PULLED APART BY HORSES
The SiS Interview by Dany Sloan

Potential can be a bitch sometimes. I've lost count of footballers, ball players and especially bands that were supposed to be the next big thing that collapse under the pressure of heightened expectations and media scrutiny. Pulled Apart By Horses come from a line of quality groups and a city that is bubbling over with great new music, but there is no use in calling them the next Q & Not U, Les Savy Fav or Drive Like Jehu. They might have the pedigree, but perhaps we should let a band be a band and do what it is that they do best -- play music. A year from now, PABH could be exactly where they are now or bigger than Led Zeppelin, but as a wise man once said, "It's best not to worry about the destination and just enjoy the ride."

Stranded in Stereo sat down last week with this Leeds band, who formed late last year, and they were kind enough to make this one of the most enjoyable interviews we've done yet.

SIS: You guys were in some well-regarded bands (It Takes Bridges, Mother Vulpine) before PABH. Why do you think those groups failed, and what do you hope to take from those groups to make PABH stronger?

James Brown : My last band didn’t really fail, it was more time to just move on for me and try and work with new people who had similar energy and urgency for writing and performing live. Plus I fancy Tom. I think I learnt how to play live without getting tired and also how to win over folk singers in my last band.

Lee Vincent: ‘Failed’ is the wrong word, I feel all my previous bands have been a success but they just ran their course.

Thomas Hudson: I agree with Leeroy and Brown, life is the only thing I have failed so far. Mother Vulpine only had a short running, but I’m not annoyed that it came to an end – I learnt so many things from it, met so many people and had so many amazing experiences whilst we were together. I see PABH as an opportunity to have fun and try something different to what I’ve done in the past. Plus I’ve always wanted to time travel. Last week I sent the future a SMS whilst cleaning a medieval stable clean out!

SIS:  West Yorkshire has been a great spot for new music lately. Has it always been that way and people are only starting to notice now, or is this something new? What do you think has led to this high level of creativity?

JB:  It’s been like this for a few years now and I think people are moving to the city off the back of bands getting signed and there being so many great labels and venues here. Plus a lot of people find me attractive and my address is widely available on the internet and in phone boxes across the UK.

LV: I saw James’s phone number in a phone box in Southampton and had to visit Leeds at the promise of his "vigorous massages." It just turns out that Leeds was also pretty amazing for its music scene too, so I stayed. Speaking from personal experience, Leeds is one of the best places in the UK for music – amazing bands, promoters, labels, venues, haters…

Robert Lee: Leeds is an interesting place because you always seem to meet new people here, and the majority of people that you meet here are not originally from Leeds. Different ideas, tastes and personalities from all over the country seem to end up here and all of this adds to the music scene. Even though it’s the third biggest city in the UK, Leeds can seem like a really small place because the social scene is so close. Sometimes that can be a bit frightening, but it certainly creates a lot of opportunity to make things happen.

TH: James Brown is Leeds.

SIS: What are some of your favorite places to play? Who are some of the bands you enjoy playing with?

JB: Brudenell Social, Packhorse and Kirkgate market by the fish section. I love playing with That Fucking Tank, Fran Rodgers and The Kinky Sick Dick Unit.

LV: Fenton is my favourite all-round. Brudenell, Packhorse and Fav are all lovely places too. As for bands – Humanfly, Red Stars Parade, That Fucking Tank, Paul Marshall, These Monsters, Wintermute, Omerta… the list goes on and on.

RL: I think because there’s such a close-knit music community in Leeds, it can often seem like you’re just name-checking or supporting your mates' bands. But genuinely, some of my favourite bands ever are in Leeds. I thought Tank were fucking ace for a long time before I met them. On the opposite side of that, I’ve had an on-off manly affair with Monster Killed By Laser for years, but I honestly think they’re one of the best bands that’s ever existed.

The Brudenell is a brilliant place, it’s so funny that there’s bands like Vibracathedral Orchestra making walls of noise there, and then there’s old Yorkshire men and local "hard" types in the other room going "What’s that fucking din!" But everyone gets on fine. The Packhorse is like our second home.

TH: For me it has to be the Brudenell Social Club for its ‘cabaret décor’ and Green Label bitter. I’ve seen some of the best gigs of my life there and would probably kiss it - if it was a man. The Packhorse is awesome too, the amps aren’t normally mic’ed up so you have to crank them up to eleventeen. We live, rehearse, play gigs and even eat slabs of Sunday roast there!

SIS: What are your goals for the band in 2008?

JB: Higher drug intake, children’s television presenting, marry a folk singer, wine making and white water rafting. Seriously though, I really want to learn how to make wine then drink it by the pint.

LV: More drugs and getting hooked on James’s love-wine. Wax. Tour.

RL: I’m trying real hard to grow facial hair, but the neighbour’s cat keeps licking it off while I’m asleep. The rest of the band have some right manly growths and I’m aspiring to that. But I’m not quite hard enough to cultivate a convincing growth yet. Touring might sort that out. Tom and Lee opt for the all-over bayou fuzz. Whereas James can wield some mighty side chops when the mood takes him. He cleaned his act up a bit recently though, so he had to whap his chops off.

JB: I can help your growth, Robert.

TH: I want to release a glow in the dark 7” vinyl that’s bound in marsupial flesh and screen-printed onto moon crystals. I also want to do a European tour and work at McDonalds. Build a better burger and all that.

SIS: If any member of the band were to appear on the cover of a tabloid, who would it be and why?

JB: It wouldn’t be me but it might be my white ladies wrists. Very popular with digital camera equipment and the elderly. I think Rob might make it because he looks like he just walked off the set of the Mighty Boosh and his entire face was created on photoshop CS3.

LV: It would be James and the headline would read "Grunge isn’t dead. We find living proof." Haha.

RL: It really wouldn’t surprise me to see that Tom had somehow wrangled himself onto the cover of Crochet Monthly just for a laugh.

JB: I take Crochet Monthly quite seriously actually.

TH: I saw Lee in the personals section of Netto’s ‘Scandinavian Shopping Sales Monthly.’ Apparently, if you squint at his tattoo’s – they merge together and form an image similar to Dale Winton eating a ham cob. [Editor's note: cob is a bread bap; Dale Winton is an orange pervert]

SIS: When family ask you what your band sounds like, what do you tell them?

JB: ‘I think its best we put the TV on Dad.’

LV: ‘Mum, Dad, I’m gay.’

RL: Hah. My mum actually asked me this one, and I said we make a right racket. When she heard it she said, “you weren’t wrong.” But she’d only heard the Youtube live videos, and the sound is terrible on them so she probably thinks that’s what we actually sound like. Haha. Don’t know what my Dad will think but he used to listen to Focus and Atomic Rooster, so he’s got no excuse for not liking us.

TH: My ma and pa heard our tracks and loved us. They’re coming to our gig next week! And supported us on MV’s tour (not in a musical way though). My dad pumped RATM and Nirvana into my eyeballs when I was still a girl at primary school and now I’m fucked. Ace! My Dad also has a bulging ‘tash and my mum has ginger hair.

SIS: What's the best thing about being in PABH? The worst?

JB: Best – playing live, being with the lads and rehearsals. Worst – ham canyons, too many offers of outdoor pursuits, fingers always bleed live and destruction climaxes.

LV: You get to live the rock and roll dream, snorting coke from hookers arses, riders full of expensive booze and a finger buffet and chilling with Jay-Z and Beyonce. Jay-Z’s gay you know? Beyonce’s just his cover. They’ve got quite a scam going on.
Bad stuff mainly consists of onstage asthma attacks and obsessive female fans.

RL: I love looking over at James and Tom going mental when we’re playing. I don’t know how James manages to play whilst simultaneously fucking the plug sockets. And Tom can still sing while hanging from the light bulbs. They’re like a couple of marsupials on speed. The bad point is that James is abusing my beautiful guitar while doing this. The other best bit is the way we write songs. We all contribute equally and it’s really exciting to see the songs appearing from nowhere. But the downside to that is that soon these songs will grow-up start drinkin and druggin, having unprotected sex and then leave home, and we’ll all be gutted.

TH: It’s all about playing live, booshing through the air like pricks with jetpacks on. I love the nervous/sick feeling before playing that’s followed by power thrusts of adrenaline! One day I’m going to nut JB so hard on stage and pretend I didn’t mean to do it because I’m being "mad." The worst part about being in PABH is when things break or disintegrate. I almost lost a nut at our last gig. Another thing is that I’m sick and tired of Rob breaking down all the time, he needs to put stuff behind him. Life isn’t that hard. This is for Rob – "Don’t worry bro, we’re going to be alright."

JB: You really should forget about it, Rob. Its time to move on now.

SIS: If you were given the power to break up one chart band, who would it be and why?

JB: Erm, instead of a pop chart band I’d like to obliterate Simon Cowell and all the pop reality programmes in the world. I suppose he’s alright really, but that show is a fucking mince meat grinder. The poor cunts get their emotions smashed into tiny little toenails for the sake of fuck all. Apart from one saggy middle aged bird who might get thru to the finals then get torn in two by finding out no one voted for her and her arse is a bit too big for TV.

LV: I don’t want to break up a chart band. They make their money and create music for people who don’t care about music. God bless ‘em!

RL: Yeah, I’m actually glad that rubbish chart music exists, because it’s really easy for lazy idiots to find it and think “Oh, I actually like that and it’s music, so I must be into music.” Chart music is more of an exercise in marketing than anything else, so when people find out about bands through less obvious routes, they’ve invested more energy in that process, they’ve made more of an independent, conscious choice and it makes the music more precious for them. So let the chart bands stay; without the shite the shinola won’t shine.

TH: I got a call from Aqua about 15 years ago and they were all like “Thomas J Hudson, we’ve heard you’re a great singer and can reach high levels on Super Metroid and Toejam & Earl,” and I told them that “I have no life and many other plans” and explained to them their whole career was based on a false hope conspiracy to obtain the Emperor's Eternal Goblet. Ten years later they emailed me a minidisk containing hard binary code and a message that read “We’ve just realised that your moralistic tellings were of truth and that our existence on Earth was only meant to be in Liquid form, opposed to Gas.” I later fucked off to Hawaii with their pension funds and now call myself Liquid Silk / High Octane when addressed by the Emperor. Green Day rock!

SIS: If your life was Streets Of Rage II, would you be Axel, Skate, Blaze or Max?

TH: Well eventhough Blaze wore a hot skimpy skirt, her kicks were weak, lame and useless against all the cyber punks. Skate was "too fly" and a little prick who couldn’t fight his way out of an edible turkey joint/cake. Max was a little too large for my liking – not enough direction. This leaves me with Axel who I may state has NO relation to Axel Rose whatsoever! Instead he’s rocking a firey mullet and headband combo and could uppercut the teeth off anything. I bet he could play some wicked solos on a '50s Stratocaster without even busting a sweat off.

LV: I was never any good at games like that, although I did enjoy Robocop on the Atari ST. Old school baby. I’m more of a lemmings man myself. My dad got hooked on Tetris once for four days straight -- that was funny.

JB: If my life was Streets Of Rage II, then I would be bottling the living fuck out of Max. What a twirp he was. Roller-booted clap trap that guy. Axel is the don. He’s the buff wit, the cherry champion, the two-armed run around bandit. What the cock is Streets Of Rage II?