Everything You Need to Know About: Mail the Horse
On February 23rd, Brooklyn-based band Mail the Horse opened up for River Whyless at World Cafe Live. To sum up just exactly what the crowd was in for, I asked Mail the Horse a few questions about who they are and what they do.
Tell me a little bit about yourselves: Who are you as individuals? What makes you a band?
"We all love and respect art and music and literature, good athletic competition, getting our hands dirty, and raising a little hell. Hess and Donny have been playing music together for about ten years. I started playing with them about seven years ago. We all spent the majority of our early and mid 20's in various New England DIY circles, which is where our deepest roots were formed. We moved to Brooklyn in 2010 to form Mail the Horse. We're all fundamentally working class people who come from working class families and we've always taken that ethic with us through this journey as a band, and we've been busting our asses from day one. We've often felt that it's us against the world, and feel the need to prove ourselves every night. I think we take some pride in that.
We're together with the goal of trying to make timeless music and maybe find truth in that process and way of life. If I was to be guileless here, I would say it's analogous to trying to write the Great American Novel, and if I was to use a cliche, it seems that after six years, the journey has been more insightful than day-dreaming of some crystalline destination.
We're totally focused on growth, too. That's the only way this kind of thing works. We trust each other, and it's all about moving forward musically. The past year of touring has been pretty inspiring at times - we've had people come out to our shows and tell us that they get something real out of our music that they don't seem to find anywhere else. On every tour there are some die-hards who might drive a couple hundred miles to see us in a small club, and we really try to bring the heat every night, and that feels really good."
Where does your sound come from?
"The guitar jabs really hard but is still totally dialed in. Bass takes some melody roles and digs deep. Drums are a total pocket. The keyboard is funky and slinky, with lots of harmony and color. The pedal steel is a sunrise and sometimes sounds like a synth.
Corey from the band Banditos tried to explain our sound to me once. He said, "It's kind of country, but it's got this northern..." and then he kind of squinted his eyes, trying to find the right words. In a good way, I think! One can draw a lot of classic comparisons, but I think by listening to the records fully, there's a lot of modernity and subtlety crafted in the seams. Our shows are a pretty loud, high energy experience.
All of us are into some different kinds of music and our influences are ever-evolving. When Hess is going through a writing period he pretty much only listens to jazz so he doesn't feel like he's being too "influenced" by anything close to the sound of what Mail the Horse does already."
What do you think of Philly's music scene?
"Philly seems great. We never really made it down here much when we were scrapping in the DIY underworld, so I don't have a good foundation for what's happened and happening in the scene. It seems to be a strong community with hometown pride that is definitely respectable. A lot of old school Brooklyn buddies have made the move down here."
What are you working on right now?
"We just recorded a couple singles in Atlanta last week. Super fresh sounds; it was a blast. We're going to SXSW in a couple weeks and playing a bunch of shows in the sunshine and working on, in a holistic sense, 'pacing ourselves.'"
What are your future plans?
They answered simply and excitedly: "Full length album, baby!"