Myspace.com Blogs - Pale Horse shoot in Brooklyn - Debbie Mitten - Little Miss Shutterbug
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We had a witness today, Miss Debra Mitten. She took many pictures to make us look deceivingly respectable. Have a click and see for yourself.

We heartily recommend Deb as a photographer and as a person. If you need either, drop her a line [link goes to her profile].

We are not far from getting this thing back on.

After taking the required time to re-organize with a new drummer and a new stuff, we're planted anew in Brooklyn and about ready to bear fruit. We're not rushing it because we want this to be worthwhile. That means new songs and sharp shows right out the gate.

 

Trust us, this is going to be fun.

If you haven't heard, Mr. Hawkins was last seen in Guatamala, where he has changed his name to 'Keilvez the Unseeing' before dissapearing into the jungle, vowing to fight for the 'Glorious Republic of George'.

As we find a replacement, we thought we'd keep you entertained with 'the gift that keeps on giving': Hatemail!

Yessiree Bob, hatemail. Always fun, and this one is particularly drively and angry about what turns out to be nothing, with language and accusations comparable to the most partisan of pundits.

Anyways, we won't keep you waiting...sit back and enjoy, followed by our reply.

====
From: Jacob Harvey
To: andy@pale-horse.com
Sent: Sunday, June 24, 2007 7:46:48 PM
Subject: The Show in Brooklyn on June 10th

Hi,

I went to your show you played at the Hook on June 10th. My friend, who wears a turban, told me that as you were handing out demos, you looked him straight in the eyes and then kept walking by without saying a word, without giving him a demo. Of course, he couldn't give two shits about wanting your demo anymore, but may I point out that you are a racist and have a disregard for people who are different than you. I suppose Hitler and Bush among many others of that calibur are of your worship, and therefore, I feel sorry for you. Music is about freedom, not about discrimination, and if you haven't figured that out yet, then I really, really do fucking feel sorry for you. I read in your bio that one of your only friends was a "dog-eared copy of George Orwell's '1984'..." You must have been rooting for big brother, in which again I place my pity. I hope you're proud of yourself for this act of racism and hate towards one of my good friends who looks and is different then you are.

- Jake

========
On 6/25/07, Andy Martin wrote:

Jake,

I have no idea where you're getting this from.

If your friend is insulted, it is a complete misunderstanding. I can't recall the incident you're describing, but I am not in any way discrimitory and am quite shocked by your account of my actions. You can ask anybody who knows me in the least. I'm especially sensitive to racism as I get my share of (albeit mild) crap for being an immigrant.

All I can think of, as an explaination, is that I'm always exhausted after coming offstage and nervous about trying to get people I don't know to listen to my music. As such, I'm usually light-headed while 'doing the rounds'. BUT I re-iterate that if I did such a thing, it was completely unintentional and there was absolutely no racial motivation behind it.

At the same time, please be careful with jumping to conclusions. You're all-too ready to use the extreme and absolute labels of 'racist' and 'Hitler-worshiper'... all based on a "my friend said" story, based on supposed eye-contact in a dark club (if there's anything more often misinterpreted...). You could've just said "dude, I heard blah-blah, and that's not cool", but you immediately start falsely extrapolating, hyperbolating and talking down to me based on those assumptions.

I take great offense at your accusation, and wish you'd have at least asked for one other account (like mine) before forcing such extreme and strongly worded judgement on such shaky evidence. That's how wars in Iraq get started.

Our music is not at all discrimitory, so don't even try to start to iterate that or we are going to have words. Nor is our music about 'freedom', it's just us having a good time and putting a meaningful lyric in once in a while to amuse ourselves.

Big Brother is not a symbol of racism, but a figure of a government with absolute power, which are two different things. I was never 'rooting for him' ('yay communism'?), but Orwell's depiction of how the totallitarian government controls the human mind is fascinating and relevant. I do enjoy some Victory Gin with my Freedom Fries.

Thank you for the pity and the feelings of sympathy. Even if they're given in error, I need all I can get.

Anyways, have a good one, and lighten up a bit, 'eh?

======

I haven't received a reply. When I do, you'll be the first to know!

 

We happen to have done a quick interview in Rockstars Glued. Direct link HERE.

This is our policy with comments:
1) Comments must be obviously personalized. If there is no inidication that the comment DID NOT come from a spamming program, it will be denied. End of story. It may make us seem like jerks if all you have to say is 's'up' and it may seem 'unsupportive of the indie scene' for all the bands willing to annoy everybody to get their name to a few more people... But ask the people who start conversations and those that support us, and they will tell you that we are amongst the most personal and 'supportive' bands around.
1a) If it is a mass comment from an entity that has previously supported us, or something we think other bands may want to see, or if it's just plain hilarious, then we will possibly approve it, decisions made on a case-by-case basis.
1b) If an obvious mass-mail is either obviously spam (selling ../1@gr@ or telling us the heartbreaking story that led to them taking male enhancements) it will be reported as spam. The same will happen if we get multiple waves of 'hey...just droppin' in to show some love' comments, or anything else we deem to to be so stupid as to be irritating to mine senses (like screaming at us to come to a show in Talahasee when you should obviously know that we're in NYC).

2. No html. It says it in red text just above the comment box. It means that whatever html you put in will not go through, even if we approve it. We're not  jerks, we had our profile hacked a couple of times through 'invisible html' that came through a comment, and that was wholly uncool. Now, we've got 12K+ friends that we don't want to lose to a single comment.
If your html is vital in any way, send it to us as a mail, and we'll post it on the site directly.

3. So, to get something approved, personalize it (beyond just putting our name in there (I understand that bots can do that too)), and/or actually know us and be trying to help us or other people through your comments. Not hard.

Pardon this rant, I just denied 10 comments in a row that ran the gamut from 'have a good weekend' to 'come to my show!' to 'Free StArBuCk's giftcard', and I'm cranky.

This is a 'lesson learned' post that should be informative to all band, venues, and everybody in between.

What follows is the story of the first time in 60-70 gigs that Pale Horse has ever not taken the stage. We left without playing, pushed by laiser-faire bookers, bands that wouldn't follow the rules we agreed on in the absense of an organizing force, and outright disrespect for ourselves and our equipment. We packed it in, just as we were to begin moving our equipment on stage. We hated to do it, we've never done it before, and did it only under conditions best described as insanity-inducing.

But first, sit, have a pinch of snuff, and let me weave for you a fantastical tale...

We were contacted over myspace by a venue, who I'll let remain nameless, in hopes that they will turn it around. Anyways, they said they liked our stuff, and wanted us to play a show for them, which was about 2hrs out of town for us. It was a place we had never heard of, and a bit out of the way, but we were game. When someone flatters us, we can be talked into anything.

So I  tell the venue that we're game to play, and I ask email them the standard 5 questions that I ask when we play a show: 1) what time do we play, and for how long?, 2) any backline equipment provided?, 3) what is the cover/ pay deal & age limit?, 4) other bands? 5) any promotion suggestions?

They reply, answering only 2 of those 5 vital questions, which honestly, is about the average for venues/promoters we have dealt with. But it was the non-answer of Question 1, phrased as 'load in at 5pm, then I'll get a feel for the night and decide when the bands go on' [pretty much verbatim quote] that raised my right eyebrow 1/16th of an inch.

Now, most shows we play are unfortunately 'conveyor belt' shows, where bands show up 40 minutes before they play, play 30-45 minutes, then packup and leave, taking their 'crowd' with them to the bar next door, where they wouldn't have to be exposed to freedom-hating original music. Mixing it up as such could be interesting, meaning that people only had the 7:30pm doors-open time to go by, which would probably increase the average crowd a band played to. Whatever, as with so many things with event planning, there are many roads, each with un-testable benefits and drawbacks.

Anyways, to the day of the show. As we didn't receive an answer on the subject of backline [for those not in the know, 'backline' is house equipment, belonging to the club, that every band can use], we brought everything. And for a metal band, 'everything' fills a pickup and a jeep, for a 2 hour drive. Arriving shortly after 5pm, we found the venue dark, with 2 other bands milling around inside, asking if I was the promoter. A neighbour had let them in, but there was no one to meet them. The place seemed alright enough, a community theatre (that hosts the occasional rock show).

We milled about as one for about half an hour, asking each other if the other was 'really, actually the promoter'. But no, they had come from MD, a six-hour trip. Around 6pm, having not yet seen any venue personel, we found the sound booth, and put a CD on.  [First urge to just leave and go to Tim Horton's and then to Duff's] Minutes later, the sound of pissing is heard up a staircase, sound of footsteps in the ceiling, and a face appeared . Introducing himself as the booker, we exchanged euphamisms. We asked him where we should bring our equipment to, and how the night was going to work. He said he had just gotten up, but to put our equipment in the rear.
[Second urge to Fukitol]

As we loaded, we tried to desparately figure out what the lineup was going to be, and received nothing but non-commitment from the bookers. The message was 'you figure it out', so we did. We grouped the bands together, and wrote down a lineup of the 8 bands we knew were present. Shortly after that was concluded, a band, who was not the first band, started setting their equipment up on stage.
[Third Urge]

Confusion.
'Fine, whatever, you can go on first. But we [Pale Horse] are second on the list'
'Well, 3 bands are using this equipment.'
Confusion.
'Oh, by the way the show's gotta be over by 11:30 (equals 4 hours for the 8 bands present...).
Confusion.
[Fouth, Five, and Sixth Urges]
Confusion.
'Oh, all the mics were stolen last night by a band that didn't play, but stayed here overnight.' [this odd sitch is not explained very well...why didn't they play? Smacks of foul play to me.]
Confusion.
'We [Pale Horse] were supposed to be second, we'll go on after these 3 bands are done, right? Is that okay'
'Sure' [other bands and booker agrees]
'Does anyone have any microphones.'
'We here at Pale Horse brought a single, wireless mic. We'd prefer not to lend it...it's kind of expensive and my baby.'
'Can we use it? Nobody else has one.'
'Fine, but be careful...'
First band plays, curses out the venue from the stage. Plays twenty minute set, ends set by yelling 'Fuck this place' and throwing the microphone, my rather expensive wireless microphone, to the ground.
[Seventh urge, accompanied by a healthy dose of 'But first, Kill them All']
Gathering the mic, it has sustained a dent, but is still in working order. Barry, our resident Bronx Musclehead, takes up negotiations for apology/heads of the offending band.
Next band is ready, with no mic. I give them a little refresher on 'other people's stuff', but am fine with letting them use it, they are their own band, and not the last band.
Second Band plays.
'Hey, the cops have been called. They're probably gonna shut us down.'
Third band plays, bringing out a previously unmentioned microphone for backup vocals. We start setting our euipment up to make a quick changeover to hopefully get a set off before the SWAT team arrives.
Third band does a punk-cover of Chumbawumba. [Eighth urge, accompanied by deep-seated disgust that my microphone is being used to convey this upon people]

Third band finishes up. As we start moving our amps into position to change, we come across members of another band, who are also moving their amps tothe side of the stage. I see it coming, but play the curteous unassuming Jerry.
'Oh, excuse me, gotta get these through, we're going on next.'
'No, we were told that we were going on next'
[Roar of laughter, covering the curses accompaning the Ninth urge] 'I talked to the booker and the other bands, and leant these guys my microphone, all for the deal that we were going on next. I don't even know where you came from.'
'I talked to the booker too. Dude, we have to go on next...we just have to.'
As this is occuring, four crowd members are somehow now on stage, on the same gear, tuning the equipment. Both me and my new compatriot in WTF, turn and ask what they think they're doing.
'Oh, we're going on now.'
[from offstage] 'Hey, there's a bunch of idiots from the other bands  playing in the parking lot, the cops are fo'sure on their way'

And the Tenth time's the charm, and it blew up. We were faced with 2 other bands insisting that they were going on next, immenant tear gassing from riot police, and generally a thousand better ways to invest our efforts. The whole thing had devolved into 'Lord of the Flies'. The conch was shattered, and Piggy's brains were oozing on the floor below. So it was time to blow this popsicle stand. We gathered our gear and our crew, explained the sitch to the organizers, other bands, handed out some freebies to people we had talked to, and hit the road for the 2hrs home.

On our way out, another band asks to borrow our drumset. They are greeted with laughter.

I arrive at Tim Horton's (a Canadian delicacy I rarely get to enjoy while living in the US - but a franchise exists near the venue) at 9:40pm. They are open, but unexplicably have thrown out all the day's food 20 minutes before closing. I enquire "is the chili and doughnuts 'in-in' the trash, or, like, more on top of it?" My unspoken question of 'Do you think Tim fucking Horton ever packed it in even 20 seconds before the end of a game?! For shame!' seeming like it would cause only more consternation.

The lesson: bands are like children. They need strict rules, or else they are going to run wild [we will always try to get away with as much as we possibly can - if you want to get an idea of what we'll do when there are lots of means but zero rules, read the bios of Motley Crue, Zep, Motorhead...that's what we want to do, and given the chance, you can bet we will]. But bands also need to learn to communicate and get along with each other, or everything just sucks.

Well then, the mood is right, time to write another song!

[fuggin' scanner....once I get it online...]

Anyways, just a note to mention that our sticker has had quite a run in the past few months. Over the summer, it made it's national TV debut opposite Sebastian Bach on VH1's 'Top 40 Metal Moments' specials (shot at the Siberia Bar in Times Square).

And recently, we'd like to congragulate it on becoming published in a national book: 'CBGB - Decades of Grafitti' [link at the bottom], where it is featured, lifesize, next to a 'Ramones' graffiti tag (on the front of the very famous and very rickety stage), as well as being a small part of several other shots.

And it seems to keep popping up in people's everyday lives, and can be found on the cutest butts NYC has to offer.

Here's to more luck in the future...

We may appear inactive, but rest assured we're chomping many-a bits while not playing as often. So here's the rundown:

 

1) Shows
We're not playing many, we know. Problem is that our two fave places (and the ones we have the best relationship with) just closed, and we have to be choosy with what we do now. We're not gonna waste our (and, more importantly, your) time playing a poor venue with a steep cover and that isn't freakin' fun as hell for the best peeps in the world (the ones that come to our shows!). We could play a junk show everyday if we wanted to, but we ain't gonna.  Hopefully, our new set of connections will pay off soon and we'll be playing excessively loudly again soon.

2) Songs
We've got 3, count 'em, 3 new songs in the works (not to mention a new cover). Expect a seriously different set next time we crash the stage.

3) Affairs
We are spending our time chatting with many labels, bookers, promoters, recording studios, and everything in between, trying to get the that next level. Hopefully one or all of them will work out and the next blog announcement will be big and cool as all fek.

Anyways, hang loose, and support the underground, because the bands you find there are way better than the shite you get pushed on you by mass media.

It was noted in practice tonite how often we get screwed. I mean really screwed. Anytime there's a big show, a big deal, it just falls to pieces by factors out of our control, and often under what people would judge to be 'unfair' conditions..

Take the Battle of the Bands (BOTB) we should be playing at this very moment. A BOTB finals, which we should currently be dominating and impressing the judges who will award us a development/recording contract plus a thousand bucks cash.

It's gone. 24hrs before we were to arrive at the venue, I got a call, saying that the show is postponed to next week, a date we can't play on (drummer has non-refundable airline tix he bought two months ago). The reason: two other bands can't make the night, so it's not worth doing a BOTB with only the remaining 3 bands.

But HEY! We were available, we cleared our schedule. You didn't check with us, and now the show is irreversably re-scheduled. And guess what: WE'RE FUCKED! The organizer told us we're essentially officially out of the competition. Because other bands could not deliver and couldn't prepare (or figure out a compromise) a month in advance, and the decision was made to move the date and it can't be changed now. And as we'll only be losing one band next week (you guys), then it's better for us, because we'll have more bands and therefore more people at the venue.

FUCK!

And this ain't the first time shit like this has come down.

Very recently, we were ready to break into house band/guaranteed payday territory. Basically, the kind of gigs where you get a decent paycheck, a rider, and a serious shot of promo paid for by the venue (a stark contrast to the usual NYC show where bands get a percentage per head that says they came to see them specifically). We even learned a couple of new songs to fill the 2 hours required of the show. And two days before we were to hit the stage, the venue cancelled on us, citing 'problems with the city'. That's great, so fix your problems, and regardless, you owe us a great show and the money you said we were ''orally contracted" for.

Earlier in the summer, we were booked to open for Black Label Society. Unthinkably awesome! Chris even cancelled a very important business trip to do the show. A day after he had cancelled the flight, BLS backed out on the night with no reason given.

Reaching to last November, we were to play a stage at a motorcycle expo. No pay, but an estimated audience of 3,000 bike enthusiasts. Awesome! The whole expo fell through due to 'problems with the venue', and the event never took place.

Last summer, we had a similar situation to tonite's, when we had a BOTB in Camden that would have resulted in a recording contract. Then, during the show before ours, someone punched a hole in the wall of the venue, and the owner cancelled all future shows because no one owned up to the damage.

And way back to 2003: we were (unbeknowst to us) to be an opener at Crossfade's major label showcase...the very day of the East Coast Blackout. Boom, no show. We don't get rescheduled for the make-up, and Crossfade goes on to be signed to Sony and are now a recognizable name (my advisor just bought their last CD...everytime I see it, I get fidgety).

This is not to mention the numerous flakes who promised big, then dissapeared without a peep.

I cringe to think what will happen at this A&R Showcase in FL...we're driving a long way...either 'the curse' won't be able to run that fast, or it's already there, waiting for us...

 

Addenum:

To look at the big things that did pay off for us, we see that they were promises made by those that were already good friends that we could trust. High Speed Chase got us onto that magical 'Save CBGB' benefit show, and Headwrench got us our only 'houseband' gig. [other bands, please be nice and not bombard them with requests to hook you up...they are our best friends and they wouldn't have offered these things if we didn't already have strong bonds of mutual aid]