Seth Horan

Last updated
Seth Horan
Birth nameSeth Alexander Horan
Origin Buffalo, New York, U.S.
GenresFunk, rock, pop
Occupation(s)Musician
Instrument(s)Vocals, bass
Years active1994–present
LabelsIndependent
Website sethhoran.bandcamp.com

Seth Horan is an American bassist/singer-songwriter from Buffalo, New York who started a successful solo career after stints with Darwin's Waiting Room and Vertical Horizon. His songwriting showcases both his voice and his unique playing style, which combines fingerpicking, slapping, tapping, strumming, and use of harmonics as solo accompaniment for his singing. He currently resides in Syracuse, New York.

Contents

Music career

1994–1998

Horan began his professional career in 1994, providing bass and vocals for the Miami rock band Jennifer Culture, with whom he played until 1995.

Later in 1995, he joined the rap/rock band Darwin's Waiting Room, in which he performed as bassist and vocalist during 1995-96. Darwin's Waiting Room is currently signed to MCA Records.

In 1997, Horan joined Vertical Horizon as bassist and backing vocalist. The band was signed by RCA, and Horan played on the demos that led to Vertical Horizon's hit single, "Everything You Want" (the #1 Billboard song of July, 2000), but left the band before the song's final recording and release. Billboard Hot 100

1998–2001

Horan realized that in order to present his own music to the world, and do so in the most meaningful way, he was going to have to do it alone, at least for a while. So in 1999 he began performing live shows as a solo singer/songwriter, accompanying his voice only with his bass. Key to this goal was building a following on the college circuit, and he made the rounds at numerous New York and Massachusetts, such as the University at Buffalo, Medaille College, Rochester Institute of Technology, Keuka College, and Tufts University. He released his first solo album, ...this is the session., in 2000.

After releasing ...this is the session., Horan relocated to Los Angeles, California in 2001. He was active on the open-mic circuit and continued his practice of playing at local colleges and universities, adding Chapman University, Scripps College, the University of Southern California, and California Polytechnic University to his roster. He picked up session work as a bassist in between playing shows and self-producing a five-song EP, ;torn up;. Subtitled "Sketches in progress", the EP featured Horan doing triple duty on vocals, bass and drums, and served as a prelude to his next full-length album.

He also became an active member in the Los Angeles chapter of the Just Plain Folks Music Organization in 2001, and in 2003, he received their 2002 Founders Award for Male Artist of the Year.

2001–2003

Recording for the new album, to be called Notwithstanding, began in late 2001 at the Malgamar Studio House, owned and operated by fellow East-Coast transplant David Peters. Horan and Peters produced the album along with Vertical Horizon drummer Ed Toth, with whom Horan had originally played in Jennifer Culture. Notwithstanding was released in 2002.

2002 brought a huge change to Horan's life: he decided to go on tour literally full-time. He ended up without a permanent address, living mainly in motels, his own van, and the vehicles of other touring musicians, from March 2002 until May 2005. During this period, Horan played approximately 420 shows and crisscrossed the country from coast to coast at least 29 times, finally settling in Reno, Nevada. During this period, he widened the scope of his college circuit endeavors still further, including performances at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, Lewis & Clark College, Wayne State University, the University of Dallas, and Antioch College.

Lack of a permanent address did not, however, mean the end of Horan's musical creativity. In 2003, he began to experiment with the musical and technical possibilities of effects pedals, integrating a digital delay/loop pedal into both his songwriting and live performances. He continues to use a BOSS Corporation loop station for recording and live shows, to impressive effect.

2003–2006

Slightly more than a year into his three-year tour, Horan was signed by Benchmark Records, an independent label based in Indianapolis, Indiana. Through Benchmark, Horan was able to remix and remaster Notwithstanding for reissue in late 2003, and in July 2003, he recorded the tracks for his third full-length album, Conduit. Through the end of 2003, several live performances across the country were also recorded, for inclusion in a compilation download available with preorders of the album.

Conduit was released in 2004, and the pace of Horan's touring increased to support and promote the new album. Along with a full slate of performances on the cross-country college circuit, he played a number of shows at Borders Books and Music locations in New York, Kansas and California.

Unfortunately, Benchmark closed its doors in December 2004, leaving Horan without a label throughout 2005 and going into the Winter NAMM Show in January 2006. For several years, however, numerous musicians played shows in the lobby of the Anaheim Marriott Hotel after the trade show ended each day, and that year, Horan's set was seen by Hans-Peter Wilfer, head of Warwick bass guitars. In a conversation following the show, Wilfer invited Horan (already a Warwick endorsee to the extent of receiving discounts on gear and special assistance on repairs) to play at the Warwick booth during the Musikmesse trade show in Frankfurt am Main, Germany in March 2006...and offered to build him a custom bass.

On the strength of his performances at the Musikmesse, Horan was contracted to be Warwick's first-ever bass clinician and product demonstrator. After two weeks of intensive training in June 2006 at the Warwick factory in Markneukirchen, Germany learning the details of what makes Warwick's instruments special, he began performing and leading bass clinics an average of once a month, both within the US and internationally. Traveling from his base in Reno, Horan has represented Warwick in Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Hungary, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Brazil, mainland China, and Australia. Most recently, Horan represented Warwick at the January 2008 NAMM show and March 2008 Musikmesse - all this while maintaining a significant tour schedule in the US.

2006–2009

Also in 2006, Horan was awarded a 2006-2007 Fellowship by the Nevada Arts Council. This grant helped him record and release his fifth album, the Happenstance EP, in early 2007.

Horan released his first DVD, Between Two Oceans, in 2008. The DVD, a collaboration with Los Angeles film editor and independent filmmaker Keith A. Cox, features interviews, conversations, and live performance footage recorded between 2001–2007, and explores the progression of his music through the stages of his life and career. In fact, Cox spent significant time in 2001 and 2002 recording Horan at shows in Los Angeles and on tour, and later provided him a camera to continue the recording process.

A project close to Horan's heart is the Three Men on Bass series. Begun in September 2002, the nearly annual series includes performances by Horan and fellow solo singer/songwriter/bassists Gonzalo Silva and Tom Bianchi. The trio is currently scheduled to play four shows in June and July 2008.

Early 2009, Seth started playing a custom built fanned fret 5 string bass by luthier Jared Carpenter (http://www.jcbasses.com) of Auburn, CA. The bass was used in the recording of his latest album "Clang & Chime" due out in October 2009.

2010–2014

Horan spent much of this period stepping back from performance and recording to focus on educational music workshops and private music instruction, though he did begin work on eight songs that would eventually be released through his Patreon page and later releases.

2015–present

In 2015, Horan began releasing songs to fans who subscribe to his page on Patreon.com — He released 9 songs that year, followed by 7 songs in 2016 and 10 songs in 2017. Some of the songs also appeared on a limited edition CD release titled “The Mean”, which came out in December 2016.

Horan performs periodic web concerts which are broadcast to patrons and fans, and in May 2017, he began releasing a monthly podcast, which features his own music, as well as interviews with and music from other independent musicians.

Discography

...this is the session. - 2000

Torn Up; EP - 2001

Notwithstanding - 2002

Conduit - 2004

Happenstance EP - 2007

Clang & Chime - 2009

Animal Mouth - 2013

The Mean - 2016

DVDs

Between Two Oceans - 2008

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vertical Horizon</span> American alternative rock band

Vertical Horizon is an American alternative rock band, formed in Washington, D.C. Vocalists and guitarists Matt Scannell and Keith Kane started the band in 1991 when they were students at Georgetown University. The band have undergone multiple line-up changes since their formation, with Scannell overseeing every iteration as the band's leader. Vertical Horizon are best known for their Billboard number one single "Everything You Want", the title track to their third studio album. Other notable singles from the band's career include "You're a God", "Best I Ever Had ", and "I'm Still Here".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jason Newsted</span> American bassist (born 1963)

Jason Curtis Newsted is an American musician, best known as the bassist of heavy metal band Metallica from 1986 to 2001. He first performed with thrash metal band Flotsam and Jetsam from 1981 to 1986 before joining Metallica to succeed the deceased Cliff Burton. Newsted performed on the albums ...And Justice for All (1988), Metallica (1991), Load (1996), and Reload (1997).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott Shriner</span> Musical artist

Scott Gardner Shriner is an American musician best known as a member of the rock band Weezer, with whom he has recorded twelve studio albums. Joining the band in 2001, Shriner is the band's longest serving bass guitarist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Trujillo</span> American bassist (born 1964)

Roberto Agustín Miguel Santiago Samuel Trujillo Veracruz is an American musician who has been the bassist for heavy metal band Metallica since 2003. He first rose to prominence as the bassist of crossover thrash band Suicidal Tendencies from 1989 to 1995, while also collaborating with Suicidal Tendencies frontman Mike Muir for funk metal supergroup Infectious Grooves. After leaving Suicidal Tendencies, he performed with Ozzy Osbourne, Jerry Cantrell, and heavy metal band Black Label Society. Trujillo joined Metallica in 2003 and is the band's longest-serving bassist. He was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Metallica in 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tommy Stinson</span> American musician

Thomas Eugene Stinson is an American rock musician. He came to prominence in the 1980s as the bass guitarist for The Replacements, one of the definitive American alternative rock groups. After their breakup in 1991, Stinson formed Bash & Pop, acting as lead vocalist, guitarist and frontman. In the mid-1990s he was the singer and guitarist for the rock band Perfect, and eventually joined the hard rock band Guns N' Roses in 1998.

Scott Thomas Reeder is an American musician best known as the former bass player of stoner rock bands Across the River, Kyuss and The Obsessed, as well as the current bass player for Fireball Ministry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Idlewild (band)</span> Scottish rock band

Idlewild are a Scottish rock band formed in Edinburgh in 1995. The band's line-up consists of Roddy Woomble, Rod Jones, Colin Newton (drums), Andrew Mitchell (bass), and Luciano Rossi (keyboards). To date, Idlewild have released nine full-length studio albums.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Avett Brothers</span> American folk-rock band

The Avett Brothers are an American folk rock band from Concord, North Carolina. The band is made up of two brothers, Scott Avett and Seth Avett along with Bob Crawford and Joe Kwon. Mike Marsh (drums), Tania Elizabeth (fiddle) and Bonnie Avett-Rini (piano) are touring members of the band.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ryan Martinie</span> American bassist

Ryan Daniel Martinie is an American musician, best known as the bassist for heavy metal band Mudvayne.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wolfstone</span>

Wolfstone are a Scottish musical group founded in 1989, who play Celtic rock. Their repertoire consists of both original songs and traditional folk pieces. They have released seven studio albums, the latest, Terra Firma, in 2007. The band record on their own label, Once Bitten Records. The group are named after the "Wolfstone", a Pictish stone originally sited at Ardross, Easter Ross, close to where the band initially recorded.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike Inez</span> American bassist

Michael Allen Inez is an American rock musician who has been the bassist of Alice in Chains since 1993. He is also recognized for his work with Ozzy Osbourne from 1989 to 1993. Inez has also been associated with Slash's Snakepit, Black Label Society, Spys4Darwin, and Heart. He is of Filipino descent. Inez has earned seven Grammy Award nominations as a member of Alice in Chains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ricky Warwick</span> Northern Irish singer and guitarist

Ricky Warwick is a Northern Irish musician and the lead singer of the rock bands Black Star Riders and Thin Lizzy. He is also the frontman for the Scottish hard rock band The Almighty, with whom he achieved chart success in the UK throughout the 1990s. Warwick has released several solo albums and performed with a variety of other bands and artists, and also fronts his own band, The Fighting Hearts, to showcase his solo material.

David Michael Riley was an American musician who was the bassist in the punk rock band Big Black from 1985 until the band's dissolution in 1987. Riley moved to Chicago in 1982 from Detroit, where he had worked as a recording engineer. He played on Big Black's two studio albums, Atomizer (1986) and Songs About Fucking (1987), as well as their Headache EP (1987), several singles, and two live albums. After Big Black, Riley recorded tracks with several other artists before being incapacitated by a stroke in 1993, losing the ability to walk. He became a blogger, and published a book in 2006 titled Blurry and Disconnected: Tales of Sink-or-Swim Nihilism. He died in late 2019 from squamous cell carcinoma.

William Matthew Noveskey is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, guitarist, and bassist, best known as the bassist in the bands Blue October and Harvard of the South, and as bassist and frontman of the bands (a+)machines and Icarus Bell.

July For Kings, or "JFK", is an American, Cincinnati, Ohio-based alternative rock band, founded by Joe Hedges, Sam Dobrozsi (drums), Travis Delaney (guitar), Jason Morgan (bass), and T Miller. The band was founded Middletown, Ohio, in 1997. After several line-up changes that included the departure of two founding members, frontman Joe Hedges dropped the July For Kings name in April 2006, choosing to release the next album, Curvature, using his own moniker. In October 2007, Joe Hedges announced that July For Kings had reunited and that they were working on a new album. On June 23, 2009, July For Kings released the studio album entitled Monochrome. and on July 14, 2015, July For Kings released the album Middletown.

Neil Citron is a Toronto-born Canadian guitarist, Grammy Award-winning recording engineer, and songwriter who has played with Lana Lane, and briefly with heavy metal band Quiet Riot in 2006, among numerous other music industry credits. He has also worked on the films My Big Fat Greek Wedding, That Thing You Do!, and Ricki and the Flash.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seth Putnam</span> American musician (1968–2011)

Seth Edward Putnam was an American musician best known as the founder, vocalist and occasional guitarist of grindcore band Anal Cunt. He was known for his high-pitched screamed vocals and lyrics that either shock, offend, or invoke morbid humor. Throughout his career, Putnam was also involved in numerous side projects.

Dywane Thomas Jr., professionally known as MonoNeon, is an American bassist, experimental musician, singer and songwriter. His work, spanning multiple experimental projects and collaborations, including with American musician Prince, has seen an online cult following. Thomas was the last bassist Prince hired before his death in 2016, and he additionally played bass on American singer Ne-Yo song "Makin' A Movie" released in 2010. MonoNeon also played bass on Georgia Anne Muldrow's EP "Ms. One" (2014). He has since become known for his videos that harmonize viral videos with basslines, and his compositions that utilize microtonality. He is a native of Memphis, Tennessee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vulfpeck</span> American band

Vulfpeck is an American funk band founded in 2011 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, by Jack Stratton, Theo Katzman, Woody Goss and Joe Dart. The band has released four extended plays, six studio albums and one live album through their own record label. The band gained recognition in 2014 for releasing Sleepify, a silent album that exposed a loophole in Spotify's royalty distribution and funded an admission-free tour. The band is one of the first to sell out Madison Square Garden without a manager or backing label, and released the recorded performance as a live album in 2019. The band's most recent album, Schvitz, was released in December 2022.

<i>Great Aspirations</i> 2017 EP by TC&I

Great Aspirations is the debut record by English duo TC&I. The EP was released on 7 October 2017. The record marked the first recordings made by Chambers since 1984 when, after leaving XTC, he relocated to Australia and joined the band Dragon, touring with them from 1983 to 1984 and recording an album. With the exception of guest appearances as a session vocalist, bass player, and collaborator on several albums, the EP also marked the return to recording by Moulding, his first new recordings since XTC's disbandment in 2006.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.