FUN PROJECT PAYING OFF FOR NICE HORSE
Female alt-country rockers bring diverse backgrounds to their emerging band
Originally meant as a fun project between four friends, Nice Horse has turned into a real band.
“We were all just looking for something that was fun,” said drummer Krista Wodelet. “We thought, ‘Let’s form a band, drink some wine and play some loose gigs.’”
Wodelet and the rest of the group come from disparate musical backgrounds. Along with Nice Horse bassist Brandi Sidoryk, Wodelet played in an ’80s-style synth-pop act called Sidney York. From 20032007, vocalist/banjo player Katie Rox fronted Vancouver-based industrial rock band Jakalope. Tara McLeod, who replaced original Nice Horse guitarist Kaley Debra, was originally a member of Canadian metal band Kittie.
Playing country music was part of the motivation. Although Wodelet hadn’t grown up with the genre, Alberta girls Rox (originally from Airdrie) and Sidoryk (Rocky Mountain House) had.
“They both grew up on ’90s country. They’re both farm girls,” Wodelet said. “For Tara and I, it was a new direction.”
When Nice Horse first came together, everyone had other projects on the go. The nascent group sent some demos off to friends at a management company in Toronto.
“They took a listen and said, ‘You know, you should probably stop all those things you’re doing and just focus on this for a while,’ ” Wodelet said.
They had help from producer Jeff Dalziel, who worked (along with Bob Rock on a couple of tracks) on the band’s 2017 full-length debut, There Goes the Neighbourhood.
“He kind of gave us permission to be who we were,” Wodelet said. “When we formed the band, we were writing these songs and they were coming out pretty country. Tara and I pull it in more in a rock/ pop direction. And we worried about it from a radio standpoint, sometimes. Jeff was the guy who was like, ‘There’s something really cool about this. You guys should feel free to do what you do.’”
One of the tracks that has been drawing attention to Nice Horse is Mansplainin’. The sassy and slick slice of country-pop skewers condescending men, a subject the band riffs on in a series of videos it calls Bandsplainin’.
In one, Rox gives career advice to multiple Juno and Canadian Country Music Awards winner Brett Kissel.
Band members are scattered across three provinces, with Wodelot and Sidoryk in Calgary, McLeod near London, Ont. and Rox in Vancouver. But this isn’t slowing them down, says Wodelet.
“We’re on the road enough that it seems like we’re together all the time. We plan rehearsals and things around tours, which are happening pretty consistently. It’s a really lucky position for us to be in.”
Onstage, Nice Horse likes to show off its eclectic tastes with genre mash-ups like pairing Dolly Parton’s Jolene with Gnarls Barkley’s Crazy.
For Wodelot, familiarizing herself with country music has only been part of the Nice Horse learning experience. She is a classically trained bassoonist who hadn’t played drums before joining the band.
“We needed a drummer, and I said, ‘Why not? How hard could it be?’” she said. “Then we got more serious and I had to get my sh-- together.”
Fortunately, she knew lots of accomplished time-keepers from her days in Sidney York and her previous orchestral career.
“I took all the lessons I could. One thing that my classical training instilled in me is the ability to learn quickly and well. I ended up picking it up a lot quicker than I thought I would.”
Now, she says, “I think I love playing the drums more than the bassoon. It’s a really fun instrument. It’s funny how life works out sometimes.”
I took all the lessons I could. One thing that my classical training instilled in me is the ability to learn quickly and well.