Wild Horse are an indie trio whose funked up guitar pop flows with the exuberant energy of kids who grew up listening to hip hop beats and classic 60s/70s Brit Rock vinyls. Wild Horse sound like what putting on a new suit and lighting a cigarette to go on a night out feels like. Formed by brothers Jack and Henry Baldwin and best mate from primary school Ed Barnes in Sussex, Southern England, they have been relentlessly gigging since their teens. Still only just into their 20s, the guys have recorded an incredible 5 studio albums that have earned enthusiastic support in BBC Intros, BBC local shows, RadioX, Caroline and many other local FM & internet stations around the world.
By Kamil Bobin
Discovered via Musosoup
How did you get to know each other? Under what conditions did the formation of the band take place?
Jack (lead vocals, guitar, bass, keys) and Henry (bass,guitar, keys, backing vocals) are brothers so they’ve known each other quite a while. Jack and Ed (drums, backing vocals, guitar) met in primary school. There’s a funny story about that. One day their class had to do a paired reading and neither Jack or Ed had anyone to read with. Jack went over to Ed and said “I have no one to read with”, Ed said he didn’t either and asked “do you want to pair up?”, Jack said yes. Ed humorously picked Where’s Wally to read and then said “do you want to be friends?” Jack said “yeah alright” and they’ve been close friends ever since.
In terms of how we started, Henry (14 at the time) and Ed (12 at the time) met at an after school music club and had a jam. They decided they wanted to start a band. Henry asked Jack (11 at the time) to come to a session but he said no because he didn’t want to be in a band with his brother. He was later convinced by his mum to go to a session and the first song the band ever played together was a 25 minute version of “Free Bird” by Lynyrd Skynyrd. Ever since then we knew we had something special and haven’t looked back.
Are there any musicians who inspire you? What qualities do you admire about them?
In terms of our influences, we have an extremely wide range. We listen to all kinds of genres. Anything from Pavarotti to Kanye West. Because of this, it would be impossible to individually name all our influences but we incorporate the sounds of Pop, Soul, Rnb, Rock, Jazz, Hip Hop, Dance, Disco, House, Trap, Gospel, Country, Blues, Britpop and Funk into our music. So any artists within these genres, we’re probably influenced by them.
We are extremely inspired by people who have managed to mark their spot amongst the greats and have made a difference to the world. We hope to do the same through our music.
Your latest track is 'Joy Ride'. Can you share with us the background of its creation and did any unusual things happen during its creation?
The song was written by Jack during the summer of 2021. It’s just a feel good tune about car sex, essentially. When we played it for the first time, it immediately felt like summer and we were instantly excited by it. It actually started off a lot slower than it is now. It was more like an 80s power ballad really. A few of our fans will know this as they heard the demo as part of a private listening group we have where we get fans to help us choose new songs to record. We took it into the studio and it was one of those songs that took on a new life. We sped it up, added a whole load of energy to it and spent ages on the synth parts. The result is a song that we are extremely proud of and absolutely love. We’re totally convinced that it is the song of the summer.
How can you describe the music you make?
Our music is essentially a hub for all the vast range of influences we have. It’s something that sounds unique to us, completely different from anything else going on in music right now. We like to say that our music sounds like putting on a new suit, lighting a cigarette and going for a messy night out in a wine bar.
Do you have common hobbies beyond music?
We all live fairly Normal lives outside of music. You would find Jack working his job behind a bar or going to the pub with his mates, or just going to concerts of bands and artists he loves. You’d find Ed fixing Lorries on the side of the road, getting absolutely covered in oil. When he’s not doing that he’ll probably be at the pub with friends. You’d find Henry selling houses as an estate agent or going on Weekend adventures (he recently climbed Ben Nevis).
What are the strongest attributes of the three of you?
Probably our creativity and our work ethic. We are extremely creative, always trying to find new ways of doing things musically. We hate covering old ground. We always try to push the boundaries and what we’ve done before. That’s why you won’t find any Wild Horse songs that sound too similar. We’re always looking for something new. We also work extremely hard. We know that the idea that being in a band is all fun and game is a myth. If you want to be a success, you actually have to sacrifice a lot of things. It’s extremely hard work but we just love doing it so we keep putting our absolute heart and soul into everything we do.
What is the biggest decision you’ve had to make?
Probably starting a band. Because, as mentioned earlier, it’s a big sacrifice and absolutely changed the course of your life. As well, it’s a big risk. There’s no guaranteed success. But to be honest, it was an easy decision as we couldn’t imagine our lives without music.
What are your achievements to the moment?
I think to us our biggest achievement will be getting to go on stage and have people sing back our own lyrics to us and have a great time dancing to our songs. There’s no feeling like it. The fact that there is a community being built around our music is a beautiful thing and I don’t think we’ll ever get used to it. That will always mean more to us than any individual achievement.
How do you feel the Internet has impacted the music business?
The internet has had benefits to music and drawbacks to it. Overall it’s been a positive thing. It means that bands like us are able to connect with people who like our music far more easily, and has allowed us to grow a global fan base without even having done a single tour yet. We’ve seen that we have a large number of fans not only in the UK, but in the US, Canada, Europe and even Australia and New Zealand. That wouldn’t have been possible without the internet. However, the internet has meant that unknown bands run the risk of all being put into the same basket, no matter how different they sound to one another, due to over-saturation. Bands are also finding it harder to get people to come out to gigs. But overall, the internet has been positive to the music industry and it has definitely helped us.
What are your plans for the future?
We have lots of plans. We ultimately plan to mark out our spot in music history amongst the greats. To do this, we know we need to work. We are always doing something. Our new single JOY RIDE is out everywhere now and is receiving an incredible amount of love. We have another song ready for release in a couple of months and we are about to go into the studio to record some more songs. We are always relentlessly writing and gigging. We also hope to start planning a tour fairly soon. One thing’s for sure, we aren’t going anywhere anytime soon!