Drunk Horse - old fucking StonerRock

[MadJohnShaft]

Do you remember this band from 99? They have 3 CDs of historic stonerrock interest..... ST, Tanning Salon/Biblical Proporations, and Adult Situations - I pull these out and listen once in a while but don't have these three as intimately memorized as other old stonerrock. Why?  AGM says "Drunk Horse seems caught between wanting to be a simple '70s-style hard rock bar band and something more clever and exotic, and this balance continues to prove difficult to pull off three albums into their career."

How about that? I think that's it. The singing is a little flat for recordings but is probably fine for the live show, the lyrics might be a little wry for this genre, where most of the lyrics are serious and non-ironic.  I like the music, it's interesting and well performed and they take great care to construct their songs with variety and lots of breaks and change ups. Without even looking they can only be from California (looked, yep) and started on Man's Ruin (ditto).  Somewhere along the line I acquired all 3 CDs.

So, like Fatso Jetson or something like that, if you want to listen to some early fresh sounding StonerRock you could do a lot worse than hunting down or dusting off Drunk Horse.   Great name (not Drunk Goat).


Did anyone ever see this band? I don't recall them at an Emissions nor SHoD.  They have been out of business for a while so I imagine some members have moved on.  Where they any good live? Are they still together? Did they reunion?

[black]

Good call.

Saw them a few times, as I think they were from SF or Oakland and would sometimes tour the West. Also saw them once at SXSW. Not sure if they're still together. Maybe someone in the Bay Area could shed some light on that. I dig their music and style and they get placed in rotation fairly often with me. Never could figure why they didn't get more love. Perhaps it was because of the early, social media-ing of other bands at the time (Solace, Orange Goblin, Fu Machu, etc..) that semed to win the hearts and minds of the old sr.com folks. Not that those bands didn't deserve the attention, it just seemed Drunk Horse was sort of lost in the shuffle.

But yeah, they were a blast live and I still dig spinning them on the reg.

[MadJohnShaft]

Not metal enough for SHoD and not touring enough for Emissions.... the bands that played out live through the country picked up a following (unless for all I know Drunk Horse toured all over the damn place).

[lowdaddy]

i dig 'em.  i have that tanning salon cd somewhere and used to play it a lot.  don't know if they ever did a full national tour?  never saw them live.  i think they still play the occasional gig in the bay area.  i remember thinking they must have been heavily influenced by early zztop.  which is never a bad thing.

[MadJohnShaft]

Tanning Salon/Biblical Proportions is a good album - this morning I found a mid-song jazz break down.  I need to digout ST and Adult to compare if that 2nd release is their best work.

[Krayt]

any opinion on  In Tongues, Shaft, i saw it was left out of your initial overview of the band. I concur though, they always seemed like a great 70's-esque rock band that was dissatisfied with being just that and was always trying to evolve musically. that eccentric quality made them a tough sell with some buddies, but i'll always have a soft spot for "fried chicken Cadillac"

[MadJohnShaft]

Oh yeah - look at that, they did two for TeePee post Man's Ruin

[JemDooM]

I found out about them on this here same forum! And I loved them! Haven't listened to them in years so that's totally what I'll do tomorrow!

[gritty_fingers]

My memory is not what it used to be but I'm pretty sure I saw them at the Bottom of the Hill nightclub in San Francisco. I remembered it was a pretty good show.

I only knew of one of their albums; I haven't heard the other two.

[Ryno]

They were a great live band.  Saw them numerous times in SD and once in SF.  I did a BBQ for those guys one year and they all partied down at our house before the show.  Then we went to the show and it had been double booked.  Thank baby Jesus, one of the guys that worked the bar also lived upstairs in a full blown rehearsal space.  It was huge, so they setup and played a full show in this bitchin upstairs house party place and everyone rocked out. 

They had a rotating cast of characters but Eli and Cyrus were the foundation.  Cyrus now plays in Howlin' Rain and Saviours.  Not sure what happened to Eli and the others.  I know Isaiah from Earthless toured with them for a spell in second guitar.  One of the best shows I've seen them play was when he was in the band.  Now he's in Howlin Rain as well. 

They haven't played in a few years I think.  If they have it was up yonder in NorCal.

[jmucke]

They played an absolute blinder of a show to me and three friends in 2004 or 2005 that eventually was shut down by the police because of noise complaints. The band continued playing without amplification.
The debut and In Tongues are my favorites. There are also a couple of cool 7"-release, one with Prince-cover and another with a cover of a song (Weed Elf) by an allegedly NWOHM-band from Sri Lanka.

[RnRJanitor]

Saw them in Chicago at the Fireside Bowl around 2000-2001 with Mastodon opening. I was a huge fan at the time, I think they were touring for Adult Situations? Fucking amazing live band, super tight, lots of fun. Tanning Salon/Biblical Proportions is an excellent album, really dug Adult Situations as well. In Tounges was good, but didn't like it was much as those two. Bought a T-shirt at the show, which I still have. Wore it yesterday, in fact.

[potatonuts]

Saw em twice in Chicago, once at the Empty Bottle and once at the Double Door. Don't recall which albums they were touring on, nor the years, but the latter was the night the Cubs were shut out of the World Series playoffs (post-Bartman debacle) and there was a sense of gloom in the city on that night. Both were solid sets.

[Dr.Zayus]

I've seen em like 50 times...one of my favorite local bands. They haven't played in years. A couple of those guys had an amazing Bob Segar cover band for a while, Total B.S.. Also the bass player was in The Saviours for a while.

[mulekicker]

My old band played with em in Vegas like 10 years ago. I remember them being really good and loving the cover of adult situations. I just found a Drunk Horse t-shirt at the bottom of a drawer a few days ago.

[Sub Masters]

If you dig Drunk Horse then I would Highly recommend the band "Sub Masters" out of Berlin check out this video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAufQbnWF1I

Peace Wayne

[jmucke]

Nice live recording by Drunk Horse on bandcamp:
http://silvercurrent.bandcamp.com/album/live-in-utah

[MadJohnShaft]

2001 They should have played Emissions Chicago for 9 people.  Drunk Horse is on that VHS tape of band performances vol 1. 

Well it is good to know so many people are on The Horse. Good work!

[Pinehead]

Adult Situtations still gets regular play around here

[MadJohnShaft]

What instrument did you play in the band?

[deleted account]