12 Horse Bands You’ve Probably Never Heard Of

From indie music to thrash metal to good old American rock-and-roll and bluegrass, horses seem to have a certain appeal for musicians whether they ride or not.

Music listener Carla Lake shares her completely unprofessional reviews.

Band of Horses

No, not this band of horses. An ironic band of horses.

“The Funeral” is probably Band of Horses’ most well-known song. It starts off wistful, then explodes into full-on mournful — much like when your horse has a persistent case of scratches.

Horse the Band

Though both of their band members have Very Serious facial hair and V-neck t-shirts, Horse the Band is not to be confused with Band of Horses (although I’m sure it happens a lot). Why? Two words: thrash metal.

Crazy Horse

You probably know this “third best garage band” in the world from their collaborations with Neil Young. Good old American rock and roll.

Horse Lords

Some would call Horse Lords “trancelike.” Others would call them “repetitive.” My fiancé calls it “Would you turn that off?” If you need some eerily melodic white noise to get in the zone while making your pre-show to-do lists, Horse Lords’ entire first album Horse Lords is available free for streaming online.

Super Wild Horses

The only thing wild about Super Wild Horses is how much drum-banging there is. This Australian duo’s poppy, punky style is not awful, if you like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs or Silversun Pickups.

Deadhorse Band

Deadhorse is a post-rock band, whatever that means. Their music is slow, quiet and relaxing, like a bareback trail ride on a really fat draft horse. With that in mind, I prefer to pretend that this song’s title is really “The Long Rein.”

Horse Feathers

This video from the folksters of Horse Feathers has three llamas in it. Close, but no cigar.

An Horse

Like that person who has gleaned all of their horse knowledge from online forums, An Horse has some strange ideas. Like treating the word “horse” as if it has a silent H because of a spelling argument.

This duo’s wistful pop (if that can be a thing, they are certainly doing it) is reminiscent of Tegan and Sara, and in fact they toured together in 2008.

Iron Horse Bluegrass

What is Iron Horse?  A fiddle-flaying bluegrass group that reimagines the classics, like “Sweet Child of Mine,” and even Metallica’s “The Unforgiven.” Oddly enough, it sounds just as haunting with a banjo.

Apes and Horses

The atmospheric tone of Apes and Horses seems destined for movie background tracks. Is that a compliment? Who knows.

Firehorse

Firehorse’s punchy backbeats are balanced by frontwoman Leah Siegel’s fantastic singing ability. Again, no horse connection…though in the video the singer does get a pony ride from a man in a polar bear suit.

Musiqequestria

You knew they were out there — My Little Pony-fan/Brony bands. Not all have equestrian names, but they all congregated and toured for a month this past summer in a festival called  Musiquestria.

Go Riding.