A band called horse

Perceived music industry wisdom suggests that there is only one way the majority of bands can realistically hope to break America – and that’s by gigging extensively and relentlessly.

As a succession of rock impresarios, from former Police manager Miles Copeland to Paul McGuinness have found, intensive, state-by-state touring in the world’s most lucrative market can yield spectacular dividends. However, when Corkonian rock outfit Rubyhorse upped sticks and moved to Boston in 1997, long-term strategic planning didn’t even begin to enter the equation.

“We were just five school friends having a laugh,” admits the band’s guitarist, Joe Philpott. “There was no real masterplan. I suppose we were at a point where we were thinking of how we could keep the band going, so we decided to go on… a holiday, basically. We secured the visas, moved over, and to be honest none of us knew what was going to happen.”

Although Rubyhorse lived a somewhat precarious existence during their early days in the city – they arrived with $1,000 between them and spent many nights sleeping on friends’ apartment floors – the turning point arrived relatively quickly.

Having secured residencies at two downtown Irish bars, the group soon sparked off a bidding war between labels. Suddenly, the five band members found themselves being whisked away in limos, plied with champagne and flown to LA. How did they react to such a drastic change in circumstances?

“Well, it was a big shock,” reflects Joe. “We’d moved over from Cork without any real gameplan, and literally within months, stuff we’d only seen on television, or heard about other bands doing, was happening to us. Ultimately, it doesn’t amount to anything – it’s a load of bullshit, really – but it was still a laugh. Plus, we realised that there were possibilities for our music, that we had the potential to succeed.”

Eventually ending up with Island Records, via a brief, ill-fated stint with Interscope, Rubyhorse’s debut album, Rise – an enjoyable blend of straight-ahead, mainstream rock and leftfield electro flourishes – hit the racks in 2002. It has seen them garner huge critical acclaim, and land hugely prestigious slots on the Conan O’Brien and David Letterman shows. But perhaps the most notable aspect of Rubyhorse’s increasingly impressive CV is the endorsement they received from a certain departed rock legend.

“The George Harrison collaboration was suggested after a few beers,” Joe recalls, perhaps inevitably. “Unlike most such talk, we followed through on it. The track, ‘Punchdrunk’, has a real Beatles-y feel to it, and one of the band members said, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if we could have a George Harrison-type slide guitar solo on that?’ So a mutual friend of ours sent him the song.

“He heard it, liked it, and recorded his part in London. I remember we listened to the demo in (Rubyhorse bassist) Decky’s kitchen. It fuckin’ blew us away. Honestly, the whole thing between us and George Harrison was a simple exchange between musicians. But still, even now I can’t really get my head around the fact that one of the Beatles plays on our record!”