some of the more screwed up shows on that world tour. Here’s my interview with David:
AM: What were the major differences in the themes and lyrics on “Desperate Living” versus your last album, “A Natural Death”?
NW: I think with “A Natural Death”, it came from more of a storytelling type of angle. That album talked more about life in general and how pointless it can be sometimes. I think with “Desperate Living”, I used a more metaphorical basis and way to write, and discussed different trials and tribulations that came along the way.
AM: Do you think the band toned down their video game type sound on “Desperate Living”?
DI: I think with some of the songs, we actually used it more. With the song “The Failure of All Things”, we used a keyboard sound and sample from one of the Mario games. But on a lot of other songs, it came from more of a 80’s movie soundtrack and soundbyte type of vibe. I think that there are some similar moments on this record, but there’s more diversity this time around.
AM: What were some of the more messed up places to play on the world tour?
DI: Each country was different in their own way. But I think some of the worst shows were in Italy. The crowds were just awful and could care less about the music. The toughest shows were in China though. We had a equipment rider, stating what type of equipment we need for the show. We’d get there, and there was a little 12 inch practice amp for the show and we had a drum kit where if you hit it too hard, the whole drum kit fell into pieces. Even though the equipment was f—ed up, the crowds were good because they were curious to see an American band in their country.
AM: You have a new label (Vagrant Records), how has the label helped the band versus past labels?
DI: They’re a lot easier to deal with. You can get a hold of someone and get a question answered without having a string of emails from 8 different people. They’re also a lot more open to ideas and don’t have a problem promoting any side projects we might have outside the label. They are more than happy to help us in any project we do.
AM: The band has a 6 DVD set planned- how is that coming along?
DI: (Laughs) We’re a little behind schedule. It was supposed to come out a year ago, but we are planning on getting it out later this year. It is a pre-sale only, so we are only going to produce the number of the people that pre-ordered it. It’s gonna have a lot of pictures that we took on that world tour, as well as some of the live stuff from those shows.
Horse the Band play the Magic Stick on Thursday, May 13th. Tickets are $13 and are available at www.ticketmaster.com. Additional dates and band info can be found at www.horsetheband.com.
