• Indie

Sometimes it takes years for a band to hit upon a winning formula, but when Pulled Apart By Horses got together in an upstairs room of a Leeds pub back in late 2007, something clicked instantly. It's continued to click ever since, and has provided utter joy to anybody who's seen their frenetic, fun (not to mention a little bit macho - their absolute favourite word) live show. It's been an awesome, radical, ride.

Not that the members of Pulled Apart By Horses - James Brown (guitar), Tom Hudson (guitar/lead vocals), Robert Lee (bass/backing vocals) and Lee Vincent (drums) - were young, inexperienced foals; rather, they were and are thoroughbred musical stallions, with previous in several highly-rated local acts including Concentration Champ, It Takes Bridges and Mother Vulpine. That very same November evening they wrote their first song, 'The Lighthouse', which they play today as it was written then.

You've probably heard about this so-called "new grunge movement" going on in Yorkshire at the moment. Pulled Apart By Horses aren't really a part of that, unless you class occasionally listening to Nirvana records as a sure-fire indication of plaid-shirted intentions. They listen to Refused, Sabbath and Shellac, too, but you wouldn't call them post-hardcore or metal either. Who needs genres though, hey? Just know they peddle big riffs with even bigger smiles. That's enough.

It certainly was for the crowd at 2009's Reading and Leeds Festivals - to date, the band's defining moments - as punters passing the BBC Introducing stage stopped and stood, mouths agape, with at least 50% of the band finishing their set partially clothed, on the wrong (right?) side of the barrier. It was that kind of afternoon. The industry took note.

And then they took action. Two limited edition 7"s ('I Punched A Lion In The Throat' and 'Meat Balloon') followed at the end of last year, courtesy of Too Pure and Big Scary Monsters respectively, as did profile-raising tours with local BFFs Sky Larkin and popular Brighton beat combo Blood Red Shoes in early 2009. In between, they played a few tiny basement shows, because they're just as fun and twice as sweaty. Not to mention awesome, and totally bodacious.