Horse the Band

Horse the Band is an American band from Lake Forest, California who are best known for their 8-bit videogame-influenced sound combined with metalcore. Frontman Nathan Winneke once jokingly described their sound as "Nintendocore", although the band have gone to lengths reiterating that this merely describes the sound, not the substance.

Biography

Horse the Band was started in Lake Forest, CA in 1998 while founding members Erik Engstrom and David Isen were attending El Toro High School. The band booked its own tours starting the summer of 2002, including a three-month tour spanning seven countries.

In the summer of 2004, they embarked upon the Horse the World Tour 2004, giving way to 85 shows in 90 days, spanning seven countries throughout North America and Europe. Early 2008 saw the band planning Horse the Band Earth Tour that would travel to 40 countries starting in early March. The band stated "we've become disillusioned, bad-attitude nerds and pariahs of the established music industry."^[1]

The band's lineup has fluctuated continuously throughout its existence, with keyboardist Erik Engstrom and guitarist David Isen as the only founding members still in the band.

On February 2, 2009, Horse the Band signed to Vagrant Records. In an interview they stated that they had been trying to get onto that label for nine years.^[2]

Horse the Band's latest album Desperate Living was released on October 6, 2009.^[3]

The band has continuously remained active in playing live shows even as the members have begun "adult lives" and as keyboardist Erik Engstrom moved to Germany. They appear to have no current plans to record another album, though in recent years they often discuss very little about their future with new releases.

Members

Current

• Erik Engstrom – keyboards, LSDJ, backing vocals (1998–present)
• David Isen – guitars (1998–present)
• Nathan Winneke – lead vocals (2002–present), bass guitar (2001–2002), drums (2000-2001)
• Daniel Pouliot – drums (2008–present)
• Jerimiah Bignell – bass guitar (2009–present)

Timeline

Discography

Albums

• Secret Rhythm of the Universe (2001, self-released)
• R. Borlax (2003, Pluto Records; re-release with bonus tracks, 2007, Pluto Records)
• The Mechanical Hand (2005, Combat Records)
• A Natural Death (2007, Koch Records)
• Desperate Living (2009, Vagrant Records; released in Australia/Japan through Roadrunner Records)

EPs

• I Am A Small Wooden Statue On A Patch Of Crabgrass Next To A Dried Up Riverbed (2001, self-released)
• Beautiful Songs by Men (2002, self-released)
• Pizza (2006, Koch Records)

DVDs

• The Effing 69 World Tour (2004)
• We Flooded It, and There's Yogurt Everywhere: 48 Hours in Ukraine (2009)
• Earth Tour (2010)

Videography

• "A Million Exploding Suns"- The Mechanical Hand
• "Lord Gold Throneroom"- The Mechanical Hand
• "Birdo"- The Mechanical Hand
• "New York City"- A Natural Death
• "Murder"- A Natural Death
• "Shapeshift"- Desperate Living

References

External links

• Official website
• Metal File: Horse The Band, Opeth, Lacuna Coil & More In This Week's Hard News – MTV News