New Young Pony Club
Encyclopedia
New Young Pony Club are an English electronic
band from London
, consisting of members from London, Hereford
, Cambridge
and Bromley
. Their influences are prominently from post-punk
and New Wave
.
New Young Pony Club are influenced by many different bands and acts, and try not to risk becoming too close to the sound of any one other band. Their own take on their music is "We marry the dance ethic with the pop ethic, and make something that you can dance to and sing along to".
before being discovered by more established Australian label Modular Recordings
, and signing a worldwide deal.
The band's name came from lead singer Bulmer's desire to be a part of a club or team at school. Her original idea for the band name was the more concise "Pony Club
", which she describes as "quirky and kinky and fun". A pre-existing Irish band had already claimed the name, and the prefix "New Young" was added to reflect that the band are "a newer, younger and kinkier Pony Club
".
.
The band's song "Ice Cream" got very wide play in 2009 as a 30 second soundtrack for the TV and Internet advertisement for the Cube Mobile Device from the Nissan car company.
, was released on Modular Recordings
on 9 July 2007 in the UK and 28 August in the U.S. Although the band had an album's worth of material, they decided to create an entirely new album.
Since its release, Fantastic Playroom has received generally positive reviews from the music press in Britain. Mixmag
awarded it Album of the Month in its July issue. On 17 July Fantastic Playroom was shortlisted for the 2007 Mercury Prize.
According to the We Smoke Fags final MySpace blog posting, their bassist Lee has joined New Young Pony Club after We Smoke Fags have decided to go on an indefinite hiatus
Lee has since been replaced on bass by Remy Mallet who previously played with Josh Weller amongst others.
was followed by a place on the 2007 NME Indie Rave Tour
along with CSS, The Sunshine Underground
and Klaxons
. The band went on to their first headline tour to promote their debut album, Fantastic Playroom
. The sold-out tour launched on 25 May 2007 at the Gloucester Guildhall, and concluded at Winter Gardens in Eastbourne on 9 June 2007. The band continued to play festivals throughout 2007. The band brought in the 2008 New Year at the Rhythm & Vines
festival in Gisborne
, New Zealand
.
In 2009 Sarah Jones joined Bat for Lashes
' touring band and appeared with her on Later... with Jools Holland.
2010 has seen NYPC tour even more extensively around the world taking in new territories such as Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia as well as revisiting Australia and mainland Europe. They also featured on several UK festival lineups including Reading and Leeds, Underage, Wireless, Bestival and Lovebox. In October the band headlined the Rocking the Daisies and Rocking the Gardens festivals in South Africa.
In 2011 New Young Pony Club are supporting Katy Perry
on her California Dreams Tour
in continental Europe.
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
band from London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, consisting of members from London, Hereford
Hereford
Hereford is a cathedral city, civil parish and county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, southwest of Worcester, and northwest of Gloucester...
, Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
and Bromley
Bromley
Bromley is a large suburban town in south east London, England and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Bromley. It was historically a market town, and prior to 1963 was in the county of Kent and formed the administrative centre of the Municipal Borough of Bromley...
. Their influences are prominently from post-punk
Post-punk
Post-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...
and New Wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
.
New Young Pony Club are influenced by many different bands and acts, and try not to risk becoming too close to the sound of any one other band. Their own take on their music is "We marry the dance ethic with the pop ethic, and make something that you can dance to and sing along to".
Forming and signing
Mutual friends introduced now London-based vocalist Tahita Bulmer and producer Andy Spence, who shared a love of punk rock and dance music. The founding pair began writing together, originally only for Bulmer to perform. Spence later assumed a larger role when they decided to form a proper band, so the duo recruited the single-monikered Lou (keyboards), Igor Volk (bass), and Sarah Jones (drums). The band formed in 2005, and released two limited edition 7" singles ("The Get Go" and "Ice Cream") on indie label Tirk RecordingsTirk Recordings
Tirk Recordings is a UK record label created by Sav Remzi. It has signed a broad range of sounds from the Kraut Rock of Fujiya & Miyagi, to the disco re-edits from Greg Wilson, then across the waters to the "SoCal" sounds of Daniel Judd and the New York 'Disco bump' of Drrtyhaze...
before being discovered by more established Australian label Modular Recordings
Modular Recordings
Modular Records is an Australian record label. It was established by Sydney-based music promoter Steve Pavlovic as a joint-venture with EMI, but is now distributed by Universal Music in Australia...
, and signing a worldwide deal.
The band's name came from lead singer Bulmer's desire to be a part of a club or team at school. Her original idea for the band name was the more concise "Pony Club
Pony Club
Pony Club is an international youth organization devoted to the educating youths about horses and riding. Pony Club organizations exist in over 30 countries worldwide...
", which she describes as "quirky and kinky and fun". A pre-existing Irish band had already claimed the name, and the prefix "New Young" was added to reflect that the band are "a newer, younger and kinkier Pony Club
Pony Club (band)
Pony Club are a Dublin-based Irish band, primarily a vehicle for Mark Cullen. Other members include his brothers, Darren and Jason, as well as Martin Healy and David Morrissey, both formerly of A House, and Rob Cumiskey of The Kybosh.- Bawl and Fixed Stars :...
".
Breakthrough
The band has enjoyed success in their early years. Their highest chart placing for a first release was number 47 for second official single "The Bomb", though a re-release of "Ice Cream" reached number 40. They put their lack of chart success down to not having the "desire to make really radio friendly singles", but also claim that they "don't want to be the biggest band in the world". New Young Pony Club have been successful in Australia, the home of their label, where they have received airplay on radio station Triple JTriple J
triple j is a nationally networked Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners between the ages of 18 and 30. The government-funded station is a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation...
.
The band's song "Ice Cream" got very wide play in 2009 as a 30 second soundtrack for the TV and Internet advertisement for the Cube Mobile Device from the Nissan car company.
Fantastic Playroom
The band's debut album, Fantastic PlayroomFantastic Playroom
Fantastic Playroom is the debut album by English electronic band New Young Pony Club. It was released in the United Kingdom on 9 July 2007 by Island Records. The album reached number fifty-four in the UK and number seventy-nine in Australia...
, was released on Modular Recordings
Modular Recordings
Modular Records is an Australian record label. It was established by Sydney-based music promoter Steve Pavlovic as a joint-venture with EMI, but is now distributed by Universal Music in Australia...
on 9 July 2007 in the UK and 28 August in the U.S. Although the band had an album's worth of material, they decided to create an entirely new album.
Since its release, Fantastic Playroom has received generally positive reviews from the music press in Britain. Mixmag
Mixmag
Mixmag is a British dance music and clubbing magazine. It styles itself as "the world's biggest selling dance music magazine", with an Audit Bureau of Circulations audited circulation of approximately 21,250...
awarded it Album of the Month in its July issue. On 17 July Fantastic Playroom was shortlisted for the 2007 Mercury Prize.
The Optimist
The new album The Optimist was released in the UK on 8 March 2010.According to the We Smoke Fags final MySpace blog posting, their bassist Lee has joined New Young Pony Club after We Smoke Fags have decided to go on an indefinite hiatus
Lee has since been replaced on bass by Remy Mallet who previously played with Josh Weller amongst others.
Live shows
The band toured extensively in 2006 and 2007. A support tour with Lily AllenLily Allen
Lily Rose Beatrice Cooper , better known as Lily Allen, is an English recording artist and fashion designer. She is the daughter of actor and musician Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen. In her teenage years, her musical tastes evolved from glam rock to alternative...
was followed by a place on the 2007 NME Indie Rave Tour
NME Tours
The NME Tours consist of a variety of tours organised by British music industry publication NME. Throughout the year, NME sponsors numerous tours of the United Kingdom by various up-and-coming and established bands in a variety of formats...
along with CSS, The Sunshine Underground
The Sunshine Underground
The Sunshine Underground are an English, Leeds based indie rock band. The Sunshine Underground play a variety of punk, funk and indie, featured on their debut album, Raise the Alarm, released by City Rockers on August 28, 2006...
and Klaxons
Klaxons
Klaxons are a British indie rock band, based in London. Following the release of numerous 7-inch singles on different independent record labels, as well as the success of previous singles "Magick" and "Golden Skans", the band released their debut album, Myths of the Near Future on 29 January 2007....
. The band went on to their first headline tour to promote their debut album, Fantastic Playroom
Fantastic Playroom
Fantastic Playroom is the debut album by English electronic band New Young Pony Club. It was released in the United Kingdom on 9 July 2007 by Island Records. The album reached number fifty-four in the UK and number seventy-nine in Australia...
. The sold-out tour launched on 25 May 2007 at the Gloucester Guildhall, and concluded at Winter Gardens in Eastbourne on 9 June 2007. The band continued to play festivals throughout 2007. The band brought in the 2008 New Year at the Rhythm & Vines
Rhythm & Vines
Rhythm and Vines is an annual music festival held at Waiohika Estate vineyard, several kilometres from the city of Gisborne, New Zealand...
festival in Gisborne
Gisborne, New Zealand
-Economy:The harbour was host to many ships in the past and had developed as a river port to provide a more secure location for shipping compared with the open roadstead of Poverty Bay which can be exposed to southerly swells. A meat works was sited beside the harbour and meat and wool was shipped...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
.
In 2009 Sarah Jones joined Bat for Lashes
Bat for Lashes
Natasha Khan , also known by her stage name Bat for Lashes, is an English musician. She sings and plays the piano, bass, guitar, harpsichord and the autoharp....
' touring band and appeared with her on Later... with Jools Holland.
2010 has seen NYPC tour even more extensively around the world taking in new territories such as Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia as well as revisiting Australia and mainland Europe. They also featured on several UK festival lineups including Reading and Leeds, Underage, Wireless, Bestival and Lovebox. In October the band headlined the Rocking the Daisies and Rocking the Gardens festivals in South Africa.
In 2011 New Young Pony Club are supporting Katy Perry
Katy Perry
Katy Perry is an American singer, songwriter and actress. Born in Santa Barbara, California, and raised by Christian pastor parents, Perry grew up listening to only gospel music and sang in her local church as a child. After earning a GED during her first year of high school, she began to pursue a...
on her California Dreams Tour
California Dreams Tour
California Dreams Tour is the second concert tour by American pop singer Katy Perry, in support of her third studio album Teenage Dream. Beginning February 2011, the tour will visit Europe, Australasia, Asia and the Americas...
in continental Europe.
Band members
- Tahita BulmerTahita BulmerTahita Rotardier Bulmer is the lead vocalist for the British Electropop band New Young Pony Club. Tahita is the daughter of Rowan Bulmer, previously one of the Richmond "Faces", along with his flatmate, Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones, and photographer for Ready Steady Go/The Marquee Club, now...
– vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments... - Andy Spence – guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
- Lou Hayter – keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
- Sarah Jones – drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
- Remy Mallet – bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
Albums
- Fantastic PlayroomFantastic PlayroomFantastic Playroom is the debut album by English electronic band New Young Pony Club. It was released in the United Kingdom on 9 July 2007 by Island Records. The album reached number fifty-four in the UK and number seventy-nine in Australia...
(2007) - The Optimist (2010)
Singles
- "Ice Cream" (February 2005)
- "The Get Go" (27 June 2005)
- "Get Lucky" (20 March 2006)
- "Ice Cream" (18 September 2006) (first re-release)
- "The Bomb" (19 March 2007) – UK #47
- "Ice Cream" (2 July 2007) (second re-release) – UK #40
- "Get Lucky" (29 October 2007) (re-release)
- "Chaos" (28 February 2010)
- "We Want To" (30 May 2010)
Remixes
- "The Mirror Man" (New Young Pony Club Remix) – SpektrumSpektrum (band)Spektrum is a London based house act consisting of:*Gabriel Olegavich , who was born in South East London and is based in Hackney;*Lola Olafisoye , from North London;*Isaac Tucker from New Zealand;...
(2006) - "Tears Dry on Their OwnTears Dry on Their Own"Tears Dry on Their Own" is a song written and recorded by English singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse for her second studio album, Back to Black . It was released as the album's fourth single on 31 July 2007...
" (NYPC's Fucked Mix) – Amy WinehouseAmy WinehouseAmy Jade Winehouse was an English singer-songwriter known for her powerful deep contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres including R&B, soul and jazz. Winehouse's 2003 debut album, Frank, was critically successful in the UK and was nominated for the Mercury Prize...
(2007) - "Jealous GirlsJealous GirlsJealous Girls is a single by the band The Gossip. It is the third single from their album Standing in the Way of Control and was released on 20 August 2007.The cover was designed by David Lane...
" (New Young Pony Club Remix) – GossipGossip (band)Gossip is a three-piece American indie rock band formed in 1999. The band consists of singer Beth Ditto, guitarist Brace Paine and drummer Hannah Blilie. After releasing several recordings, the band broke through with their 2006 studio album, Standing in the Way of Control . A follow-up, Music for...
(2007) - "Leave It AloneLeave It Alone (song)"Leave It Alone" is a song by Operator Please and is the third single released from their debut album Yes Yes Vindictive. It was released as the second single from the album in the United Kingdom on 19 November 2007, and as the third single in Australia on 25 February 2008.The Nine Network has been...
" (New Young Pony Club Remix) – Operator PleaseOperator PleaseOperator Please are an Australian pop band, originating on the Gold Coast of Queensland, in 2005. Their current lineup consists of vocalist and guitarist Amandah Wilkinson, drummer Tim Commandeur, keyboardist Chris Holland, Ashley McConnell on bass guitar, and violinist Taylor Henderson.The...
(2007) - "Marlon J.D." (NYPC's The Wire Up Mix) – Manic Street PreachersManic Street PreachersManic Street Preachers are a Welsh alternative rock band, formed in 1986. They are James Dean Bradfield, Nicky Wire, Richey Edwards and Sean Moore. The band are part of the Cardiff music scene, and were at their most prominent during the 1990s...
(2009)
External links
- Live review at Muso's GuideMuso's GuideMuso's Guide or musosguide is a UK-based online magazine. It was launched in 2003, and has been re-launched three times. It is an editorially independent magazine.-History:...
Print media
Radio
- Radio Interview. Dec 2006 - SYNStudent Youth NetworkSYN Media is a youth-run media organisation that provides training and broadcast opportunities for young people.Commonly referred to as SYN, the organisation produces new and independent media that is made by and for Melbourne's young people...
90.7FM Melbourne, AustraliaAustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...