[ HORSE PROCONSUL ]

So, about 19 years ago, Bob Swanson, the founder of the band out of which Horse Proconsul sprang, decided to get a few guys together to play acoustics at the various houses of the various players who wandered into the group. They met once a week to play covers by The Moody Blues, Neil Young, The Grateful Dead, America, and a few choice others. This led to the acquisition of some basic technology to hear themselves and their guitars (mics and broken down old cassette players/mixers), the collection improving down the years while whipping covers and a sprinkling of originals into some kind of un-embarrassing shape. They wound up at Tim’s house for a while, finally moving out to Mark’s house in Manteno in 2004. Bob succumbed to lung cancer in 2007. Shortly after arriving at Mark’s, Andy began sitting in on some of the “practices,” which, after Bob’s death, consisted of only Mark and Tim. This lineup is Horse Proconsul, with Mark on 12 string, Tim on electric and acoustic, and Andy on drums. They all try to sing, and all songs are originals. The tremendous improvements in recording technology (it got cheaper and better) allows the band to archive every noise they make, and, once it’s been treated with the computer magic, provide it to the public at reasonable cost. Horse Proconsul’s “sound,” if that is what it should be called, is based on twelve and six string guitar and electric guitar, with the drums figuring prominently. It’s mostly short tunes, with all the players contributing equally. Many of the songs sprang wholly formed out of the jamming every Thursday night, and were left as is, demos that were good enough to massage into complete songs down the road. Literally down the road, too—Mark Moved to California in mid-August of 2017, and long-distance collaboration and overdubs have been difficult, but on-going. In addition, Andy and Tim are collaborating on a project called The Data Flight Recorders which commenced late in 2017. That has produced a lot of music which also is being prepared for release. Coming soon, like everything else . . . .

                                                                                                    November 2018