‘Now, gettin’ to Texarkana and back in 28 hours, that's no problem’ — the boys in Horses never miss a chance to break out the imaginary CB radio and re-enact Smokey and the Bandit
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All stories have a beginning, a middle and an end, but in the telling, perception is just as important as chronology. This is doubly true in the case of Horses.
Back in March of 2007, it seemed like their story was coming to an end. In what is now a time-honoured tradition in Canadian indie rock, the band was breaking up after recording their debut full-length. Front man Lachie MacDonald was leaving his home in Halifax in favour of Toronto, so to celebrate the band’s swan song, they had a CD release and farewell show. For most bands, that would have been it.
Then MacDonald got an offer to open for Greg MacPherson on tour. Horses drummer Glenn Barrington got the call and he moved to Toronto, too. While they were on the road, their album sold out. One re-pressing later, they were back in business, and MacDonald couldn’t be happier.
“This is the first time I have ever been a singer or a songwriter in a band,” he says. “It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, and this is the first time that I had the confidence and the wherewithal to do so.”
Had Horses called it quits in Halifax, their self-titled album would have died on the lips of East Coast scenesters, but now that the record has been given new life on Out of Touch records, the rest of Canada gets a legitimate crack at hearing it. Clocking in at a perfectly paced 40 minutes, the nine songs on Horses dig heartily into the world of roots rock, with a heavy emphasis on rock. Imagine if The Constantines sounded more like The Replacements and less like Fugazi, and you’ll have an idea of what MacDonald and company are up to.
“We had a long conversation about the music we wanted to make,” says MacDonald after discussing his long history in punk and hardcore bands. “We just wanted to make something a little more straight-up, sort of raw and unrefined and just a real song-based blend of punk and rock and almost folk music.”
By stripping down the music, Horses have found the heart of each and every song. With double-time fills and chugging guitars, the punk esthetic bubbles underneath, but this is balanced with a maturity that comes with a decade’s worth of all-ages shows.
“I would not have made this music eight years ago,” says MacDonald. “I was definitely in a different frame of mind for sure. The older I’ve got, the more I see value and interest in traditional forms of songwriting and things that have a connection to history in music.
“For me, the story that goes into a song is really important. I tend to go back to the same themes and the same emotions in the songs I write. It all ends up being about desperation and conflict and making sense of what’s going on in the world around you and the choices that you have to make in order to get by.”
MacDonald’s lyrical themes mirror that of many an aging folkie, but don’t let him fool you — he’s only 27 years old. This doesn’t mean he hasn’t had his fair share of life experience, though. He’s been in so many bands, he can’t really even remember the exact number (his best guess is between 10 and 12). He’s even maxed out two credit cards to make his music career happen. So, while his approach to songwriting has the clarity of someone at the end of their career, for MacDonald, this is only the beginning.
“Without sounding lofty or too pretentious, like any artist I have a need to create something, and music is the thing that I’ve always connected with for as long as I can remember,” says MacDonald. “Performing music can be the greatest feeling. It’s amazing and incredibly addictive.”
