During SXSW, I had the opportunity to sit down with Kate Cooper and
Damon Cox of Brisbane outfit An Horse, one of our most recent
international success stories. The duo chatted to me as we sat by the
Colorado River – the ducks swimming by, and the music from SXSW already
drifting along the streams, despite it being just on midday. We had a
chat about all things An Horse, and here’s what went down:
Larry: So we’re sitting right now in Austin, Texas, on the shores of the river here – a bartender just handed me a bloody mary – this isn’t a bad way to start the day is it?
Kate: Yes it’s very nice! Picturesque. We’ve put some ducks of some sort in the background to give the shot ambience.
Damon: And we just had this bridge built as well… a few days ago.
Larry: Ah, thank you for that. It’s definitely helped the city out, if nothing else. So we’re here at SXSW, your second time at the festival. You’re playing your first show tonight – what are you expecting from that show?
D: It should be good. It’s an industry showcase for a bunch of bands on our US label. It’ll be fun to catch up with everyone again.
K: And see some of the bands who we haven’t seen who are on our label. It’ll just be fun. Generally fun.
D: We just want to have a good time.
And what were your experiences like down here last year, as an Australian band?
K: It was amazing. It was hectic – the busiest week of our lives. So exhausting. But in a good way.
D: Yeah it was great. I mean we’re only doing 2 shows this time, but last time we did 4 or 5, and then the rest of the time is filled in with press – so it’s a really hectic few days, but it’s awesome. There’s a great atmosphere here, so many people from all over the world. So many great bands, and a great experience for us. It’s definitely worth doing.
Is there a natural curiosity of Australian bands from the International audience?
D: Not as a general rule – no more than any other country.
K: I’m not even sure if some people realise we’re Australian sometimes!
D: No one really says, oh you’re an Australian, wow, or anything like that.
K: It’s very much an equal playing field here.
Moving away from SXSW now, you recently toured Canada with Tegan and Sara?
K: Yeah we finished that in January and then had 6 weeks off.
Can you tell us a bit about touring with them?
I understand your first ever US tour was alongside T&S….
K: Our first ever TOUR was with them!
D: Yeah it was in America though – and they’ve been great, really supportive of us.
K: We got to be on a bus!
D: Yeah the last tour we did with them was on a bus. So that was nice. We’re back in the van for this tour.
K: Not as nice, but we just found out we have satellite radio! So, that’s a good thing! Touring with them is amazing… they’re really good friends of ours. It’s like hanging out, having fun and playing a show. It’s not hard work. It’s like the comfy chair, reclining, massages built in. And now we’re back to the school chairs…
D: The hard plastic school chairs…
K: Yeah, or the wooden ones that gave you splinters and pinched you. But still bearable for an education.
In 2009 you left Australia to call the rest of the world your home – where is that now?
D: Well it’s kind of funny, we’ve done a bit of a backflip on that one. We spent all of last year in North America and the UK and didn’t play any shows at home, except for a handful at the start of the year. Then we packed up our homes and lived out of suitcases for a year. Just because there were more opportunities over here that were presenting themselves to us, and there wasn’t a lot happening at home. It’s kind of still a bit like that for us, there’s still more happening over here. That’s why at the moment we’re back here for 3 months again, touring.
But we have decided that we need homes again, as we’re losing our minds. So Kate’s been spending a lot of time in Montreal, I’ve been in Melbourne for a few months.
K: Both start with M.
D: Yeah, we needed to find two cities that had the same…
K: … letter, for consistency.
D: I mean we’re from Brisbane originally, that’s where we formed the band, we still have a strong connection to Brisbane, but we’ve done everything we could there – as people and as musicians.
K: It’s much busier for us here, so it makes sense when we’re not on the road to be here.
D: It’s hard, I mean there are plenty of bands who have been successful and can exist as musicians at home, but we’re just not one of those bands. We don’t have that luxury. So to be able to do this as a job, and we have been fortunate enough to be doing that for the last 12 months or so, we just can’t do that at home.
K: But we were just in Melbourne writing together for 6 weeks. So that was really nice to be home, to see friends and family.
D: And we do definitely want to play more shows at home – we did a couple while we were there which was cool. So hopefully we’ll get to…
K: … expand that…
D: Yeah. It’s funny though, when we left, we were getting to a point where we were getting people to our shows. But because we’re away for so long, when we go home, you’ve just got to start again. Australia’s that sort of place where people forget about you really fast.
That surprises me! I would think people would be frothing at the chance to see you again!
K: Well we weren’t playing out own shows – we were doing a handful of supports. And they were cool. But a lot people were like, “play your own shows!” – because it was about 50 dollars a ticket. But we’ll be back to play shows, for sure.
Looking at some of the opportunities you’ve had here, your first television appearance was on the David Letterman show *they both smile at this reference* performing “Camp Out”. Can you tell me a bit about that experience?
K: It was cold!
Yeah, they’re always saying that on the show…
D: Yeah it’s freezing in that studio.
K: I was wearing a snow parka!
D: They keep it at 8 or 9 degrees Celsius.
K: So before we went on stage, we were in snow jackets, and then they’re ripped off you, and you’re thrown onto the stage! You’re just like, “what’s going on?!” – it was heaps of fun. We were very lucky to do that. We then had to drive some hideous amount of hours up to Canada, and we managed to make it to our shitty highway hotel just in time to see it on TV.
D: We were on a Canadian tour at the time, and we had to cancel a couple of shows because it was a last minute thing. So we drove down to New York from Montreal, and then they film the show from 4pm, and you have to get there early and perform the song a few times, then go away and come back for the taping of the show, which they air that night. So as Kate was saying, we just a managed to catch it. It was really weird. But it was great, it was a good experience.
And that was off the back of your last album, Rearrange Beds. How have you found crowds to respond to tracks off it?
K: We’ve been really lucky to get a really strong fan base. Really loyal. Yeah, it’s been amazing. People dig the album, constantly writing to us saying they dig the album, and people constantly discovering the album, which blows my mind – because I’m like, oh it’s so old. People seem to like it, they sing along. Crowds are really different here in the States to back home. They’re really enthusiastic and the sing and they get there early and line up. It’s crazy. But it’s been great.
So going back to the 6 weeks you were writing in Melbourne – is there some new material on the way?
K: Yes! Thank god!
D: We’ve pretty much written the record, we’ve just got to find time to record it. Probably in about 6 months time.
K: Hopefully it’ll come out late this year or early next year… this time next year. Just depends. We can’t wait. (We’ve been playing our last album for ) two years now. Although it’s only been out officially in the States for a year. I think an album cycle is 18 months – so once we’ve finished up the next 3 months, I feel we’ve done a good job and I think we can put it to bed. Thank God! *laughs*
Well we just spiced it up a little bit – we just got a whole bunch of remixes done, so that’s cool – gave it a bit more life.
D: Yeah it’s coming out as an 5 Track EP, with remixes of 5 songs from the album by bands like TV on the Radio. So hopefully that’ll keep people interested while we find time to record the next one!
Did the bands get to choose the song to remix? And how were the bands chosen?
D: We let people choose what they wanted. And I guess we approached about 10 or so artists between us and our label. Some people could do it, and some couldn’t, just because of timing or whatever.
K: It was a really interesting exercise, I wasn’t into it at first, it wasn’t our idea. So I was like “well I don’t know about that”. But the label just said, “well let’s just see what happens”. And then I heard the first remix and I was like “woah! I like that better than the original!” Let’s release that and not the album! So I imagine that’s something we’ll do again to the next one – who knows! But there were a whole bunch of people who were really interested to do it but couldn’t, so maybe next time.
Any hints as to who they might be?
K: Oh I don’t want to spoil it! But I’m excited, that’s all I’ll say!
So what’s next for you guys, after SXSW?
D: 3 months of touring – our own shows on the East Coast of the US, then to Germany for 3 weeks, then back to the States for a big tour. Then Germany again. We’re kind of back and forth for a while.
Have you toured Germany before?
K: No! The record just came out there. As in like, today! We should have a record party!
Well they seem to be having something over there, where they’re giving out the bloody marys – perhaps hijack that?
K: It is definitely for us actually *laughs*
Well we best leave it there and head over! Thanks for your time guys.
