Brilliant Bristol noise-mongers Sugar Horse were kind enough to sit down with us for a (quite frankly brilliant) interview which was every bit as good as we could have hoped for.
A staple for good, modern British Post-Metal, Sugar Horse have always had that little extra tinge of quality, high-quality songwriting with loads of little details woven into their soundscape. Therefore our man Simon was so happy to get an interview with the lads and talked about their momentary status, future plans and much more.
Can you start off with letting us know what has been happening in the world of Sugar Horse?
It’s been a slightly mad few months to be honest… Our legendary label, Small Ponds Records, unfortunately decided to call it a day, but we were lucky enough to keep hold of label manager/owner/savant, Vlad Matveikov, and start our own thing. The label’s called Fat Dracula Records and its’ both utterly nerve-destroying and ridiculously exciting at once.
We’re very much control freaks, so being able to have say over every facet of how our music is released, promoted and ultimately heard is something that was always an endgame … it just came a bit sooner than expected.
We’ve just recently put out our first little release on it. A raging little single to kind of test the waters I guess. We already have big plans for the rest of this year and the beginning of next year. As I say … it’s all a bit mad.
Are you working on any new music?
We have a bunch of new music in the can I guess. A good couple records’ worth demo’d and ready to go. Currently making bookings at recording spaces to get the definitive versions down, so we can inflict it on an unsuspecting public.
It’s all very disparate and darts off in a tonne of different directions, so it’s pretty exciting to think about what people will make of it. I mean … they’ll more than likely be confused, but that’s on them really.
What do you strive for when writing new music?
That’s a big question … It tends to differ from song to song, but in general I guess I have these pretentious ideas of “originality” and I tend to try to go for something that,to me at least, sounds kind of singular I guess. I mean, I’m not in any way suggesting we don’t nick ideas. Everyone does. I guess it depends on the presentation of the stolen ideas. YOU GOTTA GET AWAY WITH IT SIMON
Your social media presence has always been very tongue in cheek and ultimately very charming (to me anyway), was this a conscious decision or did it just naturally evolve like that?
I think originally it came from having to be a smaller local band, but still pretend people gave a single shit about whatever under-attended shows or badly recorded releases you’d be posting about.
It’s a bit embarrassing really, so you might as well have a bit of fun with it.
On the flip side, now we’re kind of having to advertise ourselves and insulting ourselves/ everyone following us tends to ease the feeling of being the lamest humans who’ve ever lived.
If you could curate your own one-day festival, who would we see on the lineup?
Oh God, I think these lineups already exist ya know. Pick any ATP line up and I’d be in heaven. You gotta have The Cure playing though. Playing Pornography then Disintegration back to back or summet. I’d also want Oceansize playing too. Literally any setlist and I’d be happy. They never put out a bad tune.
Do you go to see live music much? And if so, what is the next show you are looking forward to going to see?
I try to, but I am a father of two, so getting to shows can be difficult without dropping my partner right in the shit. My second daughter is currently a newborn, so I’ll probably be out of the gig game for a good few months. I think my next show will be ArcTanGent and I’m essentially gonna watch every band playing on every stage for [those] three days, which is enough for me I reckon.
What has been the best musical advice you’ve ever been given, and who gave it?
None of the business, money, reviews, popularity, acclaim, clout matter - at all. You probably won’t get ‘em and you probably don’t deserve ‘em. Producing the art is the pinnacle. Nothing else comes close. Just do what you can to produce the art.
Pompous: possibly - but it’s right.
Last regular question, what can we expect next from you?
We have a interesting little/big (depending on your point of view) thing coming out towards the end of this year and then it’ll be Album Number two during the first third of 2024.
Now onto our quickfire round:
Wine or Beer? I no longer partake in the demon drink and booze free wine tastes like arseholes, so gotta be beer.
Festival or regular gig? Festivals tend to take place in hot weather and I’m not generally a fan of the sun, so gotta be regular gigs.
Scooby Doo or The Wacky Racers? Wacky Racers I reckon. The tedious repetition of that show is almost avant garde I reckon. Like the Krautrock of the morning cartoon world.
Picnic or a meal at a restaurant? Restaurant. Hot food over cold food every single time.
Vinyl or streaming? I’m gonna really fuck people off here; streaming. I actually collect vinyl, just because I enjoy having the physical piece of music, but streaming not only sounds better….IT ALSO PAYS SO WELL AM I RIGHT FOLKS?
Summer or Winter? Winter 100%. Give me ice and death.
Touring or Writing/Recording? Tough choice. I love both. Writing is my favourite experience this miserable planet has to offer though. Makes me feel like I’m actually alright at something.
