Two Trick Horse
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(((o))): So, first and foremost, who are Two Trick Horse and what are your musical backgrounds?
MC: I’m Marcus, I play bass, that’s about as far as it goes.
SC: I’m Sam and I play guitar and occasionally yelp out the vocal line. Dave is the drummer and hits the drums.
(((o))): How did the band come together?
MC: Sam and Steve started it. I joined. Steve left. Dave joined. Here we are.
(((o))): Please describe your sound in poetic form.
MC:
Fear of disappointment
Fuelling short deep breaths of despair
Sharpened by noise
Convoluted and coy
(((o))): How has your local scene impacted you as a band?
MC: Massively. There is something of an uncomfortable noise about Leeds which is so alluring at the same time. Things change very quickly with it being a student city you can never really settle down in a place like this and I think that’s reflected in the music. The instability provides a sort of cognitive dissonance which is beautifully represented by the noise rock bands here like Blacklisters, That Fucking Tank, Super Luxury, Bilge Pump etc. Pulled Apart by Horses proved that we didn’t just have the Kaiser Chiefs, the work that Brew records did really helped to put the city on the map and define a “Leeds sound” of sorts although I don’t really think there is a definitive “Leeds sound”. There are lots of micro-scenes that make up the Leeds music scene in general. Sometimes cross pollination happens, it’s a small enough place, everyone knows each other and helps each other out, it’s more of a community than a ‘scene’. Venues are cheap to hire out, rent is cheap so living costs are lower so you have more disposable income or don’t have to work as much as you would in London so you end up having more creative space. £600 pcm for a 4 bedroom house in Hyde Park, probably get a cardboard box for that in London. Lots of interesting DIY promoters are bringing in all sorts of bands from elsewhere which not only gets people watching live music but inspires creativity too. It’s like the earth being the perfect distance from the sun for life to evolve. Leeds allows creative people a lot.
SC: It’s massively inspirational as a musician as there is always loads going on and the quality is always quite high. The community aspect is also important as I gigged in London for seven years and although there were loads of great bands, the scene was quite disparate with pockets of great bands all over. I’ve only been living in Leeds for a few years and one of the first gigs I went to was Live at Leeds – I walked into the Cockpit and saw Kong and These Monsters back to back which was amazing. That in turn led me to Brew Records and beyond that, to the other promoters and labels working in the city and around which was actually how I met Marcus. As well as the noise rock element there is a fantastic heavy scene as well. I think everyone knows Humanfly and Black Moth but we’ve also got Envoys and Sunwolf. It’s pretty healthy at the moment.
(((o))): What can you tell us about your recorded output to date?
SC: Steve and I did the first recording up in Newcastle before we’d even gigged as we presumed we needed something for people to listen to in order to get gigs. As a result it sounds like a 2 piece trying to sound like they’ve more members (!) (for some reason we splattered bass and keyboards all over it….)
Both our last 2 recordings have been done at Ghosttown Studios in Leeds with Ross Halden who is brilliant for recording with and gets the sound exactly how we envisage it in our (collective) head i.e. 3 people playing dirty noise in a big room… I was obsessed with ape-ing the Kill Yourself guitar sound at the time of the 2nd recording although I don’t think I quite got there but that was the context for Ross to interpret. I can definitely see us doing some sort of long form record there in the future as it’s such a great environment.
(((o))): What do you think is the most difficult challenge facing new bands starting out in the music industry today?
MC: Well it depends how rich your parents are but class war gripes aside I think striking a balance between work, life and getting time to play, rehearse and write. Making sure you’re earning enough money to keep yourself and the band afloat without having a mental breakdown either because you’re working a really low paid part-time job to free yourself up for music or a full-time one grinding away at your soul day by day just to pay the bills. If you can master that balancing act then do everything yourself, why get someone else to book you shows if you’re perfectly capable? Why bother with a manager? Can you do your own artwork? Can you shoot your own video? Yeah, all these things take up a lot of time but so did learning your instrument so stop being lazy and get on with it. If you love playing in a band that much then make it fun, it’s your thing, do what you want to do.
SC: I would definitely agree with the balance aspect – it gets very hard to juggle everything if you’re working fulltime and if you work part-time and have more space for band activities then you probably aren’t making enough money to put into it and pay bills at the same time. You need to work really hard to not make being in a band a chore. Saying all that we’re creating something from nothing, just an idea of a drum sound or a riff, and there’s nothing more interesting or exciting than that.
(((o))): Every band has different aims. What would have to happen for Two Trick Horse to make you feel that you’d “made it”, so to speak?
MC: You never make it; you’re always ‘making it’ so to speak. I’m not sure what ‘it’ is but it seems pretty fun being part of the process. People are so obsessed with an end product, something presented to them in a finished form. People are scared of process because they don’t know where they stand, it’s a state of flux. If you stop to turn around and admire your footsteps in the snow you’re gonna get hit by snowball and you’re gonna go home crying to your mum and she's gonna call you a fool. That’s actually an old Jamaican proverb handed down from my Grandmother.
SC: I don’t really know what that means anymore and everyone seems to have their own definition anyway. For me I would by releasing an album and managing to sell it to an audience beyond our social circle combined with touring a few times a year. We’ve talked about going round Europe before so that would be something to tick off the list. I still want to see some vinyl with ‘Two Trick Horse’ on the label.
(((o))): What trick can horses do that one trick ponies cannot?
MC: They probably have bigger dicks. I haven’t seen substantial evidence to verify this but it’s an educated guess but I suppose having a bigger dick isn’t really a trick, it’s more nature’s way of saying “Hey mate, you’re much bigger than this other animal, why not have a bigger dick? Go on, have a bigger dick on me mate”. Luck of the draw I guess. But if I were to give a less phallic focussed answer I’d say badminton.
SC: Can’t say it better than that!
(((o))): You’re given the opportunity to create your own All Tomorrow’s Parties Festival. What would be the first five bands on your list?
MC: Fugazi, Drive Like Jehu, Pissed Jeans, Dope Body, Lightning Bolt.
SC: Hot Water Music, Converge, Planes Mistaken For Stars, Silent Front, That Fucking Tank.
(((o))): Are there any upcoming bands you’d like us to feature soon?
MC: Godzilla Black, Stilts, Nately’s Whore’s Kid Sister, Girl Band, Alpha Male Tea Party, Bearfoot Beware, Super Luxury, The Engine, The Physics House Band, Ikestra, The Witch Hunt, USA Nails, Death Pedals.
SC: Ditto the above plus Torpor (fantastic sludge noise from London), Cleft, Nope, Cowtown, Tacoma Narrows Bridge Disaster, Cattle, Envoys, Shield Your Eyes.
(Ed: We’re doing pretty well on that list!)
(((o))): What are the band’s plans for the near future?
MC: Keep writing songs. They’re pretty important.
Play more out of town shows and record some new material. We’re pretty economical when it comes to recording so we could probably knock an album out in a couple of days. Don’t hold us to that though.
SC: That sounds good to me.
