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Music

Wild Horses

Band of Horses are releasing their third album, Infinite Arms, today (May 18).

In town for a bit of press, they ended up doing an impromptu show at the Horseshoe Tavern. They won’t be back in town until June 19 for an opening slot at the big Broken Social Pavement show on the island.

NOW sat down with a surprisingly un-groggy frontman Ben Bridwell and guitarist Tyler Ramsey the morning after their gig at the Shoe.

While watching a video about your new album, I noticed a few song titles in the studio that didn’t make the cut. What can you tell me about the song Rock Hard Cot?

BB: Shit, what the hell happened to that one? There were a bunch of ideas with everyone bringing in demos, but once we got in the room and tried to play them, it was like ‘maybe not.’ It just didn’t work.

So how did you decide on a first single (Compliments), is that just a weird guessing game?

BB: I’ve never chosen the single it’s always the label. People who think they can sell records, they choose what they think can be the most marketable. At the end of the record you lose so much perspective of what the good ones and the bad ones are. Thank God there’s someone taking that responsibility.

TR: Some of those decisions are better left to other people because some people are smarter with that shit.

BB: I wanted to keep Funeral off the first album because I didn’t like it and it ended being our biggest song.

Was there any concern about your move from Sub Pop to a major in terms of how longtime fans will perceive you?

BB: Nah, fuck that. We don’t do anything to pander to the fan base except try to do good shows and write whatever songs sound good to us. I don’t know if people still think like that, but it’s working for us so who gives a shit. Anyone who’s a fucking griper is just a griper anyways. People just want to fucking complain about shit, so fuck them anyway.

TR: We already made the record before the label was involved. We made it by ourselves.

You recorded some of the album at famous Alabama studio, Muscle Shoals. What’s that place like?

TR: At this point it’s more of a museum which we found out after we set up all our gear. Someone needs to go in there and do a lot of work on that gear to get it back up to par. It’s a real small room and it has an awesome mojo. We also went to Fame studios (Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Little Richard, Otis Redding, Waylon Jennings, etc.) right down the street. Some incredible history down there.

Brian, it’s seems like you’re making a concerted effort to get the other members fully involved. Why was this so important this time around?

BB: It was just finally getting the right people in place. It was time to take a different approach to it and really show what a band we had become. It seemed obvious.

But in terms of your songwriting you demand total isolation. Didn’t you write most of the album in a secluded Minnesota cabin?

BB: It’s really important for me to be able to sing when I’m writing, so if I can squeeze the emotion out of the vocal then I can get the feel for it. But if people can hear me then I tend to get quiet and I can’t get the same emotion out of it. As long as I know I can scream at the top of my lungs and nobody can hear me I know I can get it.

So if there are some vacationers next door, you can’t deal with it?

BB: Yeah it freaks me out.

TR: I just moved out of an apartment where I knew my neighbour could hear me because I could hear him eating cereal in the morning, like with the spoon hitting the bowl and everything. If I was playing guitar I can hear him trying to jam along with me. It’s better to be completely removed. [rssbreak]

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