When Horse Bitch returns to Salt Lake a few days from now, it wants another shot at gaining new friends here. Because they didn’t make enough last time; this counts as a do-over.
The honky tonk emo boys and girls from Denver play at The DLC (Quarters) on Monday, Sept. 15, along with locals Baby Ghosts and Tampa Chess Club. Doors are at 7pm.
I got to sit down with Horse Bitch guitarist Riley Merino and lead singer/guitarist David Knoble at Dougherty’s a few weeks back in The Mile High City. In the midst of a lot of conversation and a little pizza, both shared their goals for touring. Spoiler alert? It’s all about expanding their growing circle of buddies.
“It feels like a cheat code, the chance we get to tour the country, the chance to go to new places and make money as we do so,” Merino says. “I get to make friends everywhere I go.”
The math checks out: the more cities they play, the more friends they’ll make. With a band name like theirs, though, it’s not easy to advertise. That said, they try. The fact they’ve made it this far — playing in faraway Nebraska and Kansas, or even dissecting the origins of their name presently — was never the expectation. With three albums to their name and six years of playing shows behind them, they’re eager to see where their journey will lead.
Knoble calls Horse Bitch “a COVID band” as it came together in 2020, amidst weeks of Mario Kart competitions, emptying beers and writing songs. What started as a haphazard band of two has ballooned to now include seven, which includes a just-added horn section of exactly one saxophone player. Having over-the-top performances all across Colorado has either made locals want to join their ranks or make sure they don’t miss their gigs.
“Our shows allow for a lot of audience participation that comes naturally. I’ll see people singing along to our songs, or they’ll have little dances they do,” Noble says. “And I think it would be cool to create that same environment in other cities, to throw music out and find friends through it. I hope we end up being a magnet for people who want to connect.”
Speaking of connecting, Noble’s sister Sierra was more or less responsible for the band forming. She introduced David to her friend and coworker Ashley McKinney, who became fast friends with David. Ashley then became the second band member to join after David, and now sings and plays tambourine in Horse Bitch. In fact, the band got its name from Ashley’s nickname for Sierra, who earned awards as a one-time rodeo queen and barrel racer.
And because that was too good a story to let slip by, I reached out to his chemist sister for specifics.
“Ashley and I were best friends for a year before she sent me a screenshot of something I’d said. I was surprised to see that the contact at the top read: Horse Bitch,” Sierra shared via e-mail. “She said, ‘That’s you! I couldn’t remember your name when we first met, but you said you rode horses a lot” and, after a lot of laughing, the placeholder in her contacts stuck.
“When David heard about the interaction he said, ‘That would be such a sick band name,’” Sierra wrote. Without much more thought, he added, “It has to be a band name.”
Sierra once managed the band and says everyone should get to experience the so-called “mountain punk” band sometime in their lives, even if they don’t know a single song in their catalog yet. Liking songs can come later, but it might have to be seen to be believed. Just imagine a lot of barely bridled chaos — dogpiles on stage while instruments are still being played, for example — that sometimes comes with a little blood, too.
Merino busted his arm mid-performance last time they played Salt Lake but, instead of taking a pause to get bandaged, someone attempted to do so for him, while he was still moving. There was blood, but there was no time to take a knee. Ask him about it. Chances are he’ll tell the whole story.
“I would die for this shit,” Merino says with a grin.
And he will, too, but not before he and the rest of the band make a few new friends first.
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