Austin – After an excellent yet comparatively subdued set by Jonquil, Leeds based noisemakers Pulled Apart By Horses took to the stage at Latitude 30 and basically tore things up. Their music had a noisy, punky, chaotic demeanor, full of hardcore style screaming (ie. screamo), abrupt changes, and several riffs that seemed to be almost lifted directly from Rage Against The Machine. Their stage presence added a lot to the chaotic nature of their set. They basically threw in all of the stock rock n’ roll/punk moves that are kind of cliche but also work perfectly to get the crowd going – crowd surfing, jumping off their amps, going out into the crowd to sing and climbing up onto the bar, and of course spitting up into the air and watching it land on stage. They were obviously having fun onstage and it showed. There was a minor delay after the first song when the power to the mics went out where they got a fan onstage to tell a joke (but if the mic wasn’t working, how would everyone hear the joke?). Later in their set, singer Tom Hudson inexplicably sang a snippet of “Cotton Eyed Joe” as he ran through the crowd.
It was a fun, high energy set that was appreciated by many in attendance. In fact, it was fun and high energy largely because of the crowd’s reaction. There was a guy who looked like Stone Cold Steve Austin, but with glasses, who was singing along with many of the lyrics. There was also the aforementioned fan who almost told a joke clearly the most excited to be there, dancing wildly throughout their set. During the song, “High Five, Swan Dive, Nose Dive,” there were in fact many high fives given out by the band to the crowd, including one unlucky guy who took a high five to the head because he wasn’t paying attention. Strangely, he didn’t seem to mind that the band had basically smacked him in the head. I spoke to Ricky, who had been standing much further back from the stage during their set. His assessment? “It was like being hit by a freight train.” Yeah, it was noisy and chaotic, but in a good way.