Horse the Band
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Horse the band | |
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 Nathan Winneke and Erik Engstrom at the Rockstar Taste of Chaos Tour 2008. Photo: Alexander Fyrdahl
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Lake Forest, California, United States |
| Genre(s) | Nintendocore Metalcore Post-hardcore |
| Years active | 1999–present |
| Label(s) | Combat, Koch, Pluto, LIF, Vagrant |
| Website | www.horsetheband.com |
| Members | |
| Nathan Winneke David Isen Erik Engstrom Daniel Pouliot Brian Grover |
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| Former members | |
| Eli Green Chris Prophet Andy Stokes Jason Karuza Adam Crook Mike Benitez Alex Duddy Jon Karel Dashiel Arkenstone Guy Morgenstien Risto Metso |
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Horse the band (often typeset as HORSE the band) is a band from Lake Forest, CA. Their current keyboardist uses a special keyboard to achieve an 8-bit video game-influenced sound.
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[edit] Biography
Horse the Band was started in Lake Forest, CA in 1999 while Erik and Dave were still in high school. The band booked its own tours starting the summer of 2002, including a 3-month tour spanning seven countries. Their highly energetic live performances, tendencies to play as many cities as possible while on tour, bizzarre on-stage antics, and off-kilter sense of humor eventually gained them a national audience.
Early 2008 saw the band planning a world tour that would hit 40 countries starting in early March. The band stated "we've become disillusioned, bad-attitude nerds and pariahs of the established music industry."[1] They asked for their fans' help booking shows in most locations, with no plans of bringing other bands along on the tour. The band booked the tour themselves, and played mostly unpromoted shows in 45 countries, starting with Australia. Many performances were done without compensation. Some of the tour's venues hadn't been visited by western acts since Cannibal Corpse as in their visit to Belarus.
The band's line-up continued to fluctuate in 2008. In February it was announced that Chris Prophet had been fired from the band and Jon Karel from The Number 12 Looks Like You would be filling in on drums during Earth Tour. In July, 2008 the band stated that long-time band friend Daniel Pouliot of Bleeding Kansas had joined as the band's full time drummer. On Wednesday, December 3 2008, the band announced that Dash Arkenstone would be leaving the band soon, though he remains on good terms with the other members.
The band will write and record a new album in the first part of 2009 and tour in support of their new record. Brian from the band Thriller has filled in on bass during live shows and recently recorded alongside the rest of the group on their new record.
On February 2 2009, HORSE the band signed to Vagrant Records. In an interview they stated that this is a label they have been trying to get on for nine years.[2]
Horse the Band's new album "Desperate Living" will arrive in stores the first week of September and was described by band members as "Taking a step back in time to The Mechanical Hand and evolving again from that point."
[edit] Song lyrics
Horse the band's lyrics are chaotic and colorful metaphors for vocalist Nathan Winneke's life, often with humorous or abstract pop culture reference titles and bases. Winneke has referred to his style on multiple occasions as "lynchian" in reference to his favorite film director David Lynch and his obtuse narrative style.
The band had jokingly labeled themselves "Nintendocore" very early on in their career in reference to the synth sound they had adopted. Some Nintendo characters are metaphorically referred to include Cut Man from Mega Man, although the song is spelled "Cutsman" because the song was about a childhood friend Winneke grew up with and that was how they had said the characters name in youth; Birdo, one of the bosses from the NES game Super Mario Bros. 2, in the song "Birdo" which was actually about Winneke hate of eggs and traumatic experiences with his step-father early in his life ; and the rabbit-like nemesis from The Legend of Zelda in the song "Pol's Voice" which is said to be about Winnekes early loathing of the sound of his own voice. Similarly, the song "A Million Exploding Suns" refers to the Marvel Comics character Sentry, a schizophrenic and agoraphobic hero with this abundance of power, pertaining to Winnekes double life as a musician and a video rental clerk.
2007's A Natural Death featured significant lyrical and musical evolution into the concepts of nature and mortality while moving slightly away from the Nintendo metaphors. The song "Murder" is inspired by the Western novel Lonesome Dove, in which a Native American named Blue Duck stalks and kills white settlers on the plains. Hyperborea as a reference to Robert E. Howards original "Conan" pulp fantasy stories from the 30's and "The Red Tornado" a DC comics character from the company that Winneke is such an open enthusiast of.
While there are numerous references on every album Winneke states "No song is ever what it seems....the more silly it may come off the more troubled it probably is under the surface."
[edit] Current projects
Horse have recently inked a new deal with Vagrant Records for the year 2009 and beyond.[3]
Horse the band will be writing a new album in the winter, record during the spring, and tour in the summer in support of the album as it is released.[4]
Horse the band recently played at the Soundwave festival (early 2009). They played in 5 major cities in Australia as part of the festival.
Jamie Stewart of the band Xiu Xiu agreed to produce Horse the band's fourth album as per request from Erik Engstrom in an email he sent to Stewart. Photos of Stewart possibly working on the record recently surfaced on Engstrom's personal private blog.
Stewart commented on his role in the recording process, stating, “ Horse the band has asked me to try to help them make a dying robot, an exploding keyboard, a dream laugh and a melted, drastic flute of redemption. Lucky for you and for me they have the wit and creativity to turn these things into music.”
[edit] Videography
- "Bunnies"- R. Borlax
- "A Million Exploding Suns"- The Mechanical Hand
- "Lord Gold Throneroom"- The Mechanical Hand
- "Birdo"- The Mechanical Hand
- "New York City"- A Natural Death
- "Murder"- A Natural Death
[edit] Members
[edit] Current members
- Nathan Winneke – vocals
- David Isen – guitar
- Erik Engstrom – synthesizer/LSDJ
- Daniel Pouliot - drums
[edit] Former members
- Dashiell Han Arkenstone- bass, organ, and baritone guitar
- Eli Green – drums
- Andy Stokes – bass (Now a member of Da Nest)
- Jason Karuza – drums
- Christopher Prophet - drums
- Adam Crook – vocals
- Alex Duddy - drums
- Mike Benitez - bass
- Risto Metso - vocals
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
- Secret Rhythm of the Universe (2001)
- R. Borlax (2003, Pluto Records)
- The Mechanical Hand (2005, Combat Records; re-release, 2007, Koch Records)
- A Natural Death (2007, Koch Records)
- Desperate Living (2009, Vagrant Records)[5]
[edit] EPs
- I Am a Small Wooden Statue on a Patch of Crabgrass Next to a Dried Up Riverbed (2001)
- Beautiful Songs by Men (2002)
- Pizza (2006, Combat Records / LIF Records)
[edit] DVDs
- The Effing 69 World Tour tour footage (2004)
[edit] Demos
- Scabies, The Kangarooster, and You (1999)
[edit] References
- Bonnie Johnson (2004-10-22). "Majoring in Rockstar Studies: Part I: 'HORSING' around". The Stanford Daily. http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2004/10/22/majoringInRockstarStudies.
- http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1509692/09152005/horse_the_band.jhtml
- Andrew Parks (2005). "Horse the Band". Decibel Magazine. http://www.decibelmagazine.com/features/dec2005/horse_the_band.aspx.
- http://clubs.ccsu.edu/recorder/entertainment/entertainment_item.asp?NewsID=85
