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Horse the Band
Horse the Band just finished recording their new album before heading out on this tour. I was sick, which caused me to miss four great shows in a row, this being the last, but I still heading to The Living Room on April 1, 2007 to interview their singer Nathan before heading back to bed. This interview touches on their new album, video games, snake skin boots and Nick Cave.
PL: State something interesting about yourself.
HtB: I'm wearing snake skin boots.
PL: How has the experience of recording your new album compared with past recordings?
HtB: We had more time. We got to write a lot of songs, and we recorded in a house that was turned into a studio. We stood there most of the day doing nothing; playing with cats and Nintendo Wii and drinking, and then periodically, we'd take turns going downstairs and doing something of value.
PL: Were you guys living at the house?
HtB: No, it was the producer's house. I recorded all my vocal tracks in his bedroom. I'd scream my lungs out and I'd scream so hard that I kept farting, and I'd go in his room at the end of the night and it smelled like hell.
PL: Do you think the farting would show up on the recording?
HtB: No, they dub that stuff out.
PL: Are the first few shows of the tour different from the last few? And, if so, how?
HtB: With the first few, you're missing home, but you know you can't go back. With the last few, you're missing home, but you know you get to.
PL: That works.
HtB: And also the first few are probably way more dangerous because I know that its gonna be a long time. And they play much worse on the first couple shows.
PL: Do you guys practice before going out on tour to get the set down?
HtB: The day of the show?
PL: No, before you go out on tour.
HtB: Oh yeah, we practice. We practiced for about two hours the night before we left. But we were finishing recording the day before we left also.
PL: Is everything done recording now?
HtB: Yeah. He's sending us masters of the songs. We're listening to the final mixes.
PL: Is it what you want so far?
HtB: Oh yeah.
PL: Was it tough using a Game Boy as an instrument?
HtB: I didn't use it. (laughs)
PL: So, not for you?
HtB: No (laughs). Aside from it being old, it makes a lot of extra noise. They just recorded the sequences that they created and they were able to eliminate the excess noise. You can't use it live because of all the noise, so he had to rip them all to his sampler. He used a music writing program, so all he did was rip it to his sampler and he'll be playing keyboards while the part is going on.
PL: If Horse the Band had a Battle Royal, who would win and why?
HtB: I would because I'm bigger and I'm wearing snake skin boots. Everybody else is scawny.
PL: And not wearing snake skin boots.
HtB: Yeah, they're all wearing tennis shoes. I'd take their feet out first and go for the jugular. If they got a good hold on me, I'd do a reach around eye jab and I could fling them off my back easily because I'm the strongest member of the band.
PL: And it sounds like you'd fight dirty too.
HtB: Oh, you have no idea.
PL: What motivates you?
HtB: I suffer from a severe lack of motivation. I get motivated by people getting mad at me because I won't do anything.
PL: That works sometimes.
HtB: Also, I like to make stuff, so I am motivated to create things, but its really hard for me to get motivated to do much else.
PL: In your opinion, have video games gotten better or worse.
HtB: Thats a complicated question. I would say that it goes both ways. Nowadays, some games are overcomplicated, which takes the fun out of it. I know I'm gonna break a lot of hearts, but games like "Splinter Cell," I just hate. I despise them sneaking around and hiding from people around walls; just jump on something. Thats like the virtues of the old Nintendo games and stuff like that: they were fun, you knew what was going on, and they weren't hard, per se. But then again, there's a lot of new games that are amazing. I've got the Wii, which was hard to get used to the motion control, but once you do, its really fun as long as its not too extreme. I've got some of those 4x4 racing games, and its awesome. I thought nothing could beat Mario Double Dash, but then I got this and you've got to control your shocks and how you land. Its awesome. It goes both ways.
PL: Whats one movie everyone should see.
HtB: "Conan the Barbarian." Or "Mulholland Dr." Or "Twin Peaks Fire Walk With Me."
PL: Whats a little known fact about California?
HtB: A little known fact?
PL: Yeah.
HtB: I don't know. (laughs) You've stumped me on that one. Everything that comes to mind, I think is general consensus of the world.
PL: Name one album, besides your own, you think all kids should have in their collection.
HtB: Any album?
PL: Yeah.
HtB: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Henry's Dream. Genous. Lyrical genous. Its from the early 80s when he's still full of fire and life. He's younger and its a little dirtier, but the thing is a masterpiece. Probably my favorite album of all time.
PL: His new band sounds good.
HtB: Yeah, Grinderman.
They've got elements of Birthday Party and old Bad Seeds, but its weird because they're all so old, but they're knocking out songs about not getting pussy, and it sounds like cowboy music.
PL: Is there anything else you want to say?
HtB: Don't trust man. Don't trust girl. Don't trust animal. Trust in steel.