Biography
By fusing Caribbean rhythms with avant-garde jazz improvisation, classical minimalism, and punk rock dissonance, the Horse Flies update turn-of-the-century string band traditions into their self-described "neo-primitive bug music." Fiddler Judy Hyman and banjo ukulele/guitar player Jeff Claus formed the group after relocating from Bloomington, IN, to Ithaca, NY, where they reconnected with guitar/banjo player Richie Stearns, whom they had first encountered three years earlier at a party in Lexington, VA, during his tenure with the rowdy, old timey string band Bubba George. Bassist John Hayward, then performing with the Correctones, completed the initial lineup, which later expanded to include drummer Bill Usher and keyboardist Brent Barkman.
Recording initially as the Tompkins County Horseflies, the band debuted on a split album, Chokers and Flies, alongside the similarly inclined Chicken Chokers. Their follow-up, Human Fly, appeared first on Rounder before MCA reissued it and also issued the third album, Gravity Dance; both entries reached the Top 40 on the Gavin and CMJ charts. Targeting a rock audience through their hard-edged treatment of tradition-rooted material, the Horse Flies supported 10,000 Maniacs on ten dates of the Blind Man's Zoo tour, and the Human Fly track "I Live Where It's Gray" was licensed by Rock the Vote for a 1995 MTV series on adolescent health issues. Alcazar released their fourth album, the soundtrack to Jay Craven's film Where the Rivers Flow North, while the group additionally composed the score for A Stranger in the Kingdom. In the Dance Tent, a 2000 live set captured at the 1996 Finger Lakes Grassroots Festival of Music and Dance in upstate New York, was dedicated to Hayward, who died of cancer the next year. Following an extended hiatus during which members pursued individual projects, the Horse Flies reconvened in 2008 for Until the Ocean, a fresh set of songs recalling their Human Fly period.
Recording initially as the Tompkins County Horseflies, the band debuted on a split album, Chokers and Flies, alongside the similarly inclined Chicken Chokers. Their follow-up, Human Fly, appeared first on Rounder before MCA reissued it and also issued the third album, Gravity Dance; both entries reached the Top 40 on the Gavin and CMJ charts. Targeting a rock audience through their hard-edged treatment of tradition-rooted material, the Horse Flies supported 10,000 Maniacs on ten dates of the Blind Man's Zoo tour, and the Human Fly track "I Live Where It's Gray" was licensed by Rock the Vote for a 1995 MTV series on adolescent health issues. Alcazar released their fourth album, the soundtrack to Jay Craven's film Where the Rivers Flow North, while the group additionally composed the score for A Stranger in the Kingdom. In the Dance Tent, a 2000 live set captured at the 1996 Finger Lakes Grassroots Festival of Music and Dance in upstate New York, was dedicated to Hayward, who died of cancer the next year. Following an extended hiatus during which members pursued individual projects, the Horse Flies reconvened in 2008 for Until the Ocean, a fresh set of songs recalling their Human Fly period.
Albums
