Interview | Prize Horse

featuring Olivia Johnson & Jake Beitel

2024 has been quite an active year so far. What were some of the highlights for you both?

Olivia Johnson: I would say the highlight of the year was putting the new record, Under Sound, out and then the summer tour that we did. Playing Sound and Fury was a big moment.

I figured you might mention that. Was S&F the biggest crowd you played to this year?

Jake Beitel: Oh yeah, it was pretty wild.

I’m so used to going to shows in the dark that when you see that many people outside in broad daylight, it’s pretty shocking.

JB: It was definitely a sea of people.

OJ: That was a bucket list moment, for sure.

Had you guys ever been to that fest previously or was that your first time?

OJ: I think that was my third year going too it, but the first time playing it.

JB: I had never been before but I've always wanted to go. I remember seeing Liv go a couple of years ago and being like, “fuck, that looks so fun.”

It was way more enjoyable since they put the turf overtop the dirt this year!

What about the Audiotree live performance? That also must have been a big thing for y’all this year. 

JB: That was sick. Also during that same week, we had our album release show at home at Seventh Street, which is one of our favorite venues. That whole week of putting out the record, doing Audiotree and then doing our release show was super fun.

Getting that warm hometown reception from friends and family must be a treat.

OJ: That show was on a different level though. I feel like we hadn't had a show like that at home ever.

JB: Yeah, that was definitely our best home show we've ever played, by far. I forget the order of things but I think we played Chicago, then the next morning we did Audiotree and then drove to our next show and kept going.

Did you notice a boost of people listening to your music after the video of the performance went live?

JB: I'd say there was definitely a surge of people that heard of us from that. I've had a lot of people come up to me at shows being like “I found you guys from Audiotree” so that's been pretty cool.

OJ: I feel like I didn't notice it as much. The only thing I noticed was people being like, “hey, good job on that performance,” which was funny because I didn’t think people paid attention to Audiotree that much anymore, to be honest. I was really proven wrong on that.

JB: It was also hard to tell exactly because with it being the same week as the album release, things were just going up at that moment anyway.

Sounds like a well-timed rollout! 

On that note, Jake: one of the major things you mentioned in that video was not being used to singing and the fact that this record was your first time really stepping into the role of being a frontman. Has the repetition of performing so much on these past couple tours help make things a bit easier?

JB: Absolutely. I personally feel like I've gotten a lot better at singing over the past year and a half of frequent touring. I feel like sometimes I'll get a little rusty in between tours, but then once we get back on the road, I get back into the swing of things pretty quickly. I still need to figure out my full routine of keeping my vocals where I want them to be, but it's definitely been getting a lot easier.

Would you say the biggest challenge is changing your mindset from hanging out behind the scenes to being front in center on stage?

JB: Exactly. I’ve played instruments in other bands and it's definitely a lot easier for me to just zone out and play my guitar or play the drums and not really be thinking about what's going on. Singing is a different game because everybody's looking at me to get something out of the performance, so it's a lot more pressure. Actually, maybe it's the same amount of pressure, but it's a lot harder to avoid.

It must feel like a totally different way of executing things when you’re using a whole different set of senses up there.

JB: Yeah, it's definitely more of full body experience when I have to be singing and playing guitar at the same time. I can't really zone out or think about any other shit, otherwise I'll forget what I'm doing. It’s like a train on very wobbly tracks.

Plus, on this new record, some of the songs like “Further From My Start” seem to have a way bigger crescendo than a lot of the songs on your previous record, ‘Welder.’ Is that an overgeneralization, or would you agree that the new record comes across with a bit more intensity?

JB: I think Liv would also probably agree that that’s the case. There's a lot of moments on the album that are low volume/low energy parts that lead to accentuating the heavy parts; whereas the first EP was mostly one level of dynamic a lot of the time. That was definitely a focus when writing this one.

OJ: I think this record definitely shows us being a lot more comfortable with what the band is. I feel like ‘Welder’ was just us figuring out a new setup, so I think that ‘Under Sound’ felt a lot more intentional.

JB: I totally agree.

That’s the way it should be; honing in on things that work the best and mastering them.

JB: It’s not like we’re leaving behind certain elements, it’s just about doing some things less and some things more. That’ll continue to happen as we write more music. 

Hearing you describe it that way matches my impression after listening to both albums back to back. It seemed like everything on ‘Welder’ was more of a lower frequency while ‘Under Sound’ seemed more upbeat in a lot of ways.

JB: In my opinion, ‘Welder’ is pretty high intensity all the time, which makes it feel low intensity. We were pushing really hard the whole time and not letting go, so it just makes it feel like it's not actually that intense, you know? I think something we learned is that you can't just go 100% all of the time because it doesn't feel like 100% then.

Makes sense. As long as we’re talking about ‘Welder,’ I have a couple other questions that I’ve been wondering about since I first started listening to you guys. In both '3 Tiles’ and ‘Musket’, what’s the significance of referencing tiles? Am I reading too much into it? 

JB: No, that’s a good question. Honestly, I don't think of them as both relating to one specific thing, so using that word twice was pretty coincidental. In ‘Musket’, the line about being “under the tile” was just a reference to being secluded and hiding myself away. With the song titled ‘3 Tiles’, it almost meant nothing at first, but I've come to think of it as the three of us in the band are the three tiles, because it's the first song we wrote altogether. It’s an unintentional combination, but good on you for catching that.

OJ: I would have never thought about it like that.

Well that clears that up! Another thing I’ve always wondered about is the album art. I feel like I’ve examined it from every different angle and I’m still not sure what I’m looking at. Can you shed some light on that, Liv?

OJ: The actual album art is a linocut, like a woodcut print. If you look close, it’s a still life of a bunch of nuts and bolts. It's not supposed to be super literal but the image of the hardware was pushed to maximum contrast and then the negative was carved out of a piece of wood and printed onto paper.

I’m assuming you did the graphic yourself, right?

OJ: Yup!

JB: How did you do the colors? I remember you had these different kinds of paper that you tried putting it on.

OJ: I worked for a woman who had her own paper making studio for a while. It was an unpaid internship, but I got to take home so much paper and cool stuff from that. She helped me press together leaves into a paper pulp, and then we printed it on a billion different pieces of handmade paper, so that’s where the weird background color came from.

I love all the different imperfections of seeing something printed by hand like that. Thanks for clearing both of those up!

Fast forwarding back to ‘Under Sound’, I just had one more lyric-based question. “Know Better” is one of my favorite tracks, so I was hoping you could walk us through the lyrics on that one.

JB: I’d say a lot of the the lyrics are in sections for some of those songs. Different verses or stanzas will have a different type of meaning and they won't all necessarily be combined. For that song, the chorus is mainly about feeling like you're not getting what you're giving in a relationship. Basically it’s saying “I'll know the feeling is real when you actually show me that it is”, you know?

Meaning you need to reciprocate one another’s energy?

JB: Yeah, it’s pretty much centered around that. A couple of the verses are about some more specific things that I don't necessarily want to speak about, but the whole song is about questioning the feelings being had in that sort of situation. 

Would you say that’s one of the standout songs on the album?

JB: I was actually just listening to that song like 30 minutes ago because I had my whole Apple Music library on shuffle. It just came on and I was like, “you know what? I haven't listened to this song in a really long time so I'll let it play.” It’s definitely one of my favorite songs. We open with that song live now and it has some of my favorite energy on the album.

Do you have a favorite track if you had to pick one, Liv?

OJ: “Know Better” is up there, but I think "Dark Options” is my favorite. From the minute that one was even a semblance of a song, it’s been my favorite.

Another great choice! These next questions aren’t quite music related but here goes nothing:

Jake: I was told you’re a bit of a fiend for candy. Are you a chocolate or a gummy kind of guy?

JB: I'm a sour guy. I love anything sour, like taffy and whatnot. I’ve been really honing in on what candy I specifically like because otherwise, I'll eat too much or I’ll get something and be like “this wasn't what I wanted” and I won't even finish it. On the next tour, I’m really going to work on figuring out exactly what kind of candy I love most.

You gotta plan those 7-Eleven runs carefully!

JB: For real. I do love dark chocolate too, but that's more of an at-home thing for me. When I worked at Whole Foods, I would get the craziest dark chocolate they would have and just munch on that. Honestly though, on this past summer tour, I backed off the candy after a little incident on the morning of Sound and Fury.

Uh oh. Are you sure it was the candy and not just the nerves?

JB: I know it was the candy because my throw up was bright blue!

That probably felt great coming out…

JB: It felt crazy, that's for sure. The worst part is that it was in my mouth and I held it in while Jon [Brenner] was parallel parking. I waited for a bit then I just jumped out and called my girlfriend and I was like, “I do not know what just happened, I just threw up bright blue.” She was like, “babe, you are eating way too much candy - you genuinely need to stop”

At least it didn’t happen while you were moving!

JB: I'm very glad that didn't happen, but it was close. 

Your turn, Liv: I was also told that you’re addicted to the 8 Ball Pool game on iMessage, is that true?

OJ: Did Sam Katz tell you that?

Precisely. Shoutout to Sam!

OJ: That's awesome. I really only play 8 Ball with the Ridgeway guys. None of my other friends like it that much.

It's so addicting though.

OJ: It's so fun. I know people that have real strategies, like using their credit cards to line up their shots.

I was just going to ask if you’d ever cheated at it.

OJ: I don’t! I think that takes away a lot of the fun because it's fun to be bad sometimes.

I totally agree. I would play people online nonstop until I heard about the credit card hack and it ruined it for me. 

JB: I prefer the other one, cup pong or whatever it’s called.

OJ: Oh yeah, that one's good too. 

Well now that we know what you guys are doing in the van, let’s chat about your upcoming dates. You have one run of shows on the East Coast with Wishy and another on the West Coast with Greet Death. Which coast do you prefer?

OJ: I live on the East Coast now, so I'm here all the time. I probably enjoy being on the West Coast more just because we don't get out there as often. It's also just the best place in the world. There are definitely some things to appreciate about the East Coast, but I live out here now, so it’s a bit more normal. I do love how quick and easy the drives are on the East Coast though. There’s something to be said about both landscapes though.

The east coast might not be as impressive as some of those long stretches of California and the pacific northwest, but there’s definitely some character between the different cities. What about you, Jake? 

JB: I really love the West Coast. Partially because we don't go there as often, but also because I love the weather. I like the East coast as well, especially since we get to stay at Liv’s house a lot of the time when we're out there. I'm excited to be out there for this time of year as long as the winter isn’t too terrible.

I think you might get the last bit of decent weather before things really start to take a turn for the worst.

OJ: It may be a hot take, but East Coast winters have nothing on a Minnesota winter in terms of intensity, so it’s usually better anyway in my opinion. 

JB: True. The weather is pretty unrelenting out here. I think we’re supposed to get freezing rain tonight, so it's starting early this year.

Do you think you’d ever relocate too Jake? Or are you pretty settled out there?

JB: I don't know, it's definitely a big question. I have a lease here until next summer, but I like being near my family and most of my friends are here in Minneapolis. I've considered moving other places, I just don't know where I would go because I like a lot of places equally. I think I would struggle to choose. Especially since Liv lives on the East Coast now, there would be the question of where we would all meet together. I really haven't been considering it, it’s just usually when the winter time comes, I'm like, “fuck, I’ve gotta get out of here” and then by the time the Summer comes I'm like, “oh, it's not too bad.”

I had the same feelings when I was living on the East Coast. Springtime and fall were pleasant but summer and winter were so brutal, that I just wound up hating it for half the year.

JB: I always forget about it and then when the weather gets terrible again, I’m like “fuck, why did I do this again?”

What about you Liv? Are you feeling settled in Connecticut nowadays?

OJ: I like it out here more and more each year, but it’s definitely not a forever thing. It’s good for now though.

I hear you. You’ve gotta test the waters while you're still young.

Last but not least: do you guys have any parting thoughts on what you're looking forward to heading into 2025?

JB: It’s all just playing more shows for the first half of the year. We’ve got a fair amount of stuff coming up; I think we’re booked out through June right now. Then I’ll focus on writing more music, trying to hunker down and do some more of that.

OJ: I'm bummed that we don't have any we can announce for next year yet, but I'm just excited to get out there and play shows.

Photos: Samuel David Katz

Originally published in Issue 5 - January 2025