Running with Horses

Sarah Masters is one of the quiet achievers of the Adelaide music scene, playing drums in bands such as Hello Minnesota!, Bad Girls Of The Bible as well as writing and playing her own music since she was 16. This year has seen the debut of duo Running With Horses, Sarah out front on shimmering vocals and electric guitar with fiancŽ/collaborator Aidan Moyse keeping the beat, together creating spacious rock songs infused with a pop glow. You could say they have hit the ground running in 2006, with their first gig slated to support damaged Aus-rocker and Beast Of Bourbon Brian Henry Hooper on the eve of this year's Big Day Out.

"The Brian Hooper show was going to be our first, but when Greg [Grace Emily Hotel publican] realised that he threw us on a show the week before. They were both lots of fun. The first show turned out to be Greg's surprise birthday gig, so we got to play in front of people we wouldn't have played in front of otherwise, " describes Masters.

"We have really been a band since about August last year. We recorded 'Power Chord Sing Song' in October and just sat on it because we didn't want to send it to radio around Christmas or while everyone was on summer holidays. So we actually appeared in February."

Invisible is the leading track on the demo and is also up on the Running With Horses myspace site. It is a bittersweet slice of indie rock, with an unexpected swerve where the chorus would be then building subtly into a rock ending. "It got played on Triple J's Home and Hosed, and thrashed on 3D."

So Running With Horses' profile has grown rapidly, and includes the ubiquitous myspace web presence.

"The main drawcard to myspace is the building networks with people you wouldn't normally be in contact with, be they interstate or overseas. It has more potential than any other MP3 downloading place. Because music is so accessible on the Internet people are interested in listening to stuff they have not heard before," says Masters thoughtfully.

"There are a lot of record labels that have their own myspace site, and whether they listen to the music of every band that wants to be their friend or not, you are still getting in their face. When we first joined I tried to find all my favourite labels. I sent out a couple of demos to a couple of labels I thought we would go well on, and I was really surprised about three months later with a message from Nic Dalton saying 'congratulations on being demo of the week!' It was very strange but very flattering," Masters says of the accolade from the Half A Cow Records chief.

As we move into the winter of 2006, Running with Horses are lined up to play the huge New Girl Order gig with three other femme-fronted bands and DJs, as well as to further develop their other songs and overall sound.

"The plan is to work in a little more instrumentation. I recorded a song for the Leighstardust tribute CD and we have played it live a few times, and that was pretty fun. It involved plugging in the iPod, and I sang and played guitar over the top, and Aidan also played drums with it. I guess that added a bit more depth to what we were doing. At the moment I am trying to programme some beats that we can play along to, and perhaps I will get Aidan to play guitar on a few songs because he is a better guitarist than me, and I will play keyboard or something. I think it would be hard as an audience member to just watch a duo make the same noises for half an hour," Masters says modestly. One Running With Horses song can have four or five different parts, so she is certainly downplaying the range of whimsical and angular sounds the twosome generate in their simple format. Running With Horses are a rock duo with difference.

Narelle Walker - Db Magazine