Pulled Apart By Horses - Alt Rock Revivalists
As someone who has repressed their ‘My Chemical Romance years’; posters in the bin, lyrics shoved to the back of my cranium, the genre ‘Alternative Rock’ is a guilty pleasure and one that many artists it seems have shied away from with an adolescent cringe. The sound of tuning metal guitars and hope of forbidden alt nostalgia drew me to The Nest Stage at Truck Festival on Friday last weekend.
Pulled Apart By Horses were slow to start “testing, testing… testing” … again? A few fans jeered for them to start playing but their hesitance did draw quite a crowd and the tent was bursting with soaking wet truckers, some there for the music, others for the shelter. Once the band started playing it was clear we were witnessing a new kind of alt rock with Indie, post-hard-core, stoner and experimental influences; a caustic concoction that sparked a mega-mosh pit in the centre of the crowd. Slippery wet rain coated bodies bounced off each other; we were like a bunch of sardines in a tin on speed.
Tom Hudson’s husky, grungy and occasionally metal sounding voice didn’t hold back, raucously booming over the instrumental during the choruses as die-hard fans at the front wailed the lyrics with him. James Brown the lead guitarist rocked the solo on their lasted track The Haze, released March this year. Robert John Lee (bass guitar and backing vocals) and Tommy Davidson (drums) also gave a brilliant performance and the band were clearly experienced in working a live crowd having supported big names like Biffy Clyro, Foals and Muse; they gave it large with head banging and stage jumping.
I later considered that perhaps the news of Chester Bennington (lead singer of Linkin Park) taking his own life the day before the gig played a part in my desire for a taste of the nostalgic Alternative Rock Pulled Apart By Horses incorporate into their style.
The crowd did have a distinct sense of solidarity, whether that be for the music, the festival, general togetherness of everyone or something else I can’t pinpoint it exactly, but all I can say is that Pulled Apart By Horses did The Nest, Truck Festival and lovers of rock proud with their mental performance.