Horse the Band
Horse the Band |
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HORSE the band is an experimental post-hardcore/metalcore band. Its keyboardist uses the Korg MS2000 synthesizer to achieve a very 8-bit video game-influenced sound.
HORSE the band has labeled itself as "Nintendocore" because of the references to certain Nintendo characters in some songs, including Cut Man, from the popular 8-bit NES game Mega Man in the song "Cutsman"; Birdo, one of the bosses from the NES game Super Mario Bros. 2, in the song "Birdo"; and the rabbit-like nemesis from The Legend of Zelda in the song "Pol's Voice."
Biography
The band booked its own self-managed tours starting the summer of 2002, including a 3-month world tour spanning seven countries, in which it headlined most of the shows. Afterwards the band began to appear on more mainstream shows, first touring with The Dillinger Escape Plan, Hella, and Between the Buried and Me in late 2005.[citation needed]
Throughout 2006 the band toured with a diverse assortment of artists. It toured around the country with The Fall of Troy, Poison the Well, and Criteria. Then, a month after this tour finished on May 28, 2006, HORSE started a tour with Gatsby's American Dream, Portugal. The Man, and Forgive Durden.
The band dropped off of the tour early, proclaiming that the reason the members couldn't continue was because they were in Chicago eating pizza, and claiming that it was the best pizza they had ever eaten. After dropping out of the tour, the band went on to perform at the Warped Tour, as well as the Sounds of the Underground tour. During these tours, the band recorded Pizza and played shows with GWAR. The EP was released on September 5, 2006.
During the fall of 2006, the band has continued touring to support Pizza with All That Remains and DragonForce. The tour began in Los Angeles, California on September 8, 2006. After the tour finished, the band began writing its new album, and hopes to have it recorded by March 2007.
On Dec 25 2006, the band issued a special song for Christmas on its Myspace page entitled "A Partridge", a comical spin on the popular Christmas song "The Twelve Days of Christmas". According to a Myspace bulletin concerning the song, it was written and recorded in a single day. The song was removed from the band's Myspace profile the following day at the request of guitarist David Isen's mother. Mrs. Isen asked that the song never be played again until the lyrics had been modified to include their family's religious beliefs. No other versions of the song have been released as of yet.
In February 2007, during the recording of the band's next album, an official HORSE the band YouTube channel was started to display videos of the recording process. The channel quickly turned into a forum for the band to post episodes of its own drama "Lawrence and Friends," a show about a love triangle between a sugar cube, a suicidal pencil, and Carla Hassett. The band has even gone as far as to write a theme song for the show in its classic synthesizer fashion.
Song Lyrics
Although the focus of HORSE's lyrics can be considered Nintendo-related, often they are used metaphorically, to suggest other topics, personal or otherwise.
Not all of HORSE the band's lyrics reference Nintendo. According to vocalist Nathan Winneke, "…there are only three of our songs which reference Nintendo characters. I was reading some review of our new album and this guy was trying to link all our songs to Nintendo, I was like, 'What the fuck?!'" (Metal Hammer UK, www.metalhammer.co.uk)
Members
Current members
Nathan Winneke
Chris Prophet
David Isen
Dashiell "Dash" Arkenstone
Erik Engstrom
Former members
- Sean Pineda – drums
- Andy Stokes – bass
- Alex Siudy – drums
- Filipe Melo – drums
- Adam Crook – vocals
- Steve Purtell – bass
- Mike Bastas – keyboards
- Keven Reynolds – guitar
(Nathan Winneke, current vocalist, used to play bass in the band and, before that, drums.)
Discography
- Scabies, The Kangarooster, and You demo (1999)
- Secret Rhythm of the Universe CD (2001)
- I Am a Small Wooden Statue on a Patch of Crabgrass Next to a Dried Up Riverbed EP (2001)
- Beautiful Songs by Men EP (2002)
- R. Borlax CD (2003, Pluto Records)
- The Effing 69 World Tour tour footage DVD (2004)
- The Mechanical Hand CD (2005, Combat Records)
- Pizza EP (2006)
- A Natural Death CD (2007, Combat Records) (unreleased)
References
- Bonnie Johnson (2004-10-22). "Majoring in Rockstar Studies: Part I: 'HORSING' around". The Stanford Daily.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1509692/09152005/horse_the_band.jhtml
- Andrew Parks (2005). "Horse the Band". Decibel Magazine.
- http://clubs.ccsu.edu/recorder/entertainment/entertainment_item.asp?NewsID=85