The Gardes were founded by Brett Horton, more or less, in the Year Of Two, derived from his ever-changing line-up of a junior high and high school band. A couple of older skateboarders were watching a documentary on the Avant-Garde, and after soaking it in, they begun taunting and calling Horton and his group of friends, "the Gards," because they couldn't come up with the proper social clique that they fit in , i.e. the preps, the jocks, the cheerleaders, the nerds, the hoods, the skaters... the Gards! Later, when Horton decided to rechristen the band name as it recorded its first full-length studio album, he decided to take the once former jeer and transform it into a herald of glory. Since there was a family name spelled the Gards who had already claimed a website of their own, the only logical choice was to add the "e" and thus, the Gardes were born. Along came Aaron Siemers AKA Siemo, and together and separately they penned a whole slew of songs spanning and crossing various genres of soundscapes, but if you have to talk about types of sounds, then at their very roots, they're pretty much just rockers and folkies of sorts. Since its conception, the band has performed as a duo, trio, quartet, and sometimes as a quintet, and there has been many "cousin" bands of different names featuring line-ups of friends that has branched out of this monster known as the Gardes. They hail originally from Oklahoma, and individually and/or as a group, they have played extensively throughout the region of surrounding states, coast to coast through America and overseas. Others who have played in the band: Lance Grover, Ricky Lenhart, Chad Niemann, Tanner Blair, Jim Gorton, Adam Miller, Brad Hayes, Chad Matheson, Matt McCleary, Bubba Keltch and maybe you, too.
Circa 2007
left to right: Brett Horton, Aaron Siemers, Jim Gorton, Tanner Blair
More or less bums, scraping by with odd jobs, these prolific songsters don their suits and ties or whatever they feel like putting on at night and become... THE GARDES!!!