French Horns

Steve and Josh used to be in THE BRITTLE STARS, and Jeremy also plays in THE PLASTIC MASTERY. Besides, there are also Brian and Juliet. An interesting american band to know about...

1. Can you begin with a little history of the band? Who are THE FRENCH HORNS? Where are you from? Who plays each instrument? and how old is the band? when was it born?
Josh: THE FRENCH HORNS started in the early months of 2003 after our previous band THE HIGH FIVE FOUR sort of fizzled out. We decided we needed to record the songs that had been playing and started THE FRENCH HORNS to do that. When we recorded we were a three piece: Dan Francke (bass), Steve Clay (guitar/vocals) and I (drums). Dan moved to Pennsylvania and we got three other people to take his place; Jeremy Underwood (guitar/bass), Juliet Sy (violin) and Brian Lee (bass/guitar). Brian moved with his wife to Orlando and just had a baby, and Jeremy is busy with graduate school, so right now we have Dan McCoy playing bass and Juliet will be playing with us only occasionally because she is Law School. Hopefully that's not too confusing.
Steve: And we're in Gainesville, Florida.

2. Why the name of THE FRENCH HORNS?
Josh: My wife played the french horn in middle school band and I thought ‘the french horns‘ would be a cool name. I hated the name ‘HIGH FIVE FOUR’.
Steve: I still like the ‘HIGH FIVE FOUR’, but it doesn't suit us.

3. Who writes the songs? Which things make you write those beautiful songs? What are the lyrics about?
Josh: Steve writes the songs.
Steve: Jeremy has one that will be on the record. I'm not a writer, but I at least try to be playful with themes and tend to say very little in as many words as possible.

4. Some of you come from THE BRITTLE STARS... What about them? Why did they split?
Josh: THE BRITTLE STARS played their last show in 2001 in Los Angeles. The members are dispersed throughout the country, except Steve and I.
Steve: We still try to play together occasionally when people visit. I think we all miss it.

5. Jeremy is also playing in THE PLASTIC MASTERY. What about the band? what are they doing now?
Josh: I don't know if Jeremy is going to respond to this but I played drums for their last mini-tour and from what I understand they are on an indefinite hiatus. The members are also distributed throughout the country.

6. How would you describe your sound to someone who has not ever heard of your music?
Steve: We kind of play a variety of styles. I don't think any of the songs sound like each other, but you might hear bits of dream pop, 60s girl groups, garage pop, disco, chamber pop (the album will be more diverse than the demo). We haven't found a sound that we could stick to, so whatever we can pull off we'll do, and some we'll still try(!) but I don't think it's a stretch to say there's a unifying melodic taste to it.

7. Which bands influence the sound of THE FRENCH HORNS?
Josh: Steve and I both love lots of music. From ‘Old Country’ (THE LOUVIN BROTHERS) to modern indie pop and rock (THE AISLERS SET) and everything in-between. We are both music lovers and I think the focus is on writing a "good" song whatever the form may be.

8. How many songs have you written? is there only a demo recorded? you were going to record an album, has it been recorded yet? which label with?
Josh: Ummm.. I think we have about ten songs. We started recording an album but it kind of fizzled out as our members became busier. We *may* finish recording it depending on how the band progresses with our present line up. It was supposed to be on ‘Clairecords’ which is Dan from THE BRITTLE STARS label.
Steve: The album is taking forever mostly because of my procrastination and uncertainty of what kind of sound the instruments should have. It'd be easier if our songs had a distinct "sound", but as it is on some of them I just don't know where to start. Live we just play with a very basic setup but I want the recordings really to shine and I'm afraid I'll just put something down and stick with something I'm not happy with because it's work to re-record it and it's already taken forever. This is why bands hire producers.

9. Do you prefer gigs or the studio?
Josh: I like shows more because the studio is stressful.
Steve: Shows are fun, though I wish we had more reliable equipment. Recording is work and I admire people who can do it themselves quickly and efficiently. A BOY NAMED THOR is recording a song a day this year..

10. Which band was your favourite you played with?
Josh: THE BEAT BUTTONS, who are also from Gainesville.
Steve: Agreed. HUMAN TELEVISION are fun, too.

11. Which songs do you play in your shows? any cover of your favourite bands? which ones?
Josh: We play all of the songs on the demo plus a few other ones that we have written. The only cover that we do is of the INNOCENCE MISSIONS' "She may turn around" which is also on the demo.
Steve: We also do a cover of MARGO GURYAN's "Think of rain", but we do it fast and frantic, like BOYRACER might...

12. As almost no-one lives on music nowadays, what do you usually do in a normal day?
Josh: I do computer support. Steve does web programming/administration and Dan does database and web programming. We're all nerds.

13. Which are your hobbies?
Josh: I'm captain of my soccer team and thus I play soccer quite a bit.
http://incomplete.org/noideafc/
Steve: Mostly web design (style sheets and PHP programming) and humor (Onion, Matt Groening, Adult Swim, lots of bad puns).

14. Which is that amazing record that you are listening to lately and can´t stop listening to it?
Josh: I really like THE DELGADOS new album "Universal Audio." Also, I've been listening to WANDA JACKSON quite a bit lately. Her rockabilly stuff is very good.
Steve: Nothing jumps out at me for the moment but DENISE JAMES' "It's not enough to love" is one of my favorite records this year.

15. Any other interesting bands in your city?
Josh: Yes.

16. Do you know any labels or bands from Spain? Which ones? Do you like them?
Josh: Well I know of Elefant and Siesta but I don't have a lot from those labels mostly British and Swedish bands that have released things on those labels. I'd be interested in hearing more spanish bands, send me some music!

17. What music do you usually listen to? which are you favourite bands?
Steve: Some All-time favorites: THE LILYS, MAGNETIC FIELDS, older CURE, MOOSE,...