Rock ’n’ roll is a young man’s game. Except it’s not. At least not for a particular breed of erudite guitar-driven indie rock. This is the realm of the balding and bespectacled music vlogger. The “r/Pavement” subreddit set. The fortysomething in jean cut-offs and Vans who owns a vinyl collection that dates back to a time when you could buy an LP for $20 instead of $40.
This is the realm of Horsepowers, the latest musical endeavor of local indie veterans Aaron Bartz and Jeff Williams. This project’s music — like that of all their prior efforts, whether from when they were young or now being maybe not-so-young, for good or ill, adored or ignored — is made for themselves. Not for the kids. Not for the Anthony Fantanos of the world. Not for you. But for them. And it’s exactly this approach that results in music that you absolutely should be paying attention to.
“As long as we enjoy it, that’s all that matters,” said singer-guitarist Bartz of his long-standing objective of being an artist on his own terms. “I feel like that’s been my mantra for all of my musical career. If we like it, that’s it.”
Interested parties will get their first (real) chance to see if they like it this weekend as Horsepowers play their first (fully formed) gig at Cool Jacket’s album release show at The Boiled Owl Tavern on the Near Southside, also with Denver Williams & The Gas Money.
You may know Bartz and fellow guitarist Williams from their previous venture, the seven-piece art rock outfit O. Deletron (of which this intrepid reporter was a member) or from Tame … Tame and Quiet (TTXQ). They of the intricately intertwined guitar layers and Bartz’s Berman-esque lyrical imagery. Or maybe not. You might recognize them from one or another of a litany of their other bands: Deep Snapper, Scattergun Reflex, 100s, Tortfeasor, Scenic Routes, et cetera, et cetera. Or maybe not. If local indie rock is a web, Bartz and Williams are consistently appearing nodes, helping to weave together a scene that has been running — whether you’ve noticed or not — for more than 20 years and one they continue to participate in for their own sake.
The two are musically complementary but also take very different approaches.
“I consider Jeff one of my guitar soulmates,” Bartz said. “He’s been into the same type of music that I’m into. Played in bands that I respect. But Jeff’s the type that plays guitar all the time. He practices constantly. That’s not a person like me. I just kind of write shit on the fly and present it every once in a while. It’s nice to have him as a catalyst. The things that he writes on top of my stuff isn’t something that I could have come up with, and I think I write stuff to his parts that he wouldn’t necessarily come up with. It just blends together really well.”
Musically, Horsepowers picks up largely where TTXQ left off, a frenetic and angular guitar attack born of Built to Spill and Archers of Loaf and nursed on the lo-fi dissonance of Polvo and Guided by Voices. Yet, along with new additions — bassist Jarrod Greene (Ox Combine, 100s) and drummer Nick Kelly (Tortfeasor, Blip) — Horsepowers is trying a different approach to vocals than Bartz has historically been accustomed, or relegated, to.
“I’ve been the primary vocalist or lyricist or whatever for a long time in all the bands I’ve been in,” he said, “and I was kind of burned out. Yes, a lot of shit’s been going on the last few years, and I feel like I should have a lot to say, but I just don’t take the time to sit and write it all down anymore. I just didn’t want to be in charge of all of that again.”
Despite this Saturday being the band’s first preplanned show (they hopped on a last-minute bill and attempted an impromptu instrumental performance at the Sunshine Bar in the spring), the four-piece started rehearsing three years ago. Because of this, Bartz said he also felt pressure to be “the frontman” again just to help the band progress.
“I also didn’t want [a lack of me writing] to be the reason holding us back from playing shows,” he said. “So, once I had this epiphany of ‘I really don’t want to have all this responsibility,’ I told the guys, ‘Look, we can be an instrumental band, or you guys are going to have to chip in.’ ”
And “chip in” they have. Williams and Greene are now contributing vocally and lyrically, singing over much of the material they’ve each been bringing to the table musically. Not only has this been a relief to Bartz, but it’s taken the songs in a whole new direction for all of them.
“Having this show has been a good boost because we’ve had something to work for,” Bartz said. “So, we’re actually practicing! Tomorrow will be four weeks in a row!” He laughed. “This show gave us the impetus to try to at least introduce something” vocally, he continued. “Let’s have it not be instrumental like we did [the first show]. Let’s have at least a few songs with something going on beyond us just dicking around on guitar.”
Bartz is hoping that the group vocal efforts will be a boost for not only this show, and for the many others they hope to play, but also for the album the band began recording with engineer Alex Bhore (Black Tie Dynasty, All Clean, BULLS) at Elmwood Studios in Dallas more than a year ago, an album, that, like all the others of all of their various musical iterations, is going to be made for them.
“Of course, we hope people are into it,” Bartz said, “but that’s not the ultimate goal.”
He sums it up by quoting the late frontman for post-punk legends The Fall: “What was it that Mark E. Smith said? ‘Make music to itself. Make music for itself.’ That’s the idea.”
Horsepowers
8pm Sat w/Cool Jacket and Denver Williams & The Gas Money at The Boiled Owl Tavern, 909 W Magnolia Av, Fort Worth. Free. 817-920-9616.
