Drowning, swimming, treading water…
Whether lost at sea, under the radar or yet to make a splash, there are plenty of UK acts you may not yet have heard of over in the States, or the rest of the world.
Speaking of which, here’s the scuzzy Leeds based four-piece juggernaut that is Pulled Apart by Horses:
This spikey, noisy thrash-rock quartet began life with one of those almost mandatory four-band breakups; being spat out the other side as a still wet screaming foetus of a formation in late 2007. The band consists of Tom (vocals, guitar), James (guitar), Rob (bass) and Lee (drums).
Two and a bit years later and PABH have built up a fearsome reputation built on blood, sweat, vomit and savage live shows that often end in a hospital visit or four. Pulled Apart are loud and messy like a nailbomb going off at a hemophiliac convention; bombastic, riff-heavy, dirty rock with the wailing intensity of Blood Brothers and a feral, hardcore edge. Add to that some disco-bothering beats and bloodied-up breakdowns and the resulting melee always goes down smoothly. They sound like the bastard love child of classic rock’s arrogant swagger and the gnarly, spit-in-your-eye, garage bashing of trashed-up punk rock.
Kicking off 2010 with support slots on Glassjaw’s UK dates and a European tour with Brighton’s Blood Red Shoes, it was that they had’t yet ventured over the Atlantic, especially after the impact Gallows enjoyed, thanks to their sneering, tattooed-up “British charm”. However, this was remedied recently with appearances at this year’s SXSW.
Tracks to snag; “High Five Swan Dive Nose Dive” with its sloshy, bounding, thrown-around-the-room tempo that sounds like an indie gig getting torn to shreds by a howling metal-headed cannibal; “I Punched a Lion in the Throat”, which has almost become a sort of PABH calling card thanks to its stomping, widdly riffage and a monster climax of a breakdown; and “Meat Balloon”, the headliner of their latest EP, which drags you you kicking and screaming through some dark, dark grunge and into the weighty, head-banging light at the end of the tunnel.
Pulled Apart by Horses are visceral, intense and damn good live. Their debut album is out sometime in the near future which can only mean a supporting tour to the four corners of the Earth. Take a trident and a net and catch them if you can.
www.pulledapartbyhorses.com
www.myspace.com/pulledapartbyhorses
