HORSE the Band
Go! Feature
HORSE the Band will perform “Nintendocore” music — a genre inspired by 8-bit video game soundtracks — at Top Cat’s Club in Cincinnati. We spent a few minutes on the phone with keyboardist Erik Engstrom.
GO!: How did Horse the Band get together?
EE: “Way back in the beginning, me and the guitar player (David Isen) went to elementary school together. We first got interested in music in high school when we were jumping up and down on the bed with inflatable guitars listening to punk and heavy metal screaming music. Later, we got into playing in the Imaginary Wrestling Association by mail. Every day we were together writing nasty comments for each other’s wrestlers. Then we got tired of that and needed something to fill the void, so we decided to start a ban d.
GO!: Who named the band?
EE:: “Nobody remembers. We can’t even think of a time when we decided on a name. It was originally just 'Horse,’ but we’re not an animal, we’re a band.
GO!: What’s your latest record?
EE: “We’ve got one coming out on June 26 that we just finished recording. It’s called 'A Natural Death.’ ”
GO!: Is the title foreshadowing something?
EE: “Inevitably it is. There’s no song by that name or anything. The last song is called 'Life’ because when anything good or bad happens to us, that’s what we say. 'Life.’ Then our singer started spelling it, so we have a song where we’re misspelling it.”
GO!: Is this album much like your last album, “Pizza”?
EE: “ 'Pizza’ is a horrible album. We wrote every song in two weeks and recorded it in two days. It’s a complete joke with no seriousness behind it. It was just for our hard-core fans. We got a new drummer who can actually play drums on the new album and a bunch of weird orchestral stuff.”
GO!: What are your shows like?
EE: “Our shows are crazy. All the other bands who say their shows are crazy aren’t really. It’s like maybe the lead singer spills some water on himself and they call it crazy. But all of our fans are mentally challenged with tumors or maybe they just have greasy hair. There are never any girls, just a bunch of nerds who want to talk about Nintendo. But they are very energetic and sweaty. We draw from different groups like goths and nerds who all hate each other and they all get beaten up by the hard-core crews.”
GO!: So what would you want to tell people who plan to come to your show?
EE: “Tell them to bring life-size realistic stuffed animals to give to us.”
how to go
WHAT: HORSE the Band.
WHERE: Top Cat’s Club, 2820 Vine St., Cincinnati.
WHEN: 8 p.m. Saturday.
COST: $11 advance; $13 day of show.
MORE INFO: (513) 281-2005; topcatsclub.com.
