Volume 23 Number 17
The Community Forum
March 21 1996
Malibu SurfsideNews
Local Malibu Musician
Discusses Solo Project
Malibuite Bill Horn is a blond-haired lanky Texan with a cool
demeanor and patient manner that is reflected in his latest musical endeavor—Dreamland.
“The title song sums up the message,” says Horn, “to encourage
positive actions towards social, global and self-searching issues.” Horn
calls his solo venture music composed of “a combination of soft rock with
country influence.”
Recorded and mixed right here in Malibu at Cahoots Studio, the
CD features special guests such as Richie Hayward, the drummer for Little
Feat, Daniel Moore, who performed and wrote for Mad Dogs and Englishmen,
Jethro DeFries, the drummer and co-writer with Pete Bardens on the music
video Water Colors, and Roger Scott Craig, who composed music for feature
films including Pelican Brief, Wyatt Earp and
Richie Rich.
“I’m especially honored to have guys of this caliber play on my project,”
says Horn. “It was such a blast to hang with these guys, we had so much
fun.”
Born and raised in Ft. Worth, Horn picked up his first guitar at the
age of 11. “I gained valuable experience in an Old English-type boys choir,”
adds Horn, who said he and his fellow choir boys performed all across the
country including the Air Force Academy in Colorado, Grace Cathedral in
San Francisco and surely the prize of any youth—Disneyland back in the
early ‘60s.
Musical influences, he notes, stretches from the Beatles and
Byrds to the Eagles, Fleetwood Mac and Buffalo Springfield. “In my junior
high and high school years, they were the influential years musically”
Horn adds. “Country really didn’t enter into my tastes until the end of
high school with the release of the Byrds, Sweetheart of the Rodeo.”
By the early ‘70s, Horn was immersed in the Austin musical scene—he
attended college there—and turned professional in 1974 when he joined an
original country/rock band from Ft. Worth that called themselves Cahoots.
“I like to say ‘I got volunteered’ in Cahoots,” the Malibu musician quips.
“Cahoots worked a five-state area around Texas and played engagements
from as far as the Lone Star Café in New York City,” says Horn, “to the
island of Oahu in Hawaii.” Horn recollects the group wanted to expand
its horizon and set out for Los Angeles. Fellow musician, Stephen Bruton, put
the band in touch with a Realtor in Malibu and Horn and his cohort, Philip
Norris, also a former Cahoots member, have been here ever since—ensconced
in what is called the Cahoots house. Horn helped produce and co-write Norris’
new CD release, On
the Run.
“Why not live in Malibu? It’s paradise here,” says Horn, who
emphasizes his work takes him all over the city and “it is a release from
stress and the city pressure” just returning home.
“I’m torn right now. My career is pointing towards Nashville,
but now Malibu is my home,” adds Horn, who notes he has lived in Malibu
just about as long as in his hometown in Texas.
While Cahoots explored its professional options in LA, the band
became known by many Malibuites as “the hometown” Malibu band during the
early ‘80s. Cahoots became regulars at the Malibu Chili Cook-Off, and the
group dissolved just after recording their third unreleased album in their
own 16-track studio at the end of 1984.
“I began doing session work and gigs around the LA country scene
from 85-87,” recalls Horn,” and formed a classic rock band in 1987 and
worked the popular clubs in the local area.”
Things really began to pick up professionally for the Malibu
musician after a stint on the Tonight Show backing up Kim Carnes and later
helping to co-produce a song for the movie Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventures.
Horn’s new release is a labor of love produced over a 5-year
period. “One of the most influential records that inspired this solo project
was Peter Gabriel’s So,” says Horn.
At the same time Horn busied himself forming a new band with
fellow Ft. Worthians,
(Candy Chase,bass/vocals, Michael J. Dohoney, drums vocals) whose popular
brand of country became a fixture at the Disneyland Hotel’s Neon Cactus
where the band has cranked out its Texas sound to an international crowd
five nights a week for the last three years.
“We are currently nearing completion of our country CD called Fort
Worth West. We are close to a final mix,” says Horn, who acknowledges
he has also begun playing Cajun and Zydeco music at the amusement park, playing
gigs in the French Quarter and as the opening act for the Fantasmic show.
What’s after that? Horn indicates he will probably do a second
solo project. “There has been a lot of music to come out of the Cahoots
house,” Horn says, “and some of it should be on record.”
Horn’s new compact disc is available exclusively at Zuma Beach
Video and Music.
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By Bill Koeneker