New Young Pony Club

Thu 1st Jul, 2010 in Features

New Young Pony Club songs sparkle and pop; with hits such as Ice-Cream and The Get Go seeing them quickly rise to success. The band’s xxx Andy Spence discusses the band’s growth and new found loves of folk music and social networking sites.

Your sophomore album The Optimist has been described as a darker record to your debut. Do you agree with this?

Yeah, definitely. It does come from a darker more emotional place but it is still very upbeat music you can dance too. I suppose with this album we have tried to explore other areas and create music that you can enjoy having a drink and relax to though. That is what we are all about as a band, having an ethos where people can dance along and enjoy no matter what they listen to on a regular basis.

Is the music you listen to different to the music you create?

Definitely, I think it has to be. You have to separate your influences from your likes, otherwise you can’t appreciate what you are doing and who you admire accurately. At the moment I am really into Beach House, who are sort of down tempo and I suppose alternative folk. I like folk, I don’t have a problem with it, it’s just I would rather listen to sixties music and hear the real Nick Drake, as opposed to someone who is trying to be a newer version of him. I don’t really listen to anything unless it was created three decades ago.

Do you think your music bridges the generation gap?

I like to think our sound appeals to all sorts of people, because we have that infiltration of eighties punk rock and new wave styles. Age varies in our audiences at shows because families come along to have a party. I think it its great that young people get their parents involved and everyone can enjoy what we are doing. For the older people in the crowds it is probably a throw back to when they were younger, seeing as bands now imitate those that really set the pace with their ideas, that back then were so innovative and different. In my opinion our music has a sort of electro pop vibe going on, and even though we say we are very post punk, I would also like to say that we are individuals with the music we make.

In what ways to you think as a band you have grown since you first entered the music scene?

I think in this industry if you don’t show growth then you are doomed. As people we grow, everyone does, and I think musically we have done that with our production, our song writing and our lyrics. We still sing about nonsense, but I think we have entered a new level with the way we write a song, and I think it is because of maturity.

What was the main influence behind this record?

The concept for the album just came from an emotional place about relationships and what people deal with in love and out of love. I know it is a bit cliché to say that, relationships are the centre of most songs, but it isn’t tiresome for us because we make it fresh and interpret it in our way.

Do you think the record label change to your own label – The Numbers – had an affect?

I think it made other people think more than ourselves, we didn’t feel too affected or rejected. They liked the album, but just couldn’t offer us the means to make it as good as we wanted in production, so we created our own. We think we have done alright and are happy with the end result. It was just one of those things, and in the end allowed us to really open up and explore, taking charge of it ourselves.

How do you deal with British media, because they are known for being ruthless, so what does it feel like for you guys to be in the limelight and have people critique you almost straight after a release?

We aren’t celebrities and I am not unhappy with that. I think it is important to pursue music for the love of it, not for the love of chasing fame. The circle we are part of is very supportive, music papers and local publications that write nice things. Having said that though, you can’t appeal to everyone, it is impossible, but if people don’t like it then they don’t have to listen.

How do you feel about your music being tagged and grouped with other artists into genres like new wave and rave?

I would say that the way our music is reported is correct in most cases, but occasionally the mass media like to make assumptions on what we are aiming for and try to come up with new phrases to describe us which are a little off, like ‘rave’ for instance, I would say we are more dance than headbanging raging songs. We do get categorised in with other bands quite a bit though like Hadouken and Klaxons.

Like the folk circle in England, is there a clique of new wave post punk dance bands?

Yeah, I think there is you know. Klaxons we met at an NME party, and later on tour, but you know they go one way with recording and shows and we go another, but as much as we don’t all hang out I would like to think there is a level of respect between bands. We aren’t noted for being in the same circles but we certainly are; we appeal to the same audiences.

You guys have been announced in the lineup for the new music festival mFest in Scotland in July. The festival is all about promoting youth, is supporting young people something you guys connect with?

Yeah, we started off young and reckless, ready to take anything on. It was overwhelming at times, and it still is. It is a style of music that young people can appreciate and relate to in particular because we are all about capturing fun. Our music can be heard in clubs because it is so easy to dance too and I think it captures the essence of being youthful, so I think it is a great idea for a festival, it gets the younger generation involved and allows them to be creative and learn something.

In terms of ‘youth’, do you think social networking sites help or hinder artists?

Oh they definitely help, we love them. We are forever on Twitter and Facebook, I think it is good to connect with the people that are connecting with what you do, they are the ones that let you continue doing what you love. It is thrilling in a way, going on our Facebook and seeing that a stupid status you have put up all of a sudden has fifty comments. I think tools like this have really helped music, people talk trash about the internet leaking music and downloads, but I think its great. We were very mysterious in the beginning, but Facebook has ruined our allusive nature.

We are very excited to have you guys coming back to Australia again, as part of the Parklife festival. How does it feel to be coming back?

It’s really good, yeah, we love it in Australia. The people there are the best people and the food is great, it’s just the jetlag is a bit of a downer. Modular records have been wonderful to us and we got to meet some great people in the process, so we are looking forward to this festival and more shows later on!

New Young Pony club are playing at Parklife in September. The festival is on sale now –check out the full line up and dates