Palehorse flew the flag for Connecticut hardcore througout the 2000s decade. It was a great period of CTHC with groups like Hatebreed, 100 Demons, and With Honor representing for their home state.
With a thrashy metallic hardcore style, Palehorse first emerged on a 2003 demo, and their most recent release dropped in 2014, a few years after their initial break up. Just a few weeks ago, they performed at This Is Hardcore, showcasing their new lineup, and signaling the band's latest chapter together.
Palehorse's current campaign also includes the forthcoming release of No Longer Secrets, a compilation that includes their 2003 demo, Secrets Within Secrets EP, tracks from their split with Colin of Arabia, and their Rumors of War EP.
With a brand-new record promised for next year, and No Long Secrets about to come out, I spoke with Palehorse vocalist Vinny Calandra to get the story behind the band's history, their deep connection to the CTHC community, and future plans.
Let’s go back to the early stages of Palehorse. What was the hardcore scene like in the Connecticut area when the band first started playing shows? Who were some of the other up and coming bands you remember from that time in the region?
It was boiling. wicked hot. My rope in Philadelphia ran out '02/'03. Aaron Death Threat needed a roommate, so the timing was perfect and I moved home back to Connecticut with my crazy Mastino puppy (little did Aaron know that pooch doggy dog was going destroy everything, including 3 couches).
Death Threat was popping, touring and spreading the CT style everywhere, killing it. Papa Pete was fronting 100 Demons now and they were right about to drop Repeat Process while storming around the Earth as well. Not to forget that Hatebreed was a house hold name by this point and world-famous Brass City Tattoo was still new, but CTHC was on the map and making mad noise.
On top of all that, the young bucks were doing their thing. I recall one night hanging at the old Brass City Tattoo in the Brooklyn section of Waterbury, rough hood filled with wild people and wild times, posted up on the corner was my boy Ciano (RIP) and a few other heads and I could get the faint sound of core around the block at the VFW.
We all looked at each other like what the fuck? Low and behold the spot was packed. Packed with a bunch of kids I’ve never seen before going ape shit! That’s when I was first introduced to the new generation of the CT brotherhood. Untold Truth played that night, not sure who else, but this was start of everyone coming together in that era.
In a few years it was Death Threat, 100 Demons, Dead Wrong, The Distance, Untold Truth, Bury Your Dead, Fight Night, With Honor, 1984, Check Your Face, Crown of Kings, On Three, and a whole bunch of others that I can’t remember.
The Secrets Within Secrets EP still sounds killer all these years later, which is no surprise since it was recorded by Dean Baltulonis.
It was awesome, Dean is the man, super talented. He did some of my friends’ bands in the '90s when he still worked at Salad Days. He did one of the Tenfold records, I believe. That’s when he first hit my radar and from day one our goal was to record with him.
At this point he was at or owned Atomic in Brooklyn, Mike Marques, a childhood friend, had a working relationship with Dean through Right Brigade and It just so happened homeboy JJ Berneth was interning there as well. So, everything just fell into place with a nice warm introduction.
Dean did us such justice on that record, it’s my favorite recoding, I wish we did Amongst the Flock with him. We were all so proud when it was done. He let us smoke blunts the whole time and whatever.
We got to shake hands and meet Matt Henderson (Agnostic Front, Madball) and Mike Dijan (Crown of Thornz, Breakdown), that was a dope bonus.
I remember the band touring and playing regional shows quite a bit after that EP came out. What are some regions where Palehorse always had a great crowd reaction whenever you played there?
We put in mad work. Our ethic at the time was to play anywhere, with anyone and give our performance 110%. We were hungry as wolves. Western Mass was an early stronghold. We linked right away with Shoot to Kill, Swear to God, Fear for Your Life, and Violent Reality. HVHC always had our back, some of the Mindforce guys were in Robots and Empire at the time. They are our boys through and through, we linked early.
On with John Bowes (CDC, Cold Cuts Merch) and Dave Heck (Leavenworth, Palehorse, Reign Supreme) outside of Philly. Dave played with us later on, so PA showed us love. We played up and down the East Coast, did short tours and weekends with these dudes. Making trouble being full-time core.
Got to shout at Connecticut too, those early days were amazing. The Connecticut brotherhood was banging. Shows were crazy, shit was still trouble, violent and young. Every show was an adventure, parking lot situations, people getting piss cupped, tailgate parties, our scene was healthy and united.
The two original Palehorse tracks on the Colin of Arabia split are among my favorite from the band. Here’s what Colin said in a recent No Echo interview:
“Connecticut has always been a second home for me. We would meet up with the Connecticut Brotherhood boys at the El 'n' Gee in New London a lot. They put the CD out together as friends. Palehorse is a weed band. COA is a weed band. They are our real friends. I do a guest spot on their B9 record. They stayed at our houses recording it at the Outpost. The tracklisting is fucked up, but sometimes that was just the way it is. I really like all the songs on that record.”
I would love your thoughts on what Colin said, and maybe you can also share some thoughts on the EP and the COA x Palehorse connection?
Yo, Colin’s one of my best bros. Palhorse and COA are brother bands, always. We all clicked back. I’ll sum up our friendship with this story. First day of tour, Palehorse, COA, Shipwreck, and Bitter End. All the bands were meeting at the venue, in South Carolina I believe, so, Palehorse got to the venue early. This was strange for us at the time due to being notorious stoners dominating slacking, but the joint is a Rasta/Jamaican/Caribbean night club, score!
I got right to work asking dudes were the weeds at. This leads me to the owner of the club, wicked-cool dude, big ‘ol Rasta man, thick accent. He says to me, “find me after the show, I got you brotha, Jah bless," or some shit, like out of a movie. Sick show, all the bands pop off, great start to tour. Little did I know it was about to get set the fuck off.
I wander back to the dude's office, knock on the door, he invites me in with the sweet aroma of regular-ass weed burning in a fat joint. To make a long story short, homie hands me like a pound of weed, a giant fucking bag. I’m like, “shit man, I don’t have scratch to pay for something like this," he says “naaaaa, Bless man, great show tonight, good luck on the road."
Well, I booked out that office like I just robbed the bank. First thing I did was find the COA dudes and shared half the score with them, because were weed bands and best buds.
That EP is a ripper, another proud moment for us. Those Palehorse song were originally released by Stray Dog Records out of Texas on a split 7” with Ohio’s Under One Flag. It’s was a limited release on vinyl only.
We knew the songs were killer and had been taking with Spook City Records, he was a good guy, don’t remember dude's name. We had a verbal with him to do something, but bad timing for him because B9 picked us up for the LP, he kind of got dogged.
With all the bad choices the band may have made, we always tried to do the right thing if we gave our word. COA was also chatting with them and it just came together, no brainer. Both bands were working hard as hell, we were playing together non-stop. Perfect split, diverse bands, killer release.
READ MORE: Colin of Arabia Frontman Colin Campbell on the ‘00s Hardcore Scene, PTSD, Jail & Other Nightmares
What do you remember about singing with Bridge Nine? At the time, that was arguably the biggest hardcore label around.
Doing business with B9 was a goal we set, that’s the label we wanted to represent us. Palehorse has always held a unique position. We were a fast band, wicked fast, and in that sense very traditional, but crossover. As a band, though, we always associated with the “sketchy” and “tough” side of things, but our influences musically were bands like Absolution, Burn, Beyond, and BOLD or Judge, obviously along with the metal shit.
So, we surmised that B9 was the ticket. As far as achieving that goal, amazing. Chris is from CT, so we’ve been friends/acquaintances since the mid-'90s, another good dude. Thanks to Colin, Palehorse was playing in Brockton on the reg and Chris would always be there. So, one day with a little encouragement from [100 Demons vocalist Bruce] LePage, I simply emailed Chris “PALEHORSE + Bridge 9 = awesome”, and to our utter excitement he agreed. That’s how Amongst the Flock was born.
On the other side of the coin, the B9 deal was a debacle. To my understanding, up until that point, Chris had managed and handled all the bands personally. We were the first to be outsourced under the wings of an inexperienced rep with a metalcore background. I know the guy tried hard and I truly believe Chris had good intentions, but it was a flop.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good record, but our rep didn’t know what to do with us. Our CD was pressed with a fucked up cover and released. B9 didn’t do the vinyl, it was outsourced to a Euro label called Dead Serious, so the LP had limited to no distribution in the States.
Outside of the press and the prestige at the time of being a B9 band, the best thing that probably happed was them giving the CD away in those old stock B9 Mystery boxes, I know mad heads were introduced to us from those things.
Amongst the Flock has a strong crossover thrash vibe running throughout it. What were some of the influences that bonded you guys during that time period?
Palehorse, without a doubt, is a crossover band. That's been a main current for us. We were all metalheads as kids. For me personally, on the metal side of things, Bolt Thrower has a major influence on my lyric style, it’s like that’s in my brain, along with Slayer, Exodus, and Carcass.
On the hardcore team, though, it’s Absolution and Burn. All of us were big fans of Gavin’s style, Beyond and BOLD. The Tom Capone shit, we used to cover [BOLD's] “Running like Thieves."
No matter what our influences were, it always came back to that CT style. Musically, we followed in the footsteps of Death Threat, 100 Demons, but we can turn the clock back even further though, old CT bands like Higher Force, Ground Work, Dismay, Skull and Bones Society, and Evolve were always on our mind when writing the early jams.
Props to Fear Tomorrow another crew Milford band like Palehorse. They were spreading the anti-NWO shit before we were. We all came up tight together and we all jock Wide Awake.
What do you remember about the reaction the album received from the hardcore community when it came out?
It was good, definitely brought us to a new level, we had the foundation. We were an experiment for B9 in all reality. The first and only band with that sonic attack. Like I hinted at before, from a business standpoint point and probably B9’s, it was a failure.
Regardless it bumped us up. Let me also say this, we were dip shits, hard to work with I would imagine. We never did our sound scans, we ignored our publicist, she sucked, so I can’t put all the blame on B9. We were and are very proud to be a part of that family.
Why did Palehorse go on a long hiatus around the mid-‘00s? Did you just need a break from each other and focus on family/work responsibilities?
We broke up in 2008. We were tired, burnt. I was vandalizing again a lot. Burning walls with King Crest, the almighty SOAF, FEWS, and all the CPSSDS ALG Boys. Opportunity was knocking for me personally as well in real estate. On top of that, in '05, our guitar player and childhood friend passed away. RIP JOHNNY T. That took a toll on all of us, hard times.
The day we broke up we had gotten news that our second guitar player at the time attempted suicide. That bugged me out. I didn’t want two dead friends/family associated with our band, man. At that point I was done. That’s something we have never widely shared with the community.
How did the Rumors of War EP that came out a decade ago? Was that just a one-off sort of deal?
We had been rebuilding. Had a new lineup, including a young cat named Dave Fournier. Those songs were primary written by him, with myself as a co-writer. I say that very lightly mind you. Dave was hungry to rock and write. So that’s how the Rumors of War EP came about.
To be frank, it wasn’t supposed to be a release, just demo tracks for the band. We sat on them for a minute, basically shelved them. Eventually, we revisited the recordings, although a bit sloppy, the rawness and intensity had finally shined through. So, we found some partners and went with it.
Unfortunately, we didn’t support it and being on smaller labels with less press, it fell on deaf ears. I hope the new release introduces it to new ears. The songs are pretty dope. Failing Sickness is one of my favorite songs.
What’s the status of Palehorse today? You just played This Is Hardcore, but can we expect a new collection of songs in the near future?
100% back. New killer lineup! Myself and Dave LePage as always, Al D who rips and has been with us for mad long. Dude smashes the drums, at the same time he’s got so much grove too. We picked up Colin Riley, shred master, best friend! He’s played in so many great bands: Death Before Dishonor, STK, 100 Demons, and Skinhead.
We round out the lineup in a strong note with Zach Angelo playing bass, our homie since we met and is currently storming around the world playing in the world dominating Pain of Truth. It’s such a strong lineup. I’m personally super proud to be playing with these cold killers.
There are new jams on the way. We’ve been working, making some magic and we can’t wait to unleash it on the masses. Playing shows and about to be under new management, online merch coming through our dude Rob at Brass City.
We got the future in our sights, if the world don’t end first.
What’s your all-time favorite CTHC record (EP or LP)?
Wide Awake, Schism 7”
***
No Longer Secrets is available for preorder on vinyl and cassette through Heroes & Martyrs (order here).
Tagged: palehorse
