Welsh music, and new voices in alternative rock especially, can at times be unfairly pigeonholed in a niche that expects them to be strongly folk-influenced and tied to the language and traditions of the region they come from.
In recent years, however, Wales has managed again and again to surprise music lovers with a slew of emerging artists who have honed their craft around a very broad range of different sounds and influences, from the hardcore to the melodic to the intensely experimental.
Why Horses? are not one of the spearheads of this phenomenon, but they are, in a way, part of its second wave, building upon it to go in directions that are ever more ambitious. Having recently signed up on the roster of eclectic label BWGiBWGAN Records and having received very warm critic accolades for their newly released EP ‘Yeah, hi?’, they have cultivated their unique sound - a mix of danceable, sharp-edged, and just a little psychedelic - on the local scene, gracing the most popular venues in the Welsh capital with their live sets. We sat down with them to discuss their music, their festival tales, and what’s next for the band.
Can you introduce yourselves very briefly?
We’re Why Horses?, and we like to describe our sound as post-hypnogogic-punk-disco-
If you were to sell one of your gigs to someone who’s never heard your music, what would you say?
Post-disco gets thrown around a bit for our sound, which we like. It is a good way to describe it. Dancey, but a little different. We like to make some of our songs dancey and some of them slow, so you’ll be in for a lot of different moods. There’s not one specific thing, it’s not just happy, it’s not just quiet. So it’s going to be kind of an adventure. Brace yourself.
You’re local to Cardiff, of course. What’s your favourite venue to play in Cardiff?
Porters. It’s a good set up - the smoking area is not as good, but it’s a nice place to be. It’s a bit of a community hub. Everyone from all the bands and the local scene are always there, so it’s nice. There are some great bands on the Welsh scene, like Spirited Followers - Freddie doesn’t normally play with us, but he’s been playing with us a little bit, and he’s in that band. They’re really interesting, and we are on the same label now. We’ve got to keep it on the hush, but we’ve got something in the works together. Post-disco meets alternative folk. So that’s exciting.
Do you have any good stories from the past festival season?
I [Les] work at Green Man normally, so the highlight for me is not music-related, but I got to drive a golf buggy around. That was pretty nice. I went sharp on a corner, and we had a bucket of soup in the back, and it went all over this guy who was holding it. It was funny for me, but probably quite traumatic for the person who was covered in orange soup. Other than that, Dot To Dot was a good festival this year.
You just released a new EP. Can you tell us about that?
It was recorded in lots of different places, University studios, college in the Valley somewhere, and we recorded in our houses. A warehouse as well, in East London. We’d had those songs for ages, a very long time, so it means a lot of us that it’s out and it had a good reception. Will was only one track, which is all the more reason to record more eventually. But that’ll obviously be the top secret project that we can’t tell you. That’s a next year business, cause we got to finish it, right? But watch this space, extremely large things coming.
Any particular inspirations you are feeling right now?
A lot of Bar Italia, they are getting quite big at the moment. Also Dean Blunt, but that’s kind of a secret. Hadi has been in Brazil recently, so he’s been having different inspirations from that, listening to a lot of samba bands, learning and trying to implement that into the new songs.
What’s the best reason to start listening to Why Horses? now?
We are going to do a thousand-follower giveaway on Instagram! We’re 30 followers away. Then who knows, maybe… a Why Horses? raunchy calendar? You can get the calendar if you listen to our music early. Like in your Spotify, if we’re top three, you get the calendar. But mostly it’s the music. Stick around, you might hear some new stuff.
Chiara Strazzulla
Images: Lucy Craig
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