Hold Your Horse Is // LIVE // The Old Blue Last // 28.02.12
By Chester Pains
I’ll start this one with a true story about the realities of being in a band at this level...
Let me introduce More Than Conquerors, natives of Belfast and purveyors of a fine line of Weezer-esque ditties with a hard edge. I got chatting to them post-gig and their story of being on a UK tour for the past 3 weeks revealed an effort way beyond Mssrs Frodo and co had to endure to cast a ring into the flames of Mordor.
MTC arrived via car/ferry in Scotland, played some shows in the Highlands and their car failed, with no road side coverage they had it towed to a garage: engine issues was the diagnosis, £150 to fix (so merch money gone). Onwards to Manchester, unable to stop the car properly, they realise their brakes have failed (no roadside recovery remember), so tow the car (£50...that’ll take the food budget) and get brakes repaired (£150...hotels vanished), they play their shows and get on the way to London via Brighton, at this point they decide that full road side coverage is probably a good option, so duly sign up to the AA with the maximum package (£155...time to sell body parts). The car makes it to Brighton and fails again, safe in the knowledge they are a couple of kidneys down but have roadside coverage, they make the call, only to be told by our knights of the road that the car is unsafe and will inevitably cost £1,000 to fix!
They have a handful of cash left after probably pawning their corneas and opt to scrap the car for coinage, problem is: car can’t be towed to scrap yard by AA as it’s a write off and the cost of towage is more than the value of the car...They scrap it for nothing. Ouch. Undeterred, they liaise with the other support on tonight’s bill who duly come to the rescue, allowing them to squash together in their van; hurrah for “Axis of”, for a £100 (that’s a night shift round Kings Cross, if you catch my drift) they will drive the MTC boys up to Scotland to get the ferry back to Belfast, that’s solidarity for you.
The Music: More Than Conquerors we have covered, Axis of were an interesting mash up of a shouty Primus and Queens of the Stone Age, even down to the flame haired Homme-alike’s guitar sound. The duel vocal attack of Niall and Ewan (I think: sorry guys if I am wrong!) gave it a primal edge that the rapidly-filling room really got off on, a hard act to follow...
...Unless you are Hold Your Horse Is.The packed room were ready for this; the band have been away for a while, a cancelled tour prior to Chrisrouse (HYHI drummer and convenient post-seasonal pun) set the rumour mill going that they were to split (insanity given the critical response to last year’s EP on BSM), total bollocks as it transpires: jobs and an album were just keeping them occupied. They open up with the brutal assault of Mumbler, a new track and lean heavily on new material; a brave decision given the kids who have arrived in heavy numbers to see them, they steam through their set with precision and vitality; the loud bits are brutal, visceral slices, the quiet bits are delicate little flowers of sonics...
Chris pounds his skins like a demented toy monkey possessed, Penny provides a performance of frenetic menace; a perfect foil for Robin’s guitar/vocal onslaught, to paraphrase a new song: “Everything’s so Mundane” this is not. The finale sees Chris assemble his drums in the crowd, Robin writhing on the floor with a solo, whilst Penny surveys the wreckage on high. The early Biffy comparisons have justly been mentioned before and judging by the crowd tonight, HYHI have just as loyal a following. Incendiary.
