Pulled Apart By Horses are one of the many acts on the Soundwave line up that we here at LMA are pumped about seeing, so when we got the opportunity to sit down with bass player Rob Lee and have a bit of a chin wag, we jumped at it! Here's how it went down.
Firstly your name, I have got to ask, how on earth did you come up with it? I mean 10 points for creativity but is there a story behind it?
*Laughs* Well originally it’s actually a torture method which is pretty gruesome really, where four horses would be strapped to each limb of the victim and they would just run off in different directions and you can just imagine what happens next. I guess we feel that each one of us is like an individual horse and the horrible thing that happens in the middle is our music. Well that’s the highbrow version of it but actually the reality of it is our guitarist, James Brown, is a huge Radiohead fan and there is a song called 'Pulled Apart By Horses' by Radiohead. It was originally like a rare b-side thing and I think he was being a bit sneaky and thought that nobody had heard that before but coincidentally, about a year after we’d formed the band they ended up releasing it *laughs*. The name is just something we’ve grown into really, it just suits us now, I don’t really know why but it’s like we just sort of adopted it and it seems to sum us up in some way.
This brings me to your latest album 'Tough Love'. It's gruesome and shocking, both wonderful things we love, where did you draw your inspiration from with this album?
Well we worked with a guy called Gil Norton, he’s a producer that worked with the Pixies and Foo Fighters and he’s created some of our favourite albums, so he was a big part of creating that second one. I guess bands like the Pixies and Nirvana have always been a huge influence for us, I guess the first album was a lot more unhinged and we didn’t really think about it, it was just a collection of what we had at that point. When we first started out we were just like 'let’s just get some songs together so we can go out and play gigs'. There was not a lot of thought, the first album was just a real document of where we were at that time and place but with the second album it was like wow we can actually do this! It became our jobs and our lives. The second one was a lot more considered but what we tried to do with the second one was kind of like… after the first album people were putting tags on us and saying you’re a hardcore band or you’re a punk band or you’re a heavy band sort of thing, but we really didn’t feel like we fit into any of that, but we’ve always been big fans of bands like ACDC and Thin Lizzy, so I think with the second album we thought lets just make this a rock album! Let’s not worry about anything else, you know?
I see you actually have a new album in the works, how do you feel about that one so far?
Yeah, it’s great! I mean we are literally working on that right now, I’m actually at home now but after this I’m going over to the studio here in Leeds. The other albums... the first album we did in a place called Bridlington and the second one we did in Wales in a place called Monnow Valley where Queen and Black Sabbath had both recorded. But this one we just wanted to keep old school and stay in Leeds where we are all from, so it’s kind of nice because every morning I get up and go into work and I will be there until the early hours and try not to get too drunk or anything.
Are there any funny recording stories yet?
Well it was Tom’s birthday the day before yesterday and everyone bought him a lot of cakes and some champagne and James did this guitar solo…. It’s actually in an old church where we are recording, the recording studio is kind of like down in the basement of it and we were upstairs in this really huge hallway thing. We got James, our guitarist, to do some guitar solos in there yesterday 'coz it has this real natural reverb… Anyway, because it was Tom’s birthday, when James had finished the solo we popped some champagne in this huge hall and there was the huge pop…. And on the darker side of things as well it’s kind of like the rough end of town where we are recording so there’s a lot of smack heads and heroin addicts that keep hanging outside the church so we might get a few of them coming in to do some backing vocals or something *laughs*.
I had a chance to check out some of your music video’s like 'Epic Myth' and 'V.E.N.O.M.' which took some serious creativity, did you guys sit around your cauldron and collaborate?
Yeah, well that’s the thing we are all really into horror films and big fans of cinema so we have drawn inspiration from this. We all sort of sit around and talk about the idea and come up with stuff but the guy that directed those two videos is a guy called Bob Harlow and he’s really cool, he’s a really creative guy. It’s tempting to take complete creative control and come up with everything yourself but it was cool to lend the reins to him and he really put his mark on those.
Firstly your name, I have got to ask, how on earth did you come up with it? I mean 10 points for creativity but is there a story behind it?
*Laughs* Well originally it’s actually a torture method which is pretty gruesome really, where four horses would be strapped to each limb of the victim and they would just run off in different directions and you can just imagine what happens next. I guess we feel that each one of us is like an individual horse and the horrible thing that happens in the middle is our music. Well that’s the highbrow version of it but actually the reality of it is our guitarist, James Brown, is a huge Radiohead fan and there is a song called 'Pulled Apart By Horses' by Radiohead. It was originally like a rare b-side thing and I think he was being a bit sneaky and thought that nobody had heard that before but coincidentally, about a year after we’d formed the band they ended up releasing it *laughs*. The name is just something we’ve grown into really, it just suits us now, I don’t really know why but it’s like we just sort of adopted it and it seems to sum us up in some way.
This brings me to your latest album 'Tough Love'. It's gruesome and shocking, both wonderful things we love, where did you draw your inspiration from with this album?
Well we worked with a guy called Gil Norton, he’s a producer that worked with the Pixies and Foo Fighters and he’s created some of our favourite albums, so he was a big part of creating that second one. I guess bands like the Pixies and Nirvana have always been a huge influence for us, I guess the first album was a lot more unhinged and we didn’t really think about it, it was just a collection of what we had at that point. When we first started out we were just like 'let’s just get some songs together so we can go out and play gigs'. There was not a lot of thought, the first album was just a real document of where we were at that time and place but with the second album it was like wow we can actually do this! It became our jobs and our lives. The second one was a lot more considered but what we tried to do with the second one was kind of like… after the first album people were putting tags on us and saying you’re a hardcore band or you’re a punk band or you’re a heavy band sort of thing, but we really didn’t feel like we fit into any of that, but we’ve always been big fans of bands like ACDC and Thin Lizzy, so I think with the second album we thought lets just make this a rock album! Let’s not worry about anything else, you know?
I see you actually have a new album in the works, how do you feel about that one so far?
Yeah, it’s great! I mean we are literally working on that right now, I’m actually at home now but after this I’m going over to the studio here in Leeds. The other albums... the first album we did in a place called Bridlington and the second one we did in Wales in a place called Monnow Valley where Queen and Black Sabbath had both recorded. But this one we just wanted to keep old school and stay in Leeds where we are all from, so it’s kind of nice because every morning I get up and go into work and I will be there until the early hours and try not to get too drunk or anything.
Are there any funny recording stories yet?
Well it was Tom’s birthday the day before yesterday and everyone bought him a lot of cakes and some champagne and James did this guitar solo…. It’s actually in an old church where we are recording, the recording studio is kind of like down in the basement of it and we were upstairs in this really huge hallway thing. We got James, our guitarist, to do some guitar solos in there yesterday 'coz it has this real natural reverb… Anyway, because it was Tom’s birthday, when James had finished the solo we popped some champagne in this huge hall and there was the huge pop…. And on the darker side of things as well it’s kind of like the rough end of town where we are recording so there’s a lot of smack heads and heroin addicts that keep hanging outside the church so we might get a few of them coming in to do some backing vocals or something *laughs*.
I had a chance to check out some of your music video’s like 'Epic Myth' and 'V.E.N.O.M.' which took some serious creativity, did you guys sit around your cauldron and collaborate?
Yeah, well that’s the thing we are all really into horror films and big fans of cinema so we have drawn inspiration from this. We all sort of sit around and talk about the idea and come up with stuff but the guy that directed those two videos is a guy called Bob Harlow and he’s really cool, he’s a really creative guy. It’s tempting to take complete creative control and come up with everything yourself but it was cool to lend the reins to him and he really put his mark on those.
Were there any music video shoots that really stuck out for you?
For me there’s one called 'High Five'. Again, it was Bob Harlow that directed it, he has real skills with finding places to film in and for this video he found a really old school that was abandoned. It was a Jewish school in the 60’s and 70’s and for financial reasons it had to be closed and it was just like a complete ghost town place. Some of the classrooms have stuff still drawn on the chalk boards and it’s been there for decades, school books that have just been left there, and there was a library as well that was still there with all of these amazing books that have been there for 20 years. The main filing area was a swimming pool and the swimming pool was completely empty, no water in it and we just got in there and set up all of the instruments, that was really cool. I will never forget that day.
Tell me about the joint single you are releasing with Blood Red Shoes, how did that come about?
Well they have been friends with us for quite a few years, we have done quite a few tours with them, it’s really weird because before we even started Pulled Apart By Horses I was a big fan of that band anyway and I use to go and watch them play in pretty small venues when they first started out. Then when we started touring and stuff I was talking to the guys and asked if they'd heard of them. We all really go into them as a band and I think it was just through Facebook we got in touch with them and we were like 'do you want us to support you on a few gigs?' and we just ended up becoming mates with them over the years. Our guitarist, James, set us this label called Covered Records and to kick things off really they covered one of our songs and we covered one of there’s. It was just a fun thing to do really.
What’s the most important lesson you have learnt in your music career?
Wow that’s a pretty good question *laughs* the most important lesson… I think being in a band you’ve got to accept each other for who you are with all of your faults and everything. You spend so much time in really close quarters with them and you have to really learn just to accept each other for who they are. That’s the biggest thing, you have to get over your own ego and you have to realize that what you're doing, the band and what you're aiming towards is more important than the silly little strops that you might have.
You guys are coming down with us to hang with the koalas and kangaroos soon, are you excited to play Soundwave?
Oh yeah, I can’t wait, it’s going to be so ace! We went to Australia a couple of years ago actually and did a few gigs there. That was honestly one of the coolest tours we’d every done like we really loved being in Australia. It’s a bit of a dream come true for us to go back there.
For any natives over here that haven’t heard of your music what would you say to them to get them along to your set? And I do hear you play a smashing live show!
I’d say be afraid, don’t come we are really bad, we a terrible. No *laughs* just come and have a good time and hang out.
What’s a weird fact about the band?
Well our drummer actually doesn’t have any fingers on his right hand… sorry his left hand. Which is weird for a drummer, he was born that way, he didn’t lose them or anything, his knuckles are set back in his palm and he holds his drum stick in a really sort of hard to explain way… and I guess that in a way has influenced his drumming and it’s a really big part of the sound of our band.
Interview by Shannen Murphy
For me there’s one called 'High Five'. Again, it was Bob Harlow that directed it, he has real skills with finding places to film in and for this video he found a really old school that was abandoned. It was a Jewish school in the 60’s and 70’s and for financial reasons it had to be closed and it was just like a complete ghost town place. Some of the classrooms have stuff still drawn on the chalk boards and it’s been there for decades, school books that have just been left there, and there was a library as well that was still there with all of these amazing books that have been there for 20 years. The main filing area was a swimming pool and the swimming pool was completely empty, no water in it and we just got in there and set up all of the instruments, that was really cool. I will never forget that day.
Tell me about the joint single you are releasing with Blood Red Shoes, how did that come about?
Well they have been friends with us for quite a few years, we have done quite a few tours with them, it’s really weird because before we even started Pulled Apart By Horses I was a big fan of that band anyway and I use to go and watch them play in pretty small venues when they first started out. Then when we started touring and stuff I was talking to the guys and asked if they'd heard of them. We all really go into them as a band and I think it was just through Facebook we got in touch with them and we were like 'do you want us to support you on a few gigs?' and we just ended up becoming mates with them over the years. Our guitarist, James, set us this label called Covered Records and to kick things off really they covered one of our songs and we covered one of there’s. It was just a fun thing to do really.
What’s the most important lesson you have learnt in your music career?
Wow that’s a pretty good question *laughs* the most important lesson… I think being in a band you’ve got to accept each other for who you are with all of your faults and everything. You spend so much time in really close quarters with them and you have to really learn just to accept each other for who they are. That’s the biggest thing, you have to get over your own ego and you have to realize that what you're doing, the band and what you're aiming towards is more important than the silly little strops that you might have.
You guys are coming down with us to hang with the koalas and kangaroos soon, are you excited to play Soundwave?
Oh yeah, I can’t wait, it’s going to be so ace! We went to Australia a couple of years ago actually and did a few gigs there. That was honestly one of the coolest tours we’d every done like we really loved being in Australia. It’s a bit of a dream come true for us to go back there.
For any natives over here that haven’t heard of your music what would you say to them to get them along to your set? And I do hear you play a smashing live show!
I’d say be afraid, don’t come we are really bad, we a terrible. No *laughs* just come and have a good time and hang out.
What’s a weird fact about the band?
Well our drummer actually doesn’t have any fingers on his right hand… sorry his left hand. Which is weird for a drummer, he was born that way, he didn’t lose them or anything, his knuckles are set back in his palm and he holds his drum stick in a really sort of hard to explain way… and I guess that in a way has influenced his drumming and it’s a really big part of the sound of our band.
Interview by Shannen Murphy
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