Chelmsford based five-piece Held By Horses are sure to gain themselves a lot of new friends with live performances like the one they put in at Pat Molloy’s last Wednesday. Although they weren’t headlining the Icebreaker Promotions night (the band’s first show outside of their hometown), they were still able to put in a committed display, mixing up the four original tracks from their self titled debut EP with a couple of well chosen covers.
The first thing that hits you about a Held By Horses performance is the volume. Most bands can get ‘loud’ by ramping up the effects and cranking the amps, but this band’s power comes from the drum kit and more specifically, Scott Dillon, the guy sitting behind it. The fact that HBH could be heard from halfway down Colchester high street was, for the most part, down to Scott’s energy and enthusiasm as he helped drive the songs (and his band mates) from the back/side of the stage, giving the kind of performance that most rock fans crave but rarely see from drummers in younger unsigned bands .
First track ‘Fallen’ set the tone for the set with crunchy guitars and a huge, hulking chorus. Lead singer Harriet’s voice really fits with the darker nature of the song, showing just the right amount of angst and intensity to convince us of the eerie/sombre line ‘Tonight, living takes its toll on me.’ Second track ‘Give You The World’ features some intricate lead guitar work from Kyle Ginn in amongst the quiet, sultry sections of the song, which drip with anticipation as each ringing chord builds before diving into another huge chorus. There are some lyrically mature themes on show too, with talk of ‘taking to the skies’ and an intense love that demands the promise of ‘a lifetime by your side’. Harriet’s delivery again adds authenticity to these lines, avoiding the emo tendency to slip into an indulgent form of lyrical self-pity.
Next came a well executed cover of We Are The Ocean’s ‘Lucky Ones’. This song is without doubt a great cover choice for a Held By Horses audience, but may well have been lost on the Pat Molloy’s crowd. HBH wear their influences on their collective sleeve with pride, though this has no impact on the originality of their own material. It would be easy for them to write in the footsteps of the big pop-punk bands of the moment (particularly with a female front person), if for no other reason than to promote their own sound as being ‘similar to…’ But as the intense, heavy nature of their live performance shows, HBH are not a band that are going to conform to an image or stereotype that doesn’t fit.
In between ‘Lucky Ones’ and a ballsy version of Jessie J’s ‘Do It Like A Dude’ (which will always go down well with a general pub audience) came ‘Boy Within The Men’, a song that again showcases Scott’s quick fire punk playing around the kit as well as Kyle’s clever lead licks. Will (rhythm guitar) and Charlie (bass) keep things steady as the breakdown section slides into a frantic, edgy solo that gives the song a huge ending that is as lasting on the ear as it is on the memory.
‘Who We Are’ is a fitting closer for both the EP and the live set. The band’s ‘sound’ really seems to come together on this track, with the huge guitars and thunderous drums still allowing Harriet’s voice to come to the fore with the haunting line ‘What have we become? Just strangers in the night…’ The verse’s lurching feel picks up into an intense, crash-heavy outro in which Harriet really pushes herself to give genuine feel to the words in the track’s title. ‘Who We Are’ is perhaps the band’s most ‘complete’ song, leaving the right lasting impression, although on this occasion I could have easily sat through another thirty minutes of the same set.
For some reason female rock vocalists seem to divide opinion. They are either loved and admired for their gutsy approach to surviving such a testosterone-fuelled environment, or are routinely hated for being nothing but a face to broaden a band’s mass appeal. But even those who can’t bring themselves to identify with the melodies of a young female singer can’t question ability and enthusiasm when they see it for real. Harriet more than holds her own with the other talented members of Held By Horses, and after seeing them live there can be little doubt that she is the perfect front person for this band. There are plenty of younger bands that fail to reproduce the precision of their recorded material in a live setting. HBH are not one of them. And with many more live performances like the one at Pat Molloy’s, it won’t be long before Held By Horses are knocking on the door of larger venues and playing to much bigger crowds.
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