“We’re Always Surprising Each Other”: Spanish Horses on Growth, Guts, and Going Global
We were lucky enough to catch alternative rock band ‘Spanish Horses’ for an interview during their last month in Paris. Blending influences like The Smiths, The Jesus And Mary Chain, The Velvet Underground, and more, the band is constantly creating a new sound that represents their generation and the future of today’s post-rock music. This month, Tom ( lead singer), Cyril (drummer), Victor (bassist), and Albert (rhythm guitar), all packed up to move their act to London, a level up from the live music scene in Paris. Swiftly gaining popularity, this next step for the band will surely solidify their reputation as a band on the rise.
(left to right) cyril, victor, albert, and tom photographed by Sixtine Cail
Spanish Horses was born when the members of groups ‘Endorphin Transistor’ and ‘Headrush ', abruptly went their separate ways. That was a year and a half ago, and ever since Spanish Horses have been going strong, playing music together almost every day. “Since we had all this kind of chemistry of being in the band before, I think it was easy to get a head start with this new band and how to write songs because we were familiar with the way we worked,” said Albert. Although they are quite set in their routines, they still find ways to keep things interesting.
“What’s amazing is that as I feel as though we keep surprising each other with the lengths that we're willing to discover musically all the time, so we're always able to keep things fresh because we always managed to come up with very new intricate ideas that a year ago, I wouldn't think we would sort of reach for,”
added Tom.
Spanish Horses continue to evolve, with many things changing about their sound just 18 months later. “What I think is that (the music) became a lot more mature. In the sense that our music in the past could have sounded very busy. Too busy, you know, wanting to express too many things at once. Having a coherent sound instead of wanting to cram everything into one idea.”. Getting more specific, Tom said “like six months ago, we didn't have any effect pedals on our guitars, because we had a strong stand against it, and turns out that was a bit stupid, because, as soon as we started using pedals, so many doors opened. To me, it really changed our sound.”. albert thought of another way the band has changed, saying
“I think we give everyone space in the way we play rather than all of us at the front. (In the previous bands) It was more like everyone trying to do their own thing, which didn't always go to the better kind of cocktail mix. I think that's one of the things I've learned more of this year and half is really listening to everyone in the band and figuring out alright, how can you compliment that there and make a piece of music more cohesive when you listen to it, because sometimes when you listen to the old stuff, you're like, ‘fucking hell this is all over the place’.”.
Spanish Horses by sixtine Cail
Being in the band has also changed things for the members personally. “I've definitely learned to listen to music differently from working with you guys and working in this band. I'll listen now to a lot more folk songs and a lot more, country songs. I didn't at all before.Now I learned to really appreciate it and pay a lot more attention to the melodies,” Cyril said.
In terms of technique, Spanish Horses have a few basic guidelines that they follow. Cyril broke it down for us; “We start with the drums, but we record everything at the same time and we’ll keep what we like from those first takes. Then we add the vocals last.”. Capturing the live sound is an important aspect of recording for the band. They do this to
“To keep a human sound that has some mistakes. it's important to have some mistakes and time anomalies. We don't record with a click.”
said tom. When asked about what the most challenging part of the writing process is, Albert stated, “ I think the balance is important. It's very easy to get enthralled and feel like ‘oh I want to do ten overdubs of this’. We try to limit our overdubs, because the song can sound great on the record, but if you’re playing it live and you can’t do all those overdubs you’re losing a massive part of the way you project your music to your audience, which is important. I think that's one of the toughest things for us, stripping it back sometimes.”.
Spanish horses by sixtine cail
In terms of the themes in their music, Tom is usually in charge of the lyrics.
“all the lyrics i write always have a strong ambiguity to them. Some people will relate that to being amateur-ish, but I kind of like songs that you don’t really know what they mean but have a very open dialogue. Like John Lennon songs; very simple sentences that you can interpret however you want within what you’re going through in life.”.
He also said that “In terms of theme I don’t know why, but themes of betrayal always come through. I’m not a very spiteful person, but that keeps coming up. Most of the time, the way i'll write lyrics is i’ll just jam and sing gibberish and whatever real words come out ill keep them there and just work around that.”.
They are so dedicated that they often struggle to find what to do when they aren't working towards their goal. What is that goal? “World domination,” Tom joked. “I hope we have an album released and we’re signed and we’ll become a household name in alternative rock,” He said when asked where he sees the band in a few years.
So if you’re looking for a new band to listen to, Spanish Horses is certainly worthy of your streams. If you’re in London, we highly recommend that you watch the band live, as their energy on stage is unmatched. Their modern take on rock and roll is sure to impress and inspire audiences and listeners.
