Meet The Horse Puppets.

"The Horse Puppets are a 7 piece band led by singers Paul and Helen Bytheway, a musical married couple from Manchester. Previously the Bytheways were in 'The Retrosettes' band who back in 2016 had a simple Youtube clip online that was seen by Italian film director Paolo Sorrentino. He then booked the band to feature in the opening scene of his film 'Youth', joining Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel in the first shots of the movie. Their version of Candi Staton's 'You Got The Love' became the title track of the film.Due to the popularity of the film in Europe The Retrosettes then toured with the likes of Simply Red and went on to release an album through Universal Germany and Live Nation. In 2019 they appeared on stage with a hundred strong orchestra to a sell out show in Paris whilst working with French film composer Vladimir Cosma. The Horse Puppets have recently released their debut album (during lockdown in 2020) which was produced in their own purpose built recording studio. The album is called 'Sorry For The Inconvenience'. "Thanks to a 'borrow board' behind the scenes of The Invisible Wind Factory, Liverpool, a Horse Puppet that should have been returned by 'Molly' 2 weeks before gave the band a new name. A good job really as the previous suggestion of 'The Suitcase 17' was vetoed by Tommy's missus who said it sounded like a front page headline for a murder in the 60's. The 5 piece band from Manchester, soon grew into a 6 piece, then a 7 piece as more instruments and sounds were added in recording their debut album. 'Sorry For The Inconvenience' was recorded at Paul and Helen's home studio in Manchester. Paul has been thrown in at the deep end with sound production, and with the help of some local engineers (and Andrzej's bionic ears, which are both pitch and frequency perfect!!) he has produced the whole album himself. This has allowed the band to retain a raw and uncoloured sound. All of the music was recorded live (with vocals afterwards) with all the band squeezed into the small room together with no headphones, no glass dividers, a large dog, and most importantly, a real band sound. The band have a hybrid indie sound like the more ambient side of The Black Keys or The Arctic Monkeys, mixed with country pedal steel guitar, violin, double bass, electronic synths and large vocal harmonies.

Catch the band playing live during the lock down