They’ve jokingly labeled their own music Nintendocore and sarcastically referred to their new album, A Natural Death, as “the futility and arrogance of creation and destruction, the overwhelming scale of space and time, and the brutal majesty of nature, the horror of birth and the beauty of death.” And, zany experimental metalcore outfit Horse the Band have also created an Internet sitcom”Lawrence and Friends,” which involves a love triangle between a sugar cube, a suicidal pencil and singer/songwriter Carla Hassett.
But just because the band members emphasize their senses of humor as much as their love for noise doesn’t mean these Los Angeles oddballs don’t rip. Their songs mix chaotic metal, electronic videogame noises and abrupt rhythmic shifts to create a sound that’s totally brutal and can be easily enjoyed simply as a showcase of aggression. However, the band’s comic element is right there for anyone who’s interested.
Take the new track “Murder,” the lyrics of which are self-explanatory — kind of. “The kids have been loving it,” says frontman Nathan Winneke. “I tell them it’s a song about killing white people, and they go crazy,” he tells MTV.com’s Metal File. [The lyrics were written from the perspective of an American Indian in 1847], So it’s OK.”Needless to say, Winneke doesn’t hold much sacred, least of all himself. As interesting and unconventional as Horse the Band are, the singer claims the music is simply the byproduct of misspent youth, inexperience and random chaos. “We’re very reckless and immature and have no idea what we’re doing,” he says. “We should probably break up as a band, because all we’re going to end up doing is killing ourselves. But hopefully, it will be funny.”
For the complete interview with Horse The Band and more metal news than you can fit into a corpse-free casket, check out MTVnews.com’s Metal File.
Horse the Band’s “Birdo”:
