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	Interview with TorsoHorse Lion Inn, Blakey, 27 October 2004 Recorded on the night MTV played the "Dragging Me Down" video R
	Pete Bell: Thanks all of you for coming up many a mile to the Lion...... Could you tell us, Adam, when did Torsohorse commence? Adam: It was about spring of 2001 when the initial idea came together. Beforehand I'd played in a few bands, there was one in particular that went through an amount of name changes, but it was just something I did at school. I was always very enthusiastic about it, but as you'll probably know, when you're in school you think, "Oh yeah, it's great," ....you get a bunch of mates together ... I think one person in that band ended up being head baker at Safeways, one person went off with a girlfriend or whatever. I was left in the situation where I was being musically creative but I was on my own. So I actively went out to again seek some friends that I knew played instruments and got Torsohorse together. Now in time the line-up has taken big changes, but that was just simply down to the fact that when we started out, we started it out kind of ... you make do with what you've got. I knew some people that could help the band make all the right noises at the time, but they again went off to do their own things, they got jobs and went to university and things like that. So the band really evolved into what it is now. Back in the early days it started off as it always does, playing your local venues. Pete: Local being where? Adam: Local being Bridlington, Driffield to start off with. Then when I started going to college in Hull, because I went to music college in Hull, we then went and played Hull. At that point, with me being from Bridlington, Hull seemed huge to me. It was a place with an actual scene. There was a big music scene, you could go out to nightclubs and listen to alternative music. Which was something we didn't really have the pleasure of doing in Brid. So we'd got a collection of at the time what might have been thirty or forty fans in Bridlington who were coming to gigs, and then we spread our wings and went and played some shows in Hull, and obviously after that you think that'll be the be-all and end-all, and then you suddenly want to go further. Pete: When you kicked off, you say you were at school when you first started playing, was it vocals and guitar? Adam: It started off with guitar. With the band I was in previously, we always looked for somebody to do vocals, and in the end ... it was always my passion to do it, really, I've always wanted to front a band. But at first I wasn't sure ... I hadn't really found myself musically at that point. I had the bands that I liked, I could play the guitar, but I'd never really put too much thought into exactly where I was going with it. Pete: Who were your influences then, when you were at school, earlier ones? Adam: I'd say Metallica were the main influence at that point. Pete: This is at what sort of age? Adam: I got into Metallica when I was probably about twelve. I started playing guitar when I was about eleven, and when I was about twelve a friend of mine brought a tape into school - it was actually at the end of primary school, so I was probably about eleven. He said, "Listen to this," and I stuck it in, and it just stuck with me. It was like nothing I'd heard before. Before that I was just listening to everything that all my friends were listening to, and then all of a sudden I found this new type of music, that I felt... apart from anything it said a lot of things about me. I could relate to it. Very soon after it became Guns and Roses and Iron Maiden, and then when I got to be fourteen, fifteen, I suddenly discovered bands like Slipknot who opened my eyes to the new music scene that was coming around. Because when I was twelve years old, there was no real metal scene. There was the old school metal scene, but it then suddenly emerged out of nowhere, bands like Slipknot and people like that, Marilyn Manson, people like that started breaking through. I suppose at that point, that was where I felt like I had the niche to take the vocal and guitar role, and that's where the real drive came from. Pete: Other bands. Did you actually play with other bands, prior to Torsohorse, what would their names be? Or did they exist as such, prior to Torsohorse? Adam: Prior to Torso Horse there was an outfit called Kill the Fish, after that the names didn't really go very far, it was just simple names that we had for a short amount of time and then we'd get rid of them. But Kill the Fish was the main one. In the home town I often get people coming up to me and saying, "I remember when you were in Kill the Fish". (laughs) They'll take the piss out of me quite a bit. Pete: Currently you're a trio, Torsohorse. Steve here, the bass player, tell us a bit about your influences, Steve, a little bit of your history in bands prior to Torsohorse. Steve: I think in my teenage years, very similar. Metallica was one, once I was shown how to play a power chord, I tried to learn the albums by ear, and realised that I could play, because I could play along with the CD, I could do that. Pete: This is you as a guitarist? Steve: A guitarist, yeah. Bass came a lot later. Then, I just really fell for the guitar. It took a different turn when I got into fifties music and rockabilly, which is like........ if you're used to having a very overdriven guitar sound and you're put in that situation, rockabilly, it takes your playing in another direction. Now, coming back into the bass and into this situation, it's come full circle, in a way. Pete: Tell us a little bit about the bands you've worked in prior to Torsohorse. Steve: Lots of local bands. I think The Infernos would be the one of note, they were a working band. And then obviously our band Branded which came out of the jam sessions. It was really good to get back on the overdrives and the rootsy rock side of things again with Branded. Pete: With The Infernos, you had a fair bit of touring experience and so on, didn't you? Steve: Yeah, similar to what we're doing at the moment, which is trying to get around the country. And we got into Europe as well with The Infernos. It was good experience. And quite remarkable really on some days. There was one particular day we woke up in Stockholm, and you're thinking, "This is some lads who practise in a garage in Harome, how have we got here?" Pete: Harome near Helmsley. Steve: Yeah. And it dawned on me that day that if I hadn't got the passion for the music, I wouldn't be seeing what I was seeing that day. I'm hoping that this band as well will take us to some interesting places too. Pete: What prompted you to take the bass up? Steve: I just fell for the lower frequencies. I don't know. When I first picked up the bass and started to really listen for it in records, it was like the same feeling I had when I first picked up the guitar. It was like re-learning in a way, starting again, and it just feels right now. It feels so comfortable. It suits me actually, playing a different role rather than being out front, it suits me to know that I'm there and just pinning it down, rather than the short solo and so on. I felt I'd gone as far as I could at that time. I still pick the Strat up at home from time to time though. Pete: Your drummer, what's your drummer's name? Adam: James. Pete: Can you tell us a bit about James' background? Can you tell us, Adam, where he's come from? Adam: Well, James hasn't really been in any previous bands, but he was referred to us by Repercussion Music which is a drum clinic in Hull. They told us he was a very good drummer, and I met him at a drum clinic, because at the time when we were looking for a drummer, it seemed like the best place to go, somewhere where there's a big room full of three hundred drummers. (laughs) So we met him, and I got on well with him, and we got him to come up for a practice. And because he was only seventeen at the time of him coming for the practice, I thought - and I've told him this - when I heard of his age I thought, "Well is he going to be any good?" And he came and he blew us away when we heard him. I'm sure Steve will tell you that. Steve: His enthusiasm, I think, is incredible, really for his drums. To play at the level that he plays at now, for his age ... it will be really great to see him mature. Not that he's immature ... for his age, I think he's got a better attitude than I had at his age. Adam: I mean he's eighteen now, and he's unbelievable. I don't think I've seen any drummer locally of his age, or many drummers at all for that fact, especially in our local area, that match up to what he's doing. Steve: I think one of the things as well, when he first came to try out ......because I hadn't been with the band that long anyway and I didn't really know what we were looking for.... the thing I was glad about was that James came to the band not as "I'm a metalhead", he came to the band as "I like music, I love my drums." A very open mind to music. That was enough for me really. Pete: I was listening to your material, he's right on the money isn't he, he's absolutely spot on. He's got some nice ideas. He's not just playing the rock four. Adam: He's very flamboyant with it. You sometimes gets a bit confused as to where he's going with some stuff, because he will go off on a tangent and you think, "Well, where's this going?" But he always seems to bring it back in on the beat. Steve: I think at practice he was saying last week that he's learnt a new technique now of playing... his rolls are definitely like doubles. So at practice, when the doubles come round, they're like rolls. He's trying things out in practice. Adam: It's nice for me to see, both with Steve and James, two people who are willing to experiment, and to really put work and effort into improving as a band, rather than just saying, "Right, we've done this song now. That's finished with." If there's something that can improve it you should always bring it in, because there's always going to be a later date when it's going to really show that you've put the effort into building onto what you already have. Pete: Even within the same tunes. That's what you mean, isn't it? Adam: Totally, yeah. Pete: Also as a trio, you're very exposed, aren't you, musically? Really exposed, there's no brass to give you a break or whatever else. Steve: If somebody's not doing their job properly, it shows, doesn't it? When all three are working together ... Adam: We have to be completely on the mark with it. It's strenuous as well with the three of us, isn't it, especially at live shows, when you've got to perform to the audience as well as play it. There's not a time when I don't come off stage and have to peel all my clothes off. You're soaking with sweat ... but it's a really nice feeling as well, after playing for forty-five minutes you come off stage and feel like you've done a day's work! Pete: Any other instruments, Adam, do you play any other instruments? Adam: I used to play a little bit of drums when I was at college. I actually started playing drums - one of the old drummers that was in the band, to be honest, wasn't very inventive at all, and my way of making him more inventive was, I'd go to college, and because I was around a lot of really good musicians, and especially drummers, if I heard them do something that I liked, I'd say, "Show me how to do that," because then I could go back to base and say ....... I mean, I'm talking about a long time back now, or a long time in my lifetime anyway. That's basically where I come from - I learnt a bit of keyboard at college but that doesn't really bear any relevance, because I haven't used it particularly since, apart from to work on general synth sounds and stuff. But one thing that I'm into more than other instruments is recording. We have a Pro Tools set up at home, I'm very much getting into using the Pro Tools gear. I'd like to be able, when I have the money, to set up my own studio to produce our own music, because I think nobody's going to express it better than you do, and nobody's going to take time getting it right more than you are. Pete: Sure. And in the meantime you've got to use what's appropriate, and you also learn from people I guess on the way too? Adam: Well, it helps being able to go into a recording studio as well to do an album, and when you hear something that you're not sure about, be able to say what it is that you're hearing, and say, "Why don't you try ...", you know. Pete: Whether it's mics or whether it's EQ. Tell us a little bit about how you write the songs, how do you write the material? Adam: A lot of the material that we're playing at the moment was written previously by me. Some of the stuff off the new album that we've just released was some stuff that I wrote a real long ... well, I'm saying a real long time back, a few years ago. When I had a lot of anger in me, because I was bullied a lot at school at things like that, and I had a lot of aggression to get out, and I suppose that came out in the writing of the music. We've co-written a bit of stuff very recently, haven't we, we're just starting to get to the point where we're gelling and there are different ideas going in there, which is really cool, it's nice to ... Pete: Is this lyric-wise, or formation of the tunes? Adam: Formation. Steve: I think for me, it's never been a lyrical thing, but I've kind of got a headful of riffs and ideas, and it's kind of suggesting ideas, and formatting it with the three of us. To whatever's best for the song. Adam: I think the hardest part when you've written a lot of stuff is bringing structure into it. It's easy to structure songs at first, but you've got to be careful not to keep bringing that same structure up again. It depends. Especially when I'm writing lyrics, it comes out of nowhere. It depends. Often after drunken nights out is a good time to write for me. When you've been socialising helps me to write because you go out and see people and situations, and when you can somehow relate to them you come back and ... Pete: Cliché of a question, the age-old question, what comes first, the words or the music? Adam: That all depends, but generally the music. Generally, the first thing I'll do when writing a song is sit down and write a riff. Whether that riff develops into something different all depends, but I like to have a solid idea of what I'm doing behind my lyric-writing - you need your building blocks there. You need your verse, if you've got a pre-chorus you need to set that out, and you need a beat to work to. I find it very hard to write lyrics and then put them to music, because it's impossible, because then you end up with words in there that don't actually fit in there, and you end up going back and doctoring them anyway. You're better to get a beat in your head and an idea, even program some drums up and play them back to yourself so you know exactly where your syllables are going. Pete: So the riff gives you a meter to your words. Let's do a little train-spottery stuff, because people like to hear about these things. Instruments, equipment and all that. Can you tell us what you use first, Adam? Adam: I was originally using a Dean ML, quite a fancy design, it's a bit like a Flying V but with another point underneath the neck. A bit like a cross between a Gibson Explorer and a Gibson Flying V, but it's actually a Dean. I've just got a brand new guitar that's an MLX Undertaker, which very much suits what we're doing, it's matt black, it's a nasty-looking guitar, it's the same shape as my other one but a different design. I'm just getting used to using that because it's actually got a fixed bridge, and my old one's got a Floyd Rose. I like to use both guitars because they're both good for different things. Pete: Like what? Adam: The one with the Floyd Rose, it's got an extremely low action, and having the Floyd Rose it's also got a good place to rest your hands, so I'd say for some of the faster, more complex stuff, that's what I'd choose if I had the choice of changing the guitar for a song. With the Undertaker, it's very much a riffy guitar. The action's not quite as low, but it's good for muting, for getting the grunge out of it. As far as amplifiers go, I use a Marshall JCM 900. I don't use any pedals for my distortion, I use the distortion on the amp. I'm not really into digital distortion, it sounds too thin. I like the good old valve distortion, with a real crunch there. Which is something that I think is very different with our sound. With the guitar sound that I use, I think it comes back to the rootsy sound, a raw sound, powerful. I think it's part of what comes down to making us sound like such a big unit for a three-piece. If you're going to go at it like an army, you need your battle sound. Pete: So no pedals at all? Adam: No. At the moment I just use the clean channel on my amp. I am looking to experiment a bit. I could do with something just to EQ the sound slightly. It's really good for riffing, but if there's anything that's even vaguely lead it sounds a bit dry, a bit mono-tone. Pete: Steve, tell us a bit about yours. Steve: Well, my rig is basically the guitar. Because I don't actually have a bass rig that's big enough to cope with this. Because I came to the band, I bought myself my first serious bass guitar, I'm lucky enough to have a Fender, an old Fender, which is a '71 Precision. But trying to play this music on that, which I had no idea I was going to be doing at the time, just wasn't suitable. It started rattling the bridge loose. So I've bought myself a Stingray for this job, which cuts through a lot better. Again, there are no pedals involved, but I've just recently bought a DI pedal, which I'm hoping is going to do the business for live work. Just a bass driver, with an XLR out .......getting into the trainspotting stuff now. That's it really. At some point I'd like to buy myself a rig, I just don't know. Pete: So do you rely on on-stage monitoring then? Steve: Well, we've got, there's a Peavey amp at the farm that we use, so we use that on stage and there's a line out from that. But something I'm reading about at the moment is that some bass players aren't actually using a rig. Just using a speaker emulator, and getting it back through the monitor. Pete: Like a pod or something. Steve: If it gets the sound out front then, if you can hear it, it works. But I think once I've paid for the Stingray, I'd be very tempted to go and buy a rig. I don't know what that will be yet. Pete: Your drummer? Adam: He's actually got a DW kit, last year it won Kit of the Year in ... whatever drummers win Kit of the Year in. But he uses five toms, he's got one bass drum with an extension on for extra sub on the kick drum ... it's a really nice set-up. All the drums are properly tuned, they've all got an actual pitch they're supposed to be in that's written on the inside. It's a real fancy set-up, he uses all the Zildjian cymbals and he's got the usual works, he's got a cymbal here and a cymbal there and a cymbal there and a cymbal there ... (laughs) .. that do all different sounds. Steve: We're showing our ignorance on this one. He's got these wooden things as well. Adam: Yeah, wooden things (laughs) Steve: And feet. Pete: Single kick or double kick? Steve: Single kick, but he's got a very nifty heel and toe foot action, which creates the sound of the double kick. Pete: Because he's fast as well, isn't he. Adam: As you'll have probably heard on the album, there's a lot of stuff where he's got a constant kick going. It's unbelievable watching, really. Pete: One thing that I've found really interesting about Torsohorse as a set-up is the way that you've managed to organise yourselves. And Elaine sitting here, I know, is pretty helpful in this whole process. Perhaps you could kick off, Adam, by telling us a little bit about "Torsohorse Incorporated". How does it work? Where are you based? Adam: We're actually based in East Yorkshire, in Bridlington, which we don't really like admitting because it's not the best place to be taken seriously in the industry. Which is basically a seaside town with absolutely no music scene apart from tribute bands and pub singers. There's always been one or two original bands, but nobody's really done anything from our area. That's basically it with where we're based, it's just Bridlington. Elain: We all live together on a sheep farm. Pete: That's looking more specifically, that sort of detail - can you explain as manager, Elain, how you organise this lot, and what does it entail? ------------------------------ Elain: Well, basically we decided that in order to survive financially, we were going to have work from a base, and that became the sheep farm where we all live now. Basically we have quite a big team, all living in the same place. It's very crowded, isn't it? We've spent three years learning how to swear, and how to drink, in order to survive mentally, haven't we? Adam: Which we are very good at. (laughs) Elain: We're extremely good at swearing now. Martin, he's my assistant, and he lives in my dining room, which he's turning into a recording studio. And then we've converted some of the outbuildings into rehearsal studios, and that sort of thing. When we film the videos, we do them all at home, we just convert a new room on the farm into a new theme really, don't we. Pete: There's a whole range of things you've got to deal with - it's a complex industry isn't it, the music business? Elain: It's a very complex industry. Pete: And if you're doing it yourselves, that's a fair bit to do, isn't it? Can you tell us a bit about how you manage that, how do you do it? Elain: We have a team where everybody is good at something, so as a team it works. Because Martin, for instance, is great with the artwork, Richard does the lighting show, I take care of most of the managerial side of things. But we all have a role to play, really. And it can be very hard work. We find that the music industry is quite hostile really, and not a very nice business to be in. But because it's like that, when you do achieve something it makes it so much nicer, because you've achieved it yourself. Pete: Does that mean you're constantly on the telephone, and so on? Elain: Yes, we're constantly on the telephone, and a lot of the time you can spend a whole day trying to get through to a particular person. And at the end of the day you've achieved nothing. And tomorrow you'll ring them back, and you'll get through first time. We've had to do a lot of detective work to find who to contact at all the different networks and stations and everything, but we've basically spent three years learning the hard way. Pete: When you say networks, sorry, what do you mean networks ...? Elain: TV networks, Sky Music Channel, that sort of thing. If you ring them up and you don't have a name to ask for, then you don't get put through. As soon as you know who you need to speak to ... and we've been looking as far as, when we've done gigs with other bands that have managers, we've swapped telephone numbers, then we've had people who we could ring up and say, "Can you help me out with this one?" And in a lot of cases, they have done.
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