Festival Fever
Straight from An Horse's mouth: An interview on ACL plans, Aussie roots and tourlife
Aussie indie duo Kate Cooper and Damon Cox—better known as An Horse—are winning over the hearts of hipsters and have received a lot of more mainstream attention with their sophomore album, Walls. Released early last spring, the record has been praised by The Austin Chronicle, SPIN Magazine and NPR (and UT's own 91.7FM KVRX has been a fan of the band since their debut album Rearrange Beds).
The band is one of the first to perform at the this year's Austin City Limits music festival, and leading lady Cooper spoke with CultureMap about their Friday performance, their latest album and their upcoming tour.
Is this your first time at ACL?
I haven't been but it sounds so fun. I'm really looking forward to the performance.
What will you all play at ACL? I loved your latest album, Walls. Will you mostly play that or are you planning a third studio album?
We’ll mostly just play our first two albums [Walls & Rearrange Beds]. We haven’t gotten as far as planning a third album yet.
You are going on early in the afternoon on Friday; is it awkward playing that early in the afternoon?
It’s kind of weird sometimes. Mid-day rock n' roll is typically meant for crazy Christian bands. I don’t want to sound offensive, but, you know. I’m used to playing in clubs at night. But with that being said, I do like playing during the day—we get done early and we get to enjoy the festival after.
Will you see any other shows at ACL?
I would like to, but we are leaving town pretty early after we preform to start our own tour, so we won’t really have much time.
Who are you touring with?
We are doing a bunch of our own shows, and then we join up with Kevin Devine and play a bunch of shows with him.
I know you’ve toured with a lot of really great bands like Tegan & Sara and the Silver Sun Pickups; how was it being on tour with them in America?
It’s ok. Sometimes it’s great, sometimes it’s not. I miss home a lot, which is very hard. But we are very lucky to have this opportunity to go on tour.
Your Australian accent is so strong! I've wondered, what is the music scene like in Australia?
I’ve been touring for so long now, so I don’t feel like I’m really part of any local scene. But Australia has some great bands. It’s a much smaller place, so it’s very hard to compare. Where we’re from, in Brisbane, and there was a very good local scene but it’s very small and sparsely populated.
Do you live in America full-time now?
I live in Toronto. It’s great, like Australia but much colder. I originally moved to Montreal because that’s where my partner’s from. We were living there for awhile but then she had to move to Toronto for work, so we moved there. But I really like Toronto; it’s a great place to live.
I didn’t know you were married, who is your partner?
I’m not officially married, I just have a common law status because I haven’t had any sort of official ceremony. But it’s no one you would know.
Back on ACL: many people that are going are debating who to see between the headliners. Who would you see first, Kanye West or Coldplay?
Kanye, definitely. I’m not really a huge fan of Coldplay or Kanye, but Kanye seems more interesting. I saw Coldplay in 2004 in Australia. I had just heard of them and that "Yellow" song was huge. They were headlining a big festival in Australia. I remember thinking I like it but don’t love it. It’s a bit cheesy at times. I don’t know.
Steve Wonder or My Morning Jacket?
Stevie Wonder.
---
An Horse plays at Austin City Limits on Friday, September 16th at 12:20 pm on the Austin Ventures stage.