So, you're lookin' for some info on a band by the name of 16 Horsepower? Well, you really don't have to look too far beyond their name for a clue to their sound. Enough said? Probably not. Well then, consider the name of their A&M debut album, Sackcloth 'n' Ashes. And, Einstein, if that ain't quite enough information, then maybe you should see them live, because that's apparently where most of the clues lie. Or at least that's what 16 Horsepower's singer-guitarist David Eugene Edwards says: "Most people who hear us on the radio don't get it. But, then they see us live and they say, 'Oh, now I get it...'"

"I don't care if people clap after a song," Edwards continues regarding the band's live sets. "The effect I want is to have people sit there starin' at me, drop-jawed, which is basically what happens most of the time when people see us for the first time."

It's not like they're traveling with the Jim Rose Circus, or that midgets are lighting themselves on fire, or anything like that--but there is a certain something freaky about what 16 Horsepower have accomplished on recent tours with both the Innocence Mission and Shane McGowan's Popes. For simplicity's sake, think of their sound as something that David Lynch might come up with if he was trapped in the desert for three months with a jug of Everclear, a banjo, and a snare drum.

OK, maybe that's not altogether fair, but the analogy is meant in a good way.

16 Horsepower originated out of the mostly invisible Denver, CO, scene around 1992. Edwards teamed up with bassist Keven Soll and drummer Jean-Yves Tola (yes, he's French), and the trio soon discovered a common love for country music, traditional music (from all corners of the world), and the darker bands of the '80s, like Joy Division, the Gun Club, and Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds. The Horse boys trotted around the Denver scene for some time, creating the indescribable sound I tried to explain above; but, claims Edwards, this was not at all what they had planned. "It wasn't a goal to make it sound any particular way," he explains. "It's just the way it came out. It's just the way it sounds."

Turns out that while the music sometimes only takes half a day to compose, it often takes Edwards up to three months to finish the lyrics to a tune. And then it sometimes takes him over a year to figure out what he was trying to say when he wrote the lyrics! "It's a mystery to me," he adds, although he admits there are some rules he tries to follow. "I don't wanna sound like I'm preachin'. I just wanna sound like I'm the same as you and this is how I feel, and just maybe you feel the same way."

Those lyrics come out of a number of different influences, including the standard past experiences, family history, or conversations. Still, there is one overriding basic theme that always seems to find its way into each 16 Horsepower song. With a close look at the lyric sheets, Edwards imagery (and, boy, is it rich) consistently points to his spiritual upbringing. "That's what I think about, what I care about, and so it has an overwhelming effect on everything I do," he agrees. "Sometimes, it's more abstract than other times and it might be hard to pin down." However, he's quick to stress that this is not religion he's portraying, but the idea of the Good Book itself. "It's not religious in the sense of today's world, 'cause religion is such crap," he explains. "Modern religion is just manmade, that's all it is."

And while Edwards's upbringing did have its religious aspects, you'd be selling this rocker incredibly short if you were only to concentrate on that side of his influences. The truth of the matter is that he also has the ability to portray lust in such songs as "Scrawled in Sap" and "Ruthie Lingle," so as to make a listener's heart wail along with him.

Perhaps the final clue to the band's sound, sans a live viewing for yourself, comes in the following statement from Edwards, who sang and played guitar, banjo, accordion, and a bandoneon on the new album, while drummer Tola also played piano and flute, with bassist Soll contributing some cello: "We don't feel limited by our instrumentation. I can pick up a bagpipe and we could make music on that...I don't really know what the future holds. Just whatever strikes our fancy at the time." 16 Horsepower: Coming soon to a theater near you. And you'll hear nearly everything--and just about nothing--you'd expect from a '90s rock band!