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An Horse on “Letterman,” Favorite Bands, and Favorite Things

Between sets at this year’s annual music festival South by Southwest (SXSW), I sat down with the duo that make up the Australian band An Horse — out lesbian lead singer and guitarist Kate Cooper and drummer Damon Cox — to ask them about playing on Letterman, which bands have influenced them, and their favorite things.

Don’t miss the free MP3 download at the end of the interview!

AfterEllen.com: Tell me about the band name “An Horse.

Kate Cooper: It was a grammar conversation I was having with my next door neighbor at home in Brisbane, years ago … about the use of “an” before hard H’s. It became an ongoing debate we had because we lived next door to each other. I liked the way the two words sounded together. My neighbor made me a sweater with “an horse” on it and i loved it. It’s still my favorite sweater.

AE: How did you two meet?

Damon Cox: We were aware of each other because we both played in Brisbane bands. We actually met when I was working in a record store and Kate ended up getting a job at the same place…so we got to know each other fairly quickly from working together.

AE: So when/why did you decide to start playing together?

DC: Well, we didn’t really start playing together for a good two years or so.

KC: We talked about it a lot.

DC: We realized we had a lot of common interests. We liked the same bands and went to see shows together … and toyed with the idea of playing together one day. Kate ended up supporting one of my bands, playing a solo set. She said “why don’t you get up and play drums on a couple songs?”

KC: It made sense.

DC: The timing was finally right to play together. We went into the rehearsal room and it clicked really well. I think [Kate] played 8 songs and I went up for three songs. From there it quickly progressed into a real thing.

KC: Yeah, I remember it was really exciting straight off. It just worked.

AE: It’s great how you can pull off being a two-piece band without it sounding like something is missing.

DC: We didn’t set out to be a two piece. It just happened. We didn’t feel like we needed to bring anyone else in. Mainly, on a personal level more than musically.

KC: Even before we started playing together, we were talking about music. We were really comfortable with each other. We’re on the same page musically and I think adding someone else into that situation is unnecessary. It didn’t feel right.

DC: We have quite a few friends trying to join the band and we’re just like no, no.

AE: Maybe for fun. At a live show…?

KC: No.

DC: No.

KC: No, I don’t want them getting comfortable with the idea.

AE: What bands/musicians have made an impact on you? Or possibly made you want to be a musician?

DC: We were talking about this the other day and when I’m asked this question, I didn’t really think I had specific influences. We kind of figured out that we do.

KC: Sleater-Kinney, Go Betweens

DC: Fugazi and At the Drive In inspired me. Fugazi was the first band I got into. They were honest in the way they made music.

AE: There are shows that I’ve gone to and walked away from wanting to pick up an instrument so badly. I’m not sure that’s where my talent is, but you know that feeling I’m talking about?

KC: There’s nothing better than walking away from a show with that feeling … (in unison) “holy s–t.”

DC: It doesn’t happen very often, but when it does, it’s amazing.

KC: After Sleater-Kinney, I was like, “I really need to practice.”

DC: Yeah (laughs)

AE: Can you tell us a little about your new album, Rearrange Beds?

KC: It’s a time when about 1/2 the songs were written … I was writing about life. That’s what I do. It’s honest. It was just me figuring stuff out.

AE: Now that things have changed in your life are the songs you write more positive or different in anyway?

KC: No, I’d say it’s just as bleak (laughs). It’s a little more open and sane. In “Rearrange Beds,” I feel the arrangement is not sequenced in the way it was written. If it was sequenced in the way it was written, it would be s–t and depressing and then end up OK. In a lot of the songs, it may sound negative or whatever, but it’s not. It’s more that it’s over and I’m done. I get it, I really understand, but I’m just done. Don’t expect any kind of reprieve from me. I’ve figured it all out and I’m not going to waste my energy anymore. I feel like that’s positive and hopeful, but everyone’s like “that’s brutal.” It is quite brutal to play sometimes. I think of all the terrible things, but to get to the end of it, it’s like alright…it’s okay, you know what i’m saying? If you don’t have the s–t times, you can’t have the good times. I had plenty of good times with the people in those songs.

AE: So how was being on the The Late Show with David Letterman?

(both) Awesome.

AE: Okay, easy answer. So tell me how you got that gig?

DC: It happened rather quickly. We were told that it was a maybe and they were looking at late April. And then we were in Canada and got the call on Friday saying we could be on the show as soon as next week. On Monday we got a call confirming it, so we had to cancel a couple shows. It was totally worth it.

AE: Well, there are way more people watching David Letterman than would probably come to those shows.

KC: Yeah, we’d get like 4 or 5 people at those shows.

AE: Most likely, the people who come to your shows already know who you are, so this opened up a lot more people to your music.

KC: I’m glad we found out last minute. It was crazy. It looks really great and glamorous, but we drove all day, got there late at night, we ate, went to bed, woke, loaded in — the view overlooked where the twin towers were, ground zero. That was kinda freaky. We did the taping, then we got in the van and drove 6 hours to upstate New York. When we got to the room, I rang the front desk to ask what channel it was on. Then we watched it in some s–t hotel on the side of the highway.

AE: Have you noticed any immediate effects from being on Letterman?

KC: Well, my mum is stoked and so is Damon’s mum.

DC: We’ve definitely been getting a lot of feedback on MySpace. As soon as we got to Austin and got out of the van, someone said “Good job on Letterman!” so that was cool.

AE: What do you bring on the road that you can’t live without?

KC: I have a handkerchief that my mum gave me.

DC: I carry a couple photos of my dad because he recently passed away.

KC: My friends also made me this pillow case where their faces are on either side. They took photos of their faces while sleeping on a pillow and put them on either side of where my face would be if I my head was in the middle. It’s so freaky. We’ve been meaning to put it on the pillow that’s in the van, but I just can’t bring myself to do it. Other than that … nothing else, really. If you get too many favorite things, then you wig out if they’re not there.

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