SOCIAL MEDIA

TM - Hi this is Amelia and Elizabeth and we are here with Sam from Caligula's Horse, thank you for having this interview with us today we appreciate it.

SM - Yeah, it's my absolute pleasure.

TM - You are on Uncaged festival, what can fans expect from your set?

SM - Well I guess the most obvious thing is they can expect to see what it is like When you get a band that has been locked away for two years and finally gets to play back up on stage in front of a crowd. It's one of these things that we are just kind of Looking forward to and enjoying that whole process again for the first time in ages.

TM - Yeah it is an Australian Festival and Wolfmother is headlining, are you excited to be at a festival with them?

SM - Yeah, the lineup is amazing, the lineup is such a diverse Who's who of the history of Australian Rock and metal and Wolfmother are fantastic. There's also all these are the great Legacy bands like Spiderbait And Bodyjar. A lot of our friends like circles and Twelve Foot Ninja. I couldn't be happier with the lineup, It's such an exciting thing to put out there.

TM - Who are you most excited to see at the festival? 

SM - ohh that's a tough one, that is a tough question and I am going to say Twelve Foot Ninja Playing the new record live, I think it's going to be ballistic.

TM - Yeah that awesome, Do you think you will save any new songs for the festival to play their first?


SM - Funnily enough we actually do have a few songs that we are playing for the first time. We were silly enough to release an album at the beginning of the pandemic, So we actually have a bunch of songs that have never seen the light of day that we will be Debuting here. You know it's funny, a lot of this music for our most recent album “Rise Radiant” was written with the intention of being Live material. Of course, then we got locked away for a couple of years And we didn't get to use it as such. We have a couple of songs that we are debuting at this festival. It's going to be awesome for us. Hopefully all right for the fans too.


TM - Yes definitely, what's your favourite song to play live off the album?


SM - That's a tricky question, I Reckon at this point in time, the first track on the album “The Tempest” It's such an awesome way to jump into all of the things that we do Kind of powerful stuff with a lot of colours to it. But in saying that there are a few songs that we are debuting and we haven't actually tried live yet so I might change my mind After the festival.


TM - Do you think you will do any covers at the festival?

SM - We always toy with the idea of whether it will be a suitable time here or there Given again that this is the Debut for a bunch of new stuff. It's also kind of a showcase of our whole career. We haven't had a gig for so long now it has been a couple of years with the exception of the show that we played in June, The kind of one of stream showed that we did, So we just want to give the fans and give the Punters a bit of an overview of all of the stuff that we do As well as a few new songs. I don't think a cover is best suited to it right now.


TM - I was going to ask you about the show that you played in June, so how was it?


SM- It was absolutely amazing just because it was a follow up to a long period of twiddling our thumbs and just planning tours, having tours postponed and repeating that cycle over and over again. When it came time to play two consecutive sold-out shows in Brisbane with that big live stream all over the globe, we were all shitting ourselves. We didn't have that lovely feeling of being on tour and whatever else. It was almost like we had to break through a few things to feel like ourselves again. As soon as we got on stage you got to feel that interaction with the crowd, It all made sense again. I think Uncaged will represent that Moment for a lot of people. This could well be the start of Australian live music again as we once knew it, I hope so.


TM - Are you writing any new music at the moment?


SM - Yeah we are kind of in the early stages of “Rise Radiant” follow up. We had a lot of misgivings about Writing another album before we got to know the previous Album In terms of playing it on tour and all that kind of stuff But we are slowly writing. I guess I can't say anything concrete about releasing stuff But we will get there and it will be a very different album from “Rise Radiant” For sure.


TM - Will you be changing the genre of music or writing differently?


SM - Yeah not so much the genre the beauty of being a progressive metal band Whatever that means is We've got a lot of flexibility of what we can put in our music and what our fans expect as normal. But in saying that this is an album that's will directly be influenced by our experiences in the Pandemic Like a lot of other bands. We are expecting it to be a bit darker, a little more conceptual I say, different but it's still going to sound like Caligula's Horse. We are not becoming a disco band or anything like that.


TM - I just saw on your Facebook post that you did an appreciation post for Will Hunter, he is a light tech, One of your tour managers, I love how you did that that is really cool.


SM - Well can I tell you a bit of interesting trivia about that, we have a song on our album “In contact” from 2017 called “Wills Song” That is actually a dedication in title and content two lovely old Will Hunter, So he is our fifth member right now as far as anyone is concerned. 


TM - That's so cool, especially at this time. I love how you bring out your Crew and say yes our crew is awesome.


SM - We would be nothing without those guys you know.


TM - If you could have any band play one of your songs what band would it be, what song would it be and would it be in your style or their Style?


SM -  That is an awesome question let me think about that for a second. I have heaps of cool things flashing through my mind on heaps of cool ways it could be done. I'm coming to say the band is Crowded House From the mid-90s and I'm coming to get them to play one of our saddest songs. They could make it far more beautiful than we ever could. I would get them to play “salt” and see what comes of it.

TM - That would be cool.

SM - It would definitely be something wouldn't it, Whether it works or not I don't know ut you know.

TM - Have you ever seen Crowded House live?

SM - Yeah, I did I so Crowded House live when I was a little kid. I can't remember the context the all of it Because I grew up in New Zealand and that was their home base but it may have been one of my very first gigs now I think about it Way back when I was a little kid.

TM - Did they inspire you to play music?

SM - You know what, I think indirectly they did. They definitely have an influence on Caligula's horse approach Especially to Harmony and Melody Even if it's not as obvious to a lot of people that listen to our music. They were one of the voices of my childhood, I couldn't think about music without them being a part of that.

TM - What's your favourite band that you have seen live?


SM - There is probably a couple that I could answer but I'm thinking about being inspired as a musician. I reckon seeing OPETH on their “Watedhed” tour So this would have been around 2009 or 2010 Somewhere there. Just kind of Watching this band Who were so attuned to each other playing this wonderful complex music. In this kind of beautiful Seamless presentation Live and just kind of thinking the whole time that this is the benchmark, This is what we've got to do. Funnily enough, we have been fortunate enough to tour in a lot of different countries around the world, Live OPETH Different years different to where's and whatever else And they have never stopped being one of my biggest inspirations. When it's his the quality the band needs to be When they tour.

TM - What's your favourite memory of touring, I know you have been all around the world?


SM -  There are some that have been really positive and some that have been really intense. I will tell you one that is a bit more intense, it's kind of hard to explain because of the circumstances, our very first European tour in November to December of 2015. We toured through Paris a couple of days after the shooting. I don't know if you remember that horrible event. There was an Eagles of death metal show, So we basically came into the city where it was a state of emergency Maybe 4 or 5 days after the shootings itself and it was bizarre Because the whole of Paris was Empty. It was a place normally swarming with tourists Which were in a totally different wounded state and we put all over our social media please don't come to the show if you don't feel comfortable, Don't worry about any of that kind of stuff, We will be back, we are going to do this because we think it is important. 

What was amazing about that night was, The show sold out, we had this club show to this Incredible Loving home crowd Style audience Who had just gone through this horrible tragedy and we kind of got this amazing feeling of Being a small part of the light at the end of their tunnel. Paris is such an artistically minded City and they take their music so seriously. So being this little humble Australian band even smaller, even less significant than we are now, Not that that means much. I suppose we got to play this show to an audience that really seem to want it and seemed to appreciate it in such a horrible climate, in such a horrible situation. It felt like a positive message, So that stands out to me. Even though it is a little bit more serious than some of the answers that I could give.


TM - Well that just shows you how positive the power of music can be And people will still come out just for music.


SM - Exactly right and that's what it felt like to us. It's one of these things where it's like, it would be so easy to dwell on how horrible situation that was all of the circumstances throughout but that's not what these people wanted to celebrate, the culture that they had The music the art and whatever else And we got two in our own humble way. To be a small part of that was wonderful. 


TM - Is there anything else you want to say to your fans?


SM - This is definitely a gig like no other, If it does represent like we hope it will this will be the beginning of live music again in Australia. Then it really is something to Celebrate. To all of those Caligula's horse fans out there, to all those punters who are interested in the festival, Come along see a bunch of Kick-Ass Australian bands. Do the things that we do for the first time in a long time and if it's any bonus come and see us play a couple of new songs, that we are doing So see you all there.


TM - Yeah and it's awesome it's an all Australian Festival, so that is cool too. Thank you so much for this interview today we really appreciate it.


SM - That's my absolute pleasure.