Greg Wilson A2 Media Project: The Band and Live Performances

So as seen in one of my very first posts I posted a band profile of Pulled Apart by Horses, so people knew who the band was, what the history of the band is so far and just general information about them. I think however that better light needs to be placed on the band so people have a better understanding with other things on my blog, such as themes I am using, influences for my video and just other relative information to all aspects of the project.

The BandObviously as stated numerous times before, the band are called Pulled Apart by Horses and are from Leeds, England and have been formed since 2009, comprised of lead vocals and rhythm guitar player Tom Hudson, lead guitar player James Brown, bass player Robert John Lee and drummer Lee Vincent. The band have immediately grounded themselves as really raw and heavy band, famous for fast driving hard hitting songs, delivered with aggression and humour. The band have also picked up a big reputation as an amazing band to see live, which I can vow for having seen them several times, and is something I will touch upon later. Since their formation the band have released numerous EP’s and singles and released their self-titled debut album back in 2010, with the band currently working on the follow up with a release date on sometime during 2012. The reason I picked this band (not only because they are one of my all-time favourites) is because they are simply one of the best around today and are doing something different compared to most music that is being released lately. In a time where guitar music is pretty close to dying out, and is struggling to survive, this band came along with such amazing style, charisma and image, and has the music to back it all up. They are a band who can be placed in different genres of music, but they just do something so different. They produce such hard hard-hitting songs filled with amazing riffs and lyrics that can times mean nothing and at other times mean a lot to people, that they fit so perfectly into the alternative rock genre and the bands that defined it such as Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins and Soundgarden. The music also has such strong connotation and links to the hard-core punk genre, once again going back to the structure of the powerful riffs, let done with simple structure and also the bands use of power chords, not to mention the vocals used which a lot of the time is lead singer Tom Hudson screaming and yelling till there is no air left in his lungs to do so, it just all fits so incredibly well into the hard-core genre and the bands that once again define it such as Black Flag, Bad Brains and Husker Du. But also fits into the post hard-core genre influenced by hard-core punk and that bands linked to that such as Fightstar, Funeral for a Friend and The Used. The band is often linked to the indie rock genre, which seem strange but you can kind of see. A lot of indie rock music takes influence from all different kinds of music genres such as rock and punk, using a lot of the simple riff and power chord structures for songs and in that respect it is easy to see why Pulled Apart by Horses can be linked to this genre of music, not to mention the fact that indie rock is actually a sub-genre of alternative rock, so it all fits in really well, with bands such as The Libertines, Manchester Orchestra and The Enemy.

Tom Hudson

James Brown

Robert John Lee

Lee Vincent

Live Performance

Live performances, as mentioned before, are very important when talking about the band. PABH have gained a big reputation as a live band. The show are very notorious for having crowd surfing, stage diving and the fans flailing their bodies around in very intense mosh pits. I have seen this band around 4 or 5 times now, and each time I see them, the live shows just blow me away (see below for pictures of me at their shows). The band just completely tears up any venue or festival they perform at, through their amazing performance and energy and the fact that you never know what to expect when you go and see them live. The live performances just fit the bands so well, with their heavy music being the perfect thing to just basically go crazy to at shows. If anybody ever goes to one of their shows, be prepared to be pushed, shoved, thrown, surfed and have fans hurled towards you, as when this band plays it’s pretty much any rules go and you will most likely get hurt, but that is all part of the fun and is just expected with a band such as PABH. Even the band themselves get injured during their shows, due to their reckless antics on stage. As you can see from the photos (see below) the band like to scale, climb, and drop and jump of any structure at their disposal. The second time I saw the band play, was when they were one of the opening support bands for hard-core punk band The Bronx at the O2 Academy in Newcastle, in which, during the bands second song lead guitarist James jumped off one of the amps and blew his knee out, but instead of stopping because of it, they just wrapped his knee up in duck-tape and carried on. The reason why all of this is important is because the way they play live comes through the band’s music so well, that pure raw and heavy power comes through recording just as the same as it does live. Plus Their live shows just show so much of the bands attitude as well and what they are about, just a band who is all about the music they play, the hard-core spirit, and just a basic care free attitude and a band who deos what the hell they want.

James Brown being crowd surfed by a bunch of crazy fans

James taking a big dive of an amp, once again living up to the bands reckless live shows

Tom Hudson and James, lying in a heap on the floor

Tom, James and Robert Lee Vincent, with the guys going basically insane

Spot Me If You Can

I had to en-large this photo the most or else you wouldn't spot me. See the inflatable flower in the lefthand top corner? Go right a tad to the first beareded fellow and that is me. This from Sonisphere 2011 and the guys truly rocked the show as usual!