We all have that band that helped define an important transitional period in our lives. Somehow, it feels like fate had introduced that band to you at the opportune moment. It could’ve been a friend, a teacher, an ex. Maybe it was the autoplay on a stranger’s Myspace, or last.fm’s Tegan and Sara radio circa 2009.

Go ahead and think of that band. Let the memories associated with their music push their way back into your brain. We can feel so connected to the music ingrained in us from when we were young that it seems like there’s an innate connection between that music and certain life changes. Dashboard Confessional, for example, could (purely hypothetically) return memories of a first high school crush, the awkwardness of two people with braces kissing. Then something like Laura Marling’s slow songs might take one back to some long-distance romance.

And, for some, the first two albums by Brisbane band An Horse rewinds a mind back years, plunging them into whichever fleeting moment these songs encompass. That’s not to say that the music of Kate Cooper and Damon Cox isn’t relevant or accessible. But when a band goes seven years between new releases, that hiatus tends to highlight that there were old fans, then new.

And, now, I’ve got to come out as one of those old fans. Some of us didn’t think the reunion of the Australian rock two piece was likely, but I held out hope. Even less of us probably thought they’d get to speak with the band’s vocalist and guitarist a week before they were due on tour Boston in 2018, but here I am. I called up Cooper to chat about the making of a new An Horse record (due out spring 2019), how to value happiness, and how to win a guitar from She Shreds. Read what she had to say below.

Allston Pudding: Where are you calling from?

Kate Cooper: We’re on our way to play in Toronto tomorrow. And we just crossed the border in Canada. So I think we’re going to have the rest of the day off in Niagara Falls. Look at all that water.

AP: Oh, very cool. How’s tour going in general?

KC: It’s good. It’s a lot of fun. We’re out with Saves the Day and Kevin Devine. Awesome. Great food. And we’ve known Kevin for years, so it’s a lot of fun.

AP: That’s so good to hear. And you were touring earlier this year with Camp Cope. How was that?

KC: Yeah, well we did a run with the Front Bottoms. And then we got our own shows with Camp Cope, and they were great. They’re old mates of ours. Sarah who drums in Camp Cope worked in the same record store as Damon and I so we’ve known each other since we were wee babies.

AP: That’s awesome. I am a huge fan of Camp Cope also. They’ve come through Boston a couple times. I’ve seen them and they are fucking amazing.

KC: Yeah, their label’s there, I think. They’re great. It was really nice playing shows with them too because it was nice having an Australian band out. It felt like family, so it was really a lot of fun.

AP: I’m gonna dive into these other questions. When are you planning your album release for?

KC: We haven’t locked anything in yet. But I believe the loose date for the release is like March/April next year.

AP: Well, what else can you tell me about it?

KC: Well, I can tell you first of all that in January— hold on. Let me check with Damon. Yes. So Rearrange Beds is being released on vinyl finally in late January, which we’re super pumped about.

AP: Yay!

KC: I know, finally. And then the record comes out April. We made it with Mike Sapone who we’re huge fans of, and it was a really incredible experience. Damon and I have spent a lot of time in studios over the years. And like, for me, it was just the most incredible experience working with him. Same page. And he’s just such a talented dude. So, that was cool. And so we made it in New Jersey and in New York over a period of a few weeks. And then what else can I tell you? Me and Damon had been writing it for a good couple of years. So we were, you know, really ready to make the record and we took our time. Kind of labored over everything for ages. It was very detailed. Thorough, I guess, with the demos and all that stuff, because we had time. We weren’t in a rush. We were like well, people have waited this long. If they’ll wait, they’ll wait. If they don’t, we’ll make a record we’re really happy with.

AP:  That’s great. Did you feel like previous albums had been rushed?

KC: Not at all. No, but I think this time, a lot’s changed and also I have a lot more gear to work with. So, the first record we kind of did over a while because we were just hanging around Brisbane, taking our needed time. And then the second one we wrote, but it was probably a little quicker and there wasn’t as an extensive demoing process because I just didn’t have any equipment or, you know, good equipment. And then now, I have a studio setup and I know what I’m doing a bit more so we were really able to demo everything multiple times. And then we’d meet up in Australia for Christmas and go to a friend’s studio, demo some more there, and then we’d meet back up in Montreal or New York. It’s just a really cheap thing getting into it.

AP: *Laughs* Well, I know you both live in separate cities. Is that kind of how writing looks, like meeting up in different places?

KC: No not really. That’s the last part. The first part is me, usually sending Damon like an iPhone demo or like an iPhone idea, and then he’ll be like, “Oh,” or, “Yeah, all right.” And then we’ll talk about it and if I’m like this is a good one or his is a good one, he’ll work a quick job, like on a Casio keyboard just to kind of get a vibe. Then we’ll figure it out over email back and forth. We we do live in separate cities, actually we live in separate countries, but they are only six hours apart by car. And so then he’d come up and we’d say ok this is the demo, let’s try that. Then we rearrange stuff in person, and then record that, then he would go home or I would go home and then I would tinker with it and send it to Damon and he would tinker with it. So yeah, there’s a lot of a lot of that. A lot more recording of demos.

AP: I see. That sounds like a process, but probably like, familiar for folks who, you know, don’t live in the same city.

KC: Yeah, I like doing the production side of things. But the mail is fine and I learned a lot.

AP: So you’ve been a band for about 10 years. What’s different about your dynamic now versus 2009?

KC: Whoa. I don’t know if there is any difference. Let me ask Damon. Yeah, I think it’s the same.

AP: Y’all are such good friends! Were either of you working on separate projects during the break between your last album and this one?

KC: Yeah we were both working on it a bunch of stuff. Well Damon was working for a bunch of bands, he did a record with Kevin Devine and did a bunch of touring with him. He was the second drummer for Brand New for quite a while and Tancred, he did some shows with Tancred.

AP: That’s awesome, I love Tancred.

KC: She’s an awesome friend of ours.  I did some solo writing stuff. I’ve also been doing production stuff or music in film and advertising, which ironically has been more heard— no that’s not a word. Has been heard far more than anything I’ve ever put my name to.

AP: Yeah, that’s how it goes sometimes in the ad business. Are you playing old songs on tour or mostly new ones?

KC: No we’re not. We’re only playing one new one. The song that we released, called “Get Out Somehow.” The rest is old stuff because we have to go learn the new stuff and we don’t want to start playing it yet. We were offered this tour, and we actually, in the record store we worked in, we’d listen to Saves the Day all the time. So we were like yeah, let’s go play some shows and try to get back to remembering what it’s like to play and relearn how to play the songs. We gotta figure out the new songs and save them for next year.

AP: Can you tell me what has inspired songs from your new record?

KC: You know, that’s a really good question and I haven’t even had time to think about it but I’m going to do that right now while I’m talking.

AP: Ok sure.

KC: I didn’t write songs for a long time. I really didn’t want to touch a guitar because of a lot of things going on in my life. But the big one was that my dad was very ill and I didn’t want to write sad fucking songs because I feel like some of the songs on the first two records are kind of sad. And I don’t think being sad is cool; I know that some people do. Being sad is shit. Being happy is much harder but it’s also just better. I was trying to get into that headspace every night of singing songs, and I was like I’m not going to fucking write a record that I have to get up on stage every night and it’s gonna make me think of my dad dying. 

AP: That makes sense. That makes a lot of sense.

KC: We literally just signed off on the master of the record two days ago.

AP: Oh, wow. Congrats.

KC: Yes. Thank you. It’s very fresh. And we’ve been listening to it from a more technical standpoint and once it’s done, I can look into it like, “What? What the fuck am I singing about?”

AP: Can I ask you who you’re listening to right now? Like, especially DIY or not as well known acts.

KC: We’re listening to a podcast from Australia radio called Conversations with Richard Fielder, which is our favorite podcast. It’s on ABC, which our local/national station. It’s the best station and it’s a great podcast. It’s really nice. I love listening to it especially when I’m traveling or when I’m feeling kind of sick because it’s basically like coming home which is really nice. And…  I gotta take a second think about it. Yeah I feel like ’cause we’ve been so in the record we haven’t been listening to as much. Silence. Damon says he listened to a lot of silence.

AP: Yes, good.

KC: I work in music all day. I’m listening to music all day. I often listen to weird noise stuff. I’m trying to think. I really dig the new Cat Power record but she’s hardly DIY or indie. She did used to be. There’s a band that played up in Montreal that I missed when I was away called Shannon and the Clams.

AP: Oh yeah, they’re they’re playing in Boston tonight, actually.

KC: Yeah, they’re awesome. But I think they’re kinda huge so I’m a bit out of the loop. Damon got me into an Australian band. It’s the singer from The Drones and it’s called Tropical Fuck Storm. I’m like, super jazzed on this other indie artist called Thom Yorke. He did the soundtrack to Suspiria, you know, the new film? Yeah, so I love the original film and so I was really interested to see what he did with the soundtrack and like it’s strange because I’m not like a Radiohead-head. I’m not like a Thom Yorke person. But then like I started revisiting The Eraser and that whole record is one that I missed it. I was like oh my god, ok it’s so amazing. So I was like a bit late to the party on the fact that Thom Yorke’s really talented. And then I’ve also been listening to a bunch of Cambodian pop from the ’60’s. That’s kind of my jam right now. It’s really cool and there’s lots of women in it. I think Cambodia and Indonesia have these really cool underground punk scenes that have always existed. And it’s kind of easy to find all the music now. Have you heard of the app Radiooooo? It’s like a world map and then you can point anywhere on the map. And then you can choose a decade. So like, instead of listening to a lot of indie stuff I’ve just been listening to weird, obscure old shit, which is kind of mind blowing to me. And then the other thing is the soundtrack to that film, Mandy because the composer Johann Johannsson did it. And he just passed away which is so sad, but the soundtrack is amazing. So it’s all over the map.

AP: Yeah, no. I love that. That reminds me of a lot of the stuff that— Do you know She Shreds magazine?

KC: Yeah, I won a guitar from them.

AP: Oh, what? The recent one?

KC: No, no. I won the first Gibson they gave away like a couple years ago. I was on holiday in L.A. and Damon’s like, “Yo, you should enter this competition.” Well, we had just started talking about playing again. Like, it was just me getting back to playing guitar. And I don’t even think I picked up a guitar at that point. I was like, “I think I want to play guitar again.” And then Damon’s like, “Hey, enter this.” And I was like, okay, I did it. And then I got a message from Brady from a company called Old Blood Noise. They make pedals, they make great gear. And it was on Instagram. He’s like, “Hey, I think you just won a Gibson and I was like, “What?” And then Damon texted me like, “Dude you just won.” So I won a guitar and I was like, “Well, I think that’s a sign to go write some songs.”

AP: Yeah totally. That’s amazing.

KC: So anyway, I do know She Shreds, and I love that magazine.

AP: Yeah, they’ve been putting out some really cool world music profiles recently. I’ve been super into it.

KC: And they put up the old blues ladies and stuff. That education is amazing. The music is so good. I also just love the production on it because it’s like old and real and so different.

AP: Yes it’s awesome. And can I say that I saw y’all play in Rome, no Amsterdam, no it was Berlin in 2010 or something, in a smaller venue and I’m excited to see y’all play again.

KC: Well I’m excited for you to see us! And I can tell you right now that we’re playing the old stuff, so it might not blow your mind, but the record hopefully will.

AP: Thanks! I really liked the single. It was cool to hear your new stuff being pretty reminiscent of the old stuff. But, I can tell that you’re trying some new things. So I’m really excited.

KC: I mean, the thing with us is that just two of us. It’s just gonna be rock and roll. So, it’s never going to be different. But I’d like to think that we just try to get better at it.

An Horse performs at The Paradise with Kevin Devine and Saves the Day on Monday November 12th / 18+ / Tickets- $26 / Facebook Event