E-Mail This Article to a Friend Big-top pop The circus rock of They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? BY KURT B. REIGHLEY
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In another era, youngsters fantasized about running away to join the circus the way today’s young rebels daydream of rock stardom. But Canadian art students Josh Neelands and Julia Feyrer snared the best of both worlds when they formed They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? in 2003. The Vancouver septet — complete with three-piece horn section — sound like post-punks raised under a big top, albeit one under the direction of Igor Stravinsky or Sun Ra rather than P.T. Barnum.

On their self-released homonymous 2004 EP, They Shoot Horses skew closer to the hallucinogenic "Pink Elephants on Parade" sequence from Dumbo than the happy pachyderm conjured by Henry Mancini’s jaunty "Baby Elephant Walk." The track is propelled by dissonant brass blasts and the relentless one-two galley-ship drumming of Julia (this band prefer first names). "The Farthest Reaching" whirls like a hapless calliope at the center of a speeding merry-go-round being ripped asunder by centrifugal force. When singer/guitarist Josh opens the jubilant "Hit My Head" with the lines "I hit my head/It hurt like hell," he sounds as if he were launching into a 1920s novelty song — "Yes! We Have No Bananas," perhaps — rather than barking out in pain.

Echoing the mix of ecstasy, agony, and endurance that runs through the 1969 Sydney Pollack film about a Depression-era dance marathon, They Shoot Horses play off conflicting emotions. "When people talk about our music, they seem to focus on the good times," Josh comments during a stop in Seattle on a cross-country tour that will bring them to Great Scott this Tuesday. "But those fun moments are masking anxiety."

In the beginning, Josh and Julia rehearsed as a duo and had a very different model in mind. Julia remembers ground zero being the track "Undertaker" by the San Francisco art-punk outfit Thinking Fellers Union Local #282. "That one creaky, nutty, joyous-yet-mournful song, seemed like something to base a whole band on," she remembers feeling when Josh played it for her. Despite an initial inclination to ape what she terms the "semi-acoustic, hillbilly sound" favored by Thinking Fellers, the duo headed in their own direction as they accumulated members.

"I was goofing around with some riffs on the guitar and they came out sounding like horn parts," Josh recalls. Between fellow students at Vancouver’s Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design and a vibrant Vancouver music scene, they had little trouble rounding up recruits. Most had some high-school marching-band experience, and that helped, even if no one was a virtuoso.

"We’d probably be torture for anyone with a strong musical background," concedes Josh. "We’re much more interested in something generated through human error than technical proficiency."

They Might Shoot Horses’ horn-y, carnivalesque art pop may be out of synch with the classic rock (epitomized by Black Mountain) that now dominates the Vancouver scene. But they’ve amassed a growing following in their home town and beyond in the Great Northwest. "Pretty much everybody in the group does something else, which helps," Josh points out. Indeed, Julia, trombone player Pietro, and trumpeter Eli are visual artists, saxophonist Ryan and keyboard player Chris are in other bands, and Chris hosts a radio show. "If we’re part of any community, it’s bigger than just the music community."

Now that they have a full-length in the can and due out in October on the Vancouver indie Hive Fidelity, the septet are spreading their gospel throughout North America this summer. But that decision came at a price. Last year, after graduation, they spent two weeks on a bandstand at a local circus. Mounting the tour meant turning down an invitation to return.

"I put it on my résumé," admits Josh. "At first, I was hesitant, but people look at it and go, ‘Wow! You were with the circus?’ " Hmm, maybe that childhood fantasy isn’t so out-of-date.

They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? | June 28 | Great Scott, 1222 Comm Ave, Boston | 617.566.9014