It’s always sad when an excellent band are forced by circumstances beyond their control to disband, especially at the very height of their powers. Queensland metal act Sunk Loto released their album Between Birth and Death in 2003,
It’s always sad when an excellent band are forced by circumstances beyond their control to disband, especially at the very height of their powers. Queensland metal act Sunk Loto released their album Between Birth and Death in 2003, and it became an instant classic. It has since been considered a standout release in Australian heavy music history, and it took an already high profile band in this country to another level entirely. Many things conspired against them over the ensuing years, however, as they tend to in this harshest of harsh industries, and by 2007 Sunk Loto called it a day. A sad tale and the end of an exceedingly promising career.
Out of tragedy new life can spring however, and a phoenix has arisen from the ashes of the old. Sunk Loto co-founders, singer Jason Brown and his brother, drummer Dane, joined up with former members of well known Gold Coast heavy act Lump a couple of years ago to form a ‘supergroup’ of sort. “Yeah, you could call it that!” Jason laughs, without a hint of false modesty. They’re called Electric Horse, and Jason picks up the story: “We’ve only really been together for two years, as Electric Horse,” he recalls, regarding the band’s brief history.
“Dane and I have been playing in bands together since we were little tackers, and the other guys have as well. They’re all from the Gold Coast… we’ve all kind of known each other from different bands and everyone’s been doing their own thing. But we always knew we wanted to do something eventually, musically, and it’s finally come to fruition.
“We had a couple of rehearsals two years ago, and went from there,” he continues. “We kind of started writing straight away, which was cool. Within six months of being together we did our own little demo with our own ProTools rig, threw up a MySpace site and got quite a good reaction. After that we started playing a few shows around the traps with bands that we’ve known for a while now. With Cog, Mammal and those [sort of] guys. Then we wrote another batch of songs, demoed those again, and then went in and recorded Translations, our first EP. Last year we finished recording it, and we brought it out this year and we’ve just been touring pretty flat out this year.”
The sound of Electric Horse is still straight-up-the-guts, ballsy heavy rock/metal, but it’s a little more melodic and atmospheric than the full frontal assault that was Sunk Loto. It’s still likely to appeal very strongly to Sunk Loto’s remaining legion of disappointed fans, while broadening that appeal even further at the same time. “It’s a heavy rock sound, but more melodic heavy rock,” Jason describes for the uninitiated.
“It’s probably not really in a ‘metal’ genre of heaviness. Pretty kind of ‘flow-y’, kinda sonic, sort of sound. It’s a little bit experimental as well. That’s the way I’d describe the release we just put out, but where we’re going now is a bit more of a toned down rock sound. We’re writing and demo’ing again, to put an album together. We’re experimenting with different sounds at the moment.”
Electric Horse have paired up with Melbourne alternative rock powerhouse Engine Three Seven for an epic tour of the eastern seaboard, which pulls into our fair city this weekend for three shows around the greater Melbourne area. It may sound like a slightly left of centre match on paper, but it will no doubt ensure an evening of high voltage rock whatever your musical leanings. “I’ve never met the Engine Three Seven guys, but I’ve heard some of their stuff, and it sounds pretty cool,” Jason says, “so yeah, we look forward to smashin’ it on this tour with them. We haven’t actually been to Melbourne yet with Electric Horse. We’ve done a lot of New South Wales and a lot of Queensland, but we haven’t had the chance to get down to Melbourne yet. But we’re stoked to get down there and have a crack.”
And so what are unsuspecting Melbourne punters going to get when Electric Horse hit town this week? “Just a balls-out rock show,” Jason states with pride. “[We’re] pretty energetic, we like to have fun on stage and enjoy ourselves… And get the crowd involved as much as possible.”
Beyond the current tour with Engine Three Seven, the band have an exciting 2011 planned for themselves. “At this stage we’ve got some shows coming up in January with Shihad,” Jason reveals, “and a couple of festivals we’re looking at as well. And hopefully we’ll be touring a lot next year; we really want to get down to Victoria more and start really cracking the market down there. And also get to Perth and Adelaide… and hopefully finishing up our debut record. We’d like to at least be in the studio by the end of the year, and have something coming out next year or early the year after.
“I hope that the response we’ve had on Myspace and Facebook converts into a decent crowd down there in Melbourne,” he says in conclusion, “we’re really looking forward to getting back down there. We want to play there on a regular basis.”
Gold Coast’s ELECTRIC HORSE (featuring Jason & Dane of Sunk Loto) and Melbourne’s Engine Three Seven are two of the countries fastest-rising rock acts. Catch them team up for a blistering co-headline tour along the east coast throughout which hits Victoria late November. See them at the Ferntree Gully Hotel on Thursday November 25, Pier Live on Friday November 26 and The Evelyn Hotel on Saturday November 27. Tickets on sale now via saltar.oztix.com.au.
