All December, Radio Milwaukee is paying tribute to our favorite Milwaukee releases of 2020 and speaking with the musicians who made them. This is Milwaukee Music’s 20 of 2020, presented by Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin with support from Bold Impressions Digital.
Dead Horses had a pretty big year last year. It culminated with them opening for The Who at Alpine Valley, a venue with a capacity of 34,000. In 2018 they released their album, “My Mother the Moon” and their song “Turntable” has over 28 million plays on Spotify right now.
Their music has the ability to connect right to the soul. Early this year they released an EP called, “Birds.” For the EP, Sarah and Daniel went up to the Fox Valley and took a hold of producing the songs in a way that they have never done before. The result shows the heart that this band is known for.
On the EP they included an instrumental track called “Hollywood.” I thought the name was some kind of indictment of what the city stands for or something like that, but I was charmed to find out that “Hollywood” was titled after a regular at several of the bars in the Fox Valley. They had a stool with “Hollywood” written on it, waiting for him to come sit down. A true taste of Midwestern bar hospitality.
Tragically “Hollywood” was killed in a bar fight outside of one of his mainstays, and when the band heard of him and his warm reputation, they wanted to honor that by writing his name on the song. And I think that is a good indication of the thoughtfulness that this band puts into their life and their work.
We spoke to Dead Horses guitarist/singer Sarah Vos and bassist Daniel Wolff. They explain how they met and formed the group, the wild experience of opening for The Who, and the vision that guided this latest set of songs.
Steam the interview below.
