LIVE: Pulled Apart By Horses @ The Kazimier, Liverpool 27.10.08

Pulled Apart By Horses, interesting name ay?  Absolutely fantabulous name if you ask me, it may conjure images of a hideous freak accident in which Frankie Dettori is torn limb from limb by a couple of prize sprinters on a sunny day at Ascot Races, but don’t let that put you off.  The songs may at first sound like Frankie’s last dying screams, but listen closer and you’ll discover some killer tunes within the sound assault. During 2007 there were 4 songs by a band that I listened to obsessively. That band were the utterly thrilling ‘Mother Vulpine’.  I loved Mother Vulpine.  They only had 4 songs on their Myspace but I was quite happy to sit and wait for more, until…no…what’s this?…splitting?!…this can’t be!!!  As I dried my tears it soon became clear my devastation was to be short lived.  As MV singer Matt Bigland set up shop with the pretty ace Dinosaur Pile-Up, MV Bass man Tom Hudson was starting to wield 6 string axe and hooking up with former members of Concentration Champ, It Takes Bridges and Monster Killed By Laser, to tare me and the rest of their new fans a new a-hole with the mighty Pulled Apart By Horses. That was late 2007 and what do we have to show for it a year on?  Well, the 6 eye brow singers on the lads Myspaz are a good place to start and Monday 27th Oct marked the release date of their Ltd edition (500) debut plastic, the gloriously titled ‘Meat Balloon’.  Absolutely awesome in sound as well as name it is too, but what do the band actually sound like?  That’s simple, they sound like Blood Brothers having a cage fight with The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster.  Still not clear?  If Mars Volta liked tunes as much as they liked blinding noise they be more like PABH. So it’s gig time.  The band rip into I Punched A Lion In The Throat with chief shrieker Tom sounding like a mental patient with a newly found love for self help, as he roars the closing ethos of the track ‘ULTIMATE POWER, MAXIMUM LIIIIIFE!!’  Second song High Five Swan Dive Nose Dive follows next as Tom continues to build his intense performance into a frantic bashingheadwithguitar frenzy, which takes him off the small stage and in amongst the crowd of misfits in this odd little venue.  Meanwhile James Brown slinks and gyrates around the stage apparently conjuring the spirit of his namesake. Just before song four The Lighthouse starts (b-side to their new single), Tom asks “How many songs do we have left?”, to which some smart Alec replies “One!”, another quick thinker follows up with “None!” before a third knuckle dragger provides the coup de'grace with “Minus one!!”.  Comedy gold tonight at the Kazimier folks.  Tom repeats the quips as they arrive into his mic with a good spirited smile, but its sad that some people don’t appreciate the quality of what they’re being offered here tonight.  Reminds me of early gigs by fellow Yorkshire men ¡Forward, Russia!, which were often received with confused expressions and drunken hecklers. The comedians don’t quell the bands enthusiasm though, they proceed to belt out The Lighthouse then finishing with excellent new single Meat Balloon.  So, 5 songs and no more than 15 spazz moved filled minutes could have passed and the set of tonight’s support band is all over.  A lot to take away from the evening though, such as Tom’s reverse Caterpillar while riffing out (lying on back thrusting upwards), Meat Balloon vinyl that comes with free CD and the line during HFSDNDive, which I believe goes ‘I’ll make you dance with my balls on fire!’ (I could be wrong but I’d like to think this is the right lyric).  For those reasons this was a fantastic gig from a band who are producing hugely exciting music, I just hope it doesn’t take too long for the rest of the world to catch on.