Horse Play

CORRALLED and broken in on the live scene of the USA’s Emerald City, Seattle stallions Band of Horses serve up lush elevating rock, on the hoof.

They may be just the latest in a long line of acts from the Pacific North West to have captured the hearts and minds of live music-lovers, but they are no Nirvana, Pearl Jam or Soundgarden wannabes, reflecting instead the diverse interests and backgrounds of each member “horse”.

Their single The Funeral has appeared all over the place, gracing soundtracks from CSI, One Tree Hill, 90210 and Numb3rs, to Gossip Girl and Standoff, as well as computer games and adverts, while the track Life on Earth crops up on the Twilight saga film Eclipse, only helping to feed a growing buzz for their personal brand of alt-country and blues-tinted guitar rock.

Tomorrow, horses Ben Bridwell, Creighton Barrett, Ryan Monroe, Bill Reynolds and Tyler Ramsey arrive in Oxford to promote third album Infinite Arms, which on its release last month reached number seven. It follows not only a sell-out US tour but a coveted support slot for city mates Pearl Jam – which saw Ben join the headliners on stage for encores of All Along the Watchtower. They have also been picked for support slots with our own Snow Patrol, and bolster many a festival bill, including a debut slot at Reading. “Things feel really good,” says guitarist Tyler. “Our run of 11 shows in the US with Pearl Jam was especially wild. It’s a good time to be in Band Of Horses.

“There have been some good reviews for the album, and it has been exciting to hear of the things people are posting about the band on the internet. Though it's just more fun to play the shows and see the reaction of the crowd.”

Tyler is a newcomer to the horses, joining only after previous album Cease to Begin was recorded. “That’s how I met them,” he says “I was working on my solo album in the same studio at the time.”

So was it a big decision to join Band of Horses? “The offer really caught me off guard,” he recalls. “It only took me about five minutes to decide. I've been friends with the bass player for a long time so as soon as I met the other guys it was a no-brainer.”

Rumours abound about the torturous process surrounding the album’s recording. Work on it spanned five US states – from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the woods of Minnesota, the Mojave desert and the Hollywood Hills. Each member contributed remotely before coming together for a lengthy period in the studio. And the finished product proudly bears the stamp of each horse.

But, says Tyler, it all amounted to great fun. “I really enjoyed working out which parts I was going to play at the live shows,” he says. “We just went for it in the studio, and then had to work out how we were going to recreate the songs.”

The band decided the only way to ensure creative control was to finance the record themselves, and the experience was liberating. Strings and horns were brought in, guitar players played percussion, vocals were run through the same reverb tanks used by the Beach Boys’ on Good Vibrations, and a backyard amphibian chorus sang the title track’s outro.

Studios, engineers, pizza and whiskey are not cheap however, and near-bankruptcy from recording costs delayed the album’s completion as the band had to spend time on the road to afford the next session.

The resulting shows, however, were among the best in the band’s history – including a sold-out Carnegie Hall gig and performances with musical idols Neil Young, Willie Nelson and Roger McGuinn. And, says Tyler, the thrill of honing the new material in a live setting gave the songs an edge that is difficult to capture when sedentary.

They also ended up producing it themselves, as Tyler explains. “We started the album with the producer Phil Ek in a studio in Alabama. It was great working with him, to see what he does. But there were some scheduling issues, and he had some other stuff to do, so we took the reins. It was an exciting twist in the plot, but it worked out great.”

After just joining the band, it must have felt like diving straight in at the deep end.

“We’ve all done production before, and watching Phil for those few weeks taught us a lot too,” he says.

“I think it took a year to create [the album] from start to finish. Some people are saying it was 15 months, but I don't remember it being that long. We had so many songs to choose from too, so that made the whole process longer.”

“If you're in the studio every day for a month it can begin to feel like Groundhog Day, but for me it’s not like that. I see it as getting to go in to a studio with my friends and create something.”

Tyler is talking during a rare day off – which inevitably involves much rock’n’roll behaviour, doesn’t it?

“I’ll probably just stay in my room and play guitar,” he confesses. I'm thinking about buying a Gibson Les Paul at the moment. I don’t have one and I'm looking for another guitar for my arsenal.”

Band of Horses play the Oxford O2 Academy tomorrow. Tickets are sold out.