A Horse And His Boy
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A Horse And His Boy

London, Ontario, Canada | SELF

London, Ontario, Canada | SELF
Band Alternative Pop

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This band has not uploaded any videos
This band has not uploaded any videos

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"NXNE Preview: A Horse and His Boy"

A Horse and His Boy make the kind of throwback art rock that would have made them right at home as the opener for the original purveyors of the craft: Bauhaus. The vocals have an almost theremin quality to them, oscillating back and forth while the music rises and crashes all around. - Tympanogram


"So Local It Hurts: A Horse and His Boy Interview"

As the first part of a series I hope to do with artistic-type people from London, I sat down with some members of London Ontario’s A Horse And His Boy. The group opened up the fourth annual London Ontario Live Arts Festival (LOLA Fest), which this year took the form of a two day free music and arts festival downtown in London’s beautiful Victoria Park. I got the pleasure of having this chat with them that I’ve transcribed verbatim. Enjoy:



Interview Legend:

DR: Dan Rankin (Me)
SA: Sam Allen, bassist
TH: Tyler Heffernan, guitarist
NN: Nathan Noble, vocalist, keys
MG: mrghosty, LOLA Fest VJ
ST: Stuart Thompson, interview organizer, all around gent

SA: So, what is this going to be for?

DR: Essentially, I’m freelancing right now. I normally write for Blare Magazine.com, but uh, my editor had no interest in covering LOLA at all. I’m going to do whatever I can with the story though.

SA: – All right. Awesome.

DR: I wasn’t impressed by it.

SA: Ah whatever– his loss, you know?

DR: I worked for the Gazette last year and we covered LOLA big time – I was trying to convince him it was worth covering but –

TH: Where’s that based out of? Blare Magazine?

DR: He started it when he was in London but has recently moved to Toronto. I’m simply a volunteer; no clout.

TH: No juice.

DR: I’m sorry?

TH: Craig Kilbourne always used to refer to clout as juice. As in “I’m trying to get mad juice in this town” –

SA: I’m just going to shift to get the sun out of my eye – there we go…

DR: You guys are opening this year – last year Olenka opened. Did you come out to that show?

NN: Yes. It was awesome.

DR: I was there too – what do you notice that’s different about LOLA this time around? There’s what looks like some multi-media screens as opposed to that crazy painted background, for one.

NN: I guess Mrghosty is going to be VJing [LOLA mainstage performances] for the whole thing. Beat map visuals -

{From behind me, mrghosty approaches}

MG: I do not use beat detection, gentlemen

DR: (laughing) Muh – Mrghosty?

TH: Well, there you go.

MG: Nice to meet you boys, I’m Scott {introductions} I’m not sure if they’re going to let us fire up the screens yet. I’m going to go worry about that. Even if it doesn’t show up very brightly I’d like to have them up and running for your set

{Sadly, the screens would not be on during AHAHB’s set}

MG: See you guys!

NN: Sorry about that

DR: Oh, that’s no problem – did you think when you were watching Olenka last year you’d be in the same position, opening, this year?

NN: Umm, no. Sam joked around when we were practicing, like “this time next year, boys, we’ll be playing LOLA.” We just kind of laughed it off, you know? The Free Press did a bit about that, us predicting LOLA. So funny.

TH: I just keep saying we’ll be playing Bonnaroo next year. I went this summer, it was incredible – amazing. The greatest weekend of my life probably… and I didn’t do any drugs. It was still that good.

DR: I read that the band began as a solo project but has evolved into the five-piece you are today – how did that happen? Who was the originator?

TH: That was Aaron Simmons – He’s back home right now.

NN: He’s the one behind the sampler and synth that does vocals as well.



DR: He’s the one who lost a bunch of stuff in that theft (explained in detail here)?

ALL: Everything.

NN: Yeah, he lost everything. Everything but his synthesizer.

TH: It’s all been bought back – we raised a lot of money thanks to the awesome community.

SA: We got the money together and bought some gear back. We still owe a lot of money – still in debt big time. Playing shows will help us get some of that money back.

DR: Sam, from The Samuel Musical I know that you’re definitely a multi-intrumentalist – what about you guys?

NN: No. I’ve only done vocals in bands before this band. This was the first band I picked up playing anything else. I’ve only been playing keys for maybe 2 years, tops. I can’t play guitar – I’d be a terrible drummer.

DR: You each come from your own unique musical backgrounds – for these reasons do you feel like the AHAHB of tomorrow could possibly sound radically different from the AHAHB you’ve captured on your debut album?

TH: Oh, vastly different. Our newest song, which we’re probably going to finish the set with this afternoon –

DR: Which isn’t on the album?

TH: No. We’ve got a couple new songs that aren’t on the album that we’ll be playing today. It’s a vastly different direction. A lot of the material that is on the album is similar to the stuff that Aaron began with two years ago when he was doing it as a solo project. Those songs just sort of grew out from sampled material and synth. The newer songs are much more collaborative where the songs are written on the spot with the five of us in one room.

DR: What sort of influences are you guys bringing to the table? Especially –I mean, he’s not here right now – but, especially Aaron vocally. What’s he influenced by?

NN: He was trying to go for an experimental angle, when he started. Since the band started he’s been getting more energetic with his vocals.

TH: Aaron digs everything though. He’s way into post punk

NN: Yeah, and jazz music –

{here, Sam points out a ‘bike army’ of six bi-pedal people rolling towards the center of the park. He mistakes the leader for someone he knows.}

SA: Aaron has a lot of different influences though. I think we all do. We all bring different influences to the table. We’re all into lots of different types of music and bands.

TH: Nathan has played in metal bands, I’ve played in prog-rock bands and indie-pop bands. I listen to free-form improvisational music. Sam is a folk and roots-rock kind of guru. [drummer] Jeremy [Ive] is all about instrumental jazz, sort of avant-garde. It’s all over the map.

SA: And that said, we also digs all types of music too. Just because one person’s main interest lies here… It’s a really wide range of music that’s going in there.

DR: Have you found you’ve had to put other things in your life on hold to pursue writing and performing music with AHAHB? Maybe going to school, buying a car or buying a house?

NN: No. We didn’t go on tour this fall because Tyler and Sam are in school. We’re not going to say to anybody “Hey, the band comes first,” you know? That’s crazy. Your lives come first. It’s always a gamble being in a band. You never really know if it’s going to be successful or not.

TH: We’re both in our final years of post-secondary education. It’s that close to completion, we might as well get it out of the way

SA: A lot of stuff gets put on the back burner though, like put to the side. You might miss a shift at work, or not have dinner with your family or something. We sometimes put other stuff on hold, but haven’t sacrificed anything big like school.

DR: How about side projects you might be doing? Have those been left behind for A Horse And His Boy?

SA: Kind of – I mean, we try to balance it out. I had a few weeks where I would get up, work 9-5, then go to band practice, then get home and be in bed by midnight every night for like two weeks straight because I had two different bands I was rehearsing with. I definitely schedule them around each other. I think, because AHAHB has been playing so much my other band hasn’t been rehearsing as much just because AHAHB needs that time now. We’ve had other situations where it’s like, “guys, we need to practice tonight, oh, Sam can’t because he has this band.” Clearly everyone respects that we have different projects that we’re trying to do, but this one gets the most of all of our attention I think. In a good way.

DR: I was listening to CHRW Radio Western this week and the DJ was talking to a Philosophy of Music professor from Fanshawe, Bernie Koenig. The conversation got pretty deep, but essentially what Bernie was saying was that while science helps us find out the truth about natural law and what we value, art – and music – helps people understand these truths… So, what does AHAHB put in its songs besides music and words? Or – what’s behind the music and words?

SA: Life experiences and emotion and uh.. I think you take everything that you experience in your day and put it into the music. I think it just happens naturally.

TH: Not only that, but things you wish for in your life, things that you dream about, or things you aspire to. Music is an expression in every possible way of your everything. We put our everything… I put my everything into our music.

SA: It’s a physical expression and it’s an intellectual expression – especially this band. It’s very physical and it’s very intellectual too I think.

DR: Where are you guys finishing up your schooling, by the way?

TH: I go to Western

SA: Western and Fanshawe

DR: What was it about the somewhat obscure C.S. Lewis Narnia Series book “A Horse And His Boy” that screamed ‘band name’ to you?



{ALL: Laughing}

SA: I could tell you the story if you’d like – a few years ago Aaron was on the phone with somebody at Alex P. Keaton and they were booking a show and they were like “what’s your band called?” and he was like “uhh – A Horse And His Boy” and he had the book, which he was in the middle of, right in front of him. Nothing too fancy.

DR: I thought it might be the ‘escaping a life of servitude’ part.

SA: Could you say that instead?

TH: {mock deeply} It’s about giving back power to the horse, you know? Taking it away from man – back to nature.

NN: There’s a lot of jokes like – “who’s the horse? Who’s the boy?”

SA: We used to tell people that Jesus was the horse.

NN: Or, we’re hung like a horse… and his boy.

{Drummer Jeremy Ive appears, sits}

TH: Hey Jeremy… We gotta get up on stage fellas

DR: Oh please, just one more question? You ‘d mentioned Alex P Keaton before, which of course is now closed.

SA: Ah, the venue question.

DR: Yeah, the venue question.

SA: Go for it, go for it.

DR: You have developed a reputation for playing alternative venues than your typical Richmond Row fare – do you any of you feel a connection to the sort of aesthetic possible in East London, or at the Museum? Or has playing these venues been more an adaptation you’ve had to make because of the closing of other venues?

SA: You have to in some ways, but it’s more exciting to play in a venue that’s not just a straight up bar. You know people are there to hear the music. It’s more interesting to experience the music in different ways than you’re accustomed to. So, we wanna reach away from just playing to the bar crowd when you have so many other opportunities to play in different places… Tyler, you usually have a good answer to that question –

TH: Really?

SA: Usually you’d just say to get away from the bar scene

TH: It’s awesome to play at bars, but -

NN: I like playing at bars. They don’t like me unless they’re drunk.

TH: I think we present a unique sound, a unique style of music and it’s good to take that and display it in unique ways. We like to have visualizations when we play, or, playing in alternative venues creates a different experience that sort of matches the experience of our music and is different from your sort of cookie-cutter Tragically Hip cover band. But, of course, we enjoy it all. We wanna do it all. We’re gonna dabble in a little bit of everything.

DR: Gotta try and get that juice.

TH: We gotta work that juice.

SA: That’s how we do it.

DR: By the way, Tyler, I really liked that funkiness you were pulling earlier during the soundcheck with the wah pedal

NN: {laughs} yeah, the most cheese ball music imaginable.

DR: I was thinking Hollywood Hogan might walk out at any moment. Anyways, thanks a lot you guys.

{I forget to turn off the recorder at this point and ten seconds of silence elapse}

{I see Stuart Thompson of the Open House Arts Collective, responsible for organizing the boys for the interview

DR: Thanks a lot, Stuart!

ST: Leaving?

DR: No, I’m gonna stick around and watch them play then probably head out



ST: Cool. The interview was good?

DR: Absolutely.

{small talk about LOLA’s visual art aspects, the TransMedia Stage, etc.}

DR: *whistles clock tower chime*

{recording ends} - Drankin' And Smokin'


"Interview With A Horse and His Boy"

Recorded and mixed at OIART, with Simon Larcohette, and then mastered by London legend Tim Glasgow, the album consists of intricately layered sounds and stirring vocals. Aaron's vocals are reminiscent of the eighties band Bauhaus, and, of course, a lot of the contemporary revivalist fare of vocal styles from that era. Despite the gentler tapestries which open tracks like In the Lights, AHAHB songs always project an orotund ambiance. Partly what defines the music as a whole is the sheer emotion behind each track; Aaron's vocals are heartfelt and are juxtaposed against harder sounds from the rest of the band. Drumming that incorporates swing, even at drum & bass tempos, adds energy to each track. This combination of hard and soft comes together to wonderful effect; AHAHB can be danced to frenetically at a club or enjoyed at home. - LondonFuse


"You will come and hear this band right now"

they have been called an ethereal experience of sight and sound, the most breathtaking musical experimentation to come out of the forest city in over 30 years. they opened london's biggest music festival this year. you must hear this band.

they are, of course, a horse and his boy.

since i started this blog i've had their self-title debut listed as my favourite album and i've been reluctant to drop it from the sidebar. it's like nothing i've heard before. strong, full of soul and gleefully experimental.

try this song out. "home" is a heavier, poundier version of the distinct ahahb sound. another newer song has an r&b style bass rhythm. it's hard to pin these guys down. - Listen! Listen! Listen!


"A Horse and His Boy - The Silver Dollar"

With their name taken from a novel by C.S. Lewis, A Horse and His Boy is a band steeped in English eccentricity. Melding Brit-glam swagger with hints of post-punk and 80’s-flavoured synth-pop, this is a sound straight-out of NME’s and Melody Makers from days of yore. Dapper, art-school-esque, and melodramatic, accented with vocals that straddle the divide between Bryan Ferry and Brett Anderson, the Union Jack is hoisted, high & proud in London. London, Ontario that is. - Lonely Vagabond


"Celebrating Steel Bananas’ 2nd Anniversary With A Horse And His Boy"

This is experimental post-punk art rock at its finest. The contrast between the bold and unique vocals of Aaron Solomon (samples, Juno 6) and the more melodic backing vocals of Nathan Noble (synth) is really quite striking. Also contributing to the art rock sound are Sam Allen (bass), Tyler Heffernan (guitar) and Jeremy Ive (drums). Ive brings power and drive to their music, while Noble’s synths bring a dream-like sound, and Allen and Heffernan bring a certain balance. All that juxtaposed with passionate vocals and some sample-heavy tunes make for an energetic and noisy set. A Horse And His Boy are worth checking out. - Buying Shots For Bands


"NXNE 2010: Something About A Horse and His Boy"

The record is a five track, thirty-minute intense trip through expansive ambient soundscapes, bizarre synth samples and endless, blissful noise. Their live set is equally as intense, as A Horse and His Boy, who are just about the most mismatched looking group of all time, make an unholy racket, punishing sound systems with the sheer level of noise, which by the time their songs peak is simply mind-boggling. - Steel Bananas


"Top London Albums of 2009"

Fans of Roxy Music, Pere Ubu and Tin Huey --and a younger generation that may not know those art rock bands at all-- will bow to the 27 minutes of musical prowess on display here. All four of AHAHB's front guys --keyboardist/vocalists Aaron Simmons and Nathan Noble, bass guitarist Sam Allen and guitarist Tyler Heffernan --could help lead their own projects. So could the drummer. To this old Roxy Music fan, the secret is having a turbine for a drummer --Jeremy Ive knows how to drive. AHAHB --the group and the album --is all at once sweet and lyrical and thundering more than whatever FM96 is playing right now. The self-titled debut is manufactured by the London-based and world-conquering Open House Arts Collective. In other words, expect excellence. - The London Free Press


Discography

'A HORSE AND HIS BOY' (self-titled release 2009)

Photos

Bio

A Horse And His Boy released their debut album independently with Open House Arts Collective in September 2009 in London Ontario. That year they won ‘Local Album of the Year’ from 94.9 CHRW and performed at LOLA Fest along with Holy Fuck, Akron/Family and Owen Pallett. In 2010 the band performed at NxNE and later shared the stage with Woodhands, Diamond Rings, The Winks and with PS I Love You at Oh! Fest. The band is currently at work on their new album, which will feature their single “Colour Bars”.