Pony Club (band)

Last updated

Pony Club
Origin Dublin, Ireland
Years active 2001 - present
Labels Hum
Associated acts Bawl
Fixed Stars
Website http://www.ponyclub.tv/
Members Mark Cullen
Darren Cullen
Jason Cullen
Martin Healy
David Morrissey
Rob Cumiskey

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.

Dublin capital and largest city in Ireland

Dublin is the capital and largest city of Ireland. It is on the east coast of Ireland, in the province of Leinster, at the mouth of the River Liffey, and is bordered on the south by the Wicklow Mountains. It has an urban area population of 1,173,179, while the population of the Dublin Region, as of 2016, was 1,347,359, and the population of the Greater Dublin area was 1,904,806.

Republic of Ireland Ireland, a country in north-western Europe, occupying 5/6 of the island of Ireland; succeeded the Irish Free State (1937)

Ireland, also known as the Republic of Ireland, is a country in north-western Europe occupying 26 of 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, which is located on the eastern side of the island. Around a third of the country's population of 4.8 million people resides in the greater Dublin area. The sovereign state shares its only land border with Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom. It is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the Celtic Sea to the south, St George's Channel to the south-east, and the Irish Sea to the east. It is a unitary, parliamentary republic. The legislature, the Oireachtas, consists of a lower house, Dáil Éireann, an upper house, Seanad Éireann, and an elected President who serves as the largely ceremonial head of state, but with some important powers and duties. The head of government is the Taoiseach, who is elected by the Dáil and appointed by the President; the Taoiseach in turn appoints other government ministers.

A House were an Irish rock band active from the 1980s into the 1990s, and recognized for the clever, "often bitter or irony laden lyrics of [frontman] Dave Couse ... bolstered by the [band's] seemingly effortless musicality". The single "Endless Art" is one of their best known charting successes. A House were managed throughout their career by John Carroll.

Contents

History

Bawl and Fixed Stars

Cullen and his brothers moved from Finglas, Dublin to London in the 1990s after having signed to A&M under their then moniker, Bawl (which also featured Stephen McBride on bass). [1] [2] Bawl had released a series of singles on their own label, Dependent Records, and in 1996 released an album, Year Zero on A&M. This attracted critical attention and some "the new Smiths" hype (the Cullens cited their mother singing Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others at the kitchen sink as an influence) but disappointing sales. [3] For legal reasons, the band had to change its name to Fixed Stars and signed on with Mercury. They released several singles as Fixed Stars, but broke up in 2000, having been dropped before releasing their album.

Finglas Town in Leinster, Ireland

Finglas is a northwestern outer suburb of Dublin, Ireland, close to Junction 5 of the M50 motorway and the N2 road. Nearby suburbs include Glasnevin and Ballymun; Dublin Airport is 10 km to the north. It lies mainly in the postal district of Dublin 11.

London Capital of the United Kingdom

London is the capital and largest city of both England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south-east of England, at the head of its 50-mile (80 km) estuary leading to the North Sea, London has been a major settlement for two millennia. Londinium was founded by the Romans. The City of London, London's ancient core − an area of just 1.12 square miles (2.9 km2) and colloquially known as the Square Mile − retains boundaries that follow closely its medieval limits. The City of Westminster is also an Inner London borough holding city status. Greater London is governed by the Mayor of London and the London Assembly.

Popular music in the 1990s saw the continuation of teen pop and dance-pop trends which had emerged in the 1970s and 1980s. Furthermore, hip hop grew and continued to be highly successful in the decade, with the continuation of the genre's golden age. Aside from rap, reggae, contemporary R&B and urban music in general remained extremely popular throughout the decade; urban music in the late-1980s and 1990s often blended with styles such as soul, funk and jazz, resulting in fusion genres such as new jack swing, neo-soul, hip hop soul and g-funk which were popular.

Ian Broudie of the Lightning Seeds had produced some of the Fixed Stars singles, and Mark Cullen continued to work with Broudie, writing songs for the Lightning Seeds album Tilt , and contributing with Broudie to the soundtrack of Purely Belter. [4] [5] Cullen and Broudie continue to collaborate on "songs for other people", and Cullen has written for Kylie Minogue. [6]

Ian Broudie Musician and record producer

Ian Zachary Broudie is an English singer-songwriter, musician and record producer from Liverpool, England. After emerging from the post-punk scene in Liverpool in the late 1970s as a member of Big in Japan, Broudie went on to produce albums for artists including Echo & the Bunnymen, The Fall, The Coral, The Zutons, The Subways and many others.

<i>Purely Belter</i> 2000 film by Mark Herman

Purely Belter is a 2000 British comedy drama film directed by Mark Herman about two teenagers trying to get money, by any means necessary, in order to get season tickets for home games played by the Premier League football team Newcastle United.

Kylie Minogue Australian-British singer, recording artist, songwriter and actress

Kylie Ann Minogue, also known mononymously as Kylie, is an Australian-British singer, songwriter and actress. She achieved recognition starring in the Australian soap opera Neighbours, where she played tomboy mechanic Charlene Robinson. Appearing in the series for two years, Minogue's character married Scott Robinson in an episode viewed by nearly 20 million people in the United Kingdom, making it one of the most watched Australian TV episodes ever. Since then, Minogue has been a recording artist and has achieved commercial success and critical acclaim in the entertainment industry. Minogue has been recognised with several honorific nicknames, most notably the "Princess of Pop." She is recognised as the highest-selling Australian artist of all time by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA).

Pony Club

After the post-Fixed Stars transition period, Cullen then signed as a solo artist, under the name Pony Club, to Setanta Records, natural home for many Irish indie acts. As Pony Club, Cullen works with a variety of musicians, still including his brothers, and, recently, Martin Healy and David Morrissey, of Setanta labelmates A House (John Carrol, A House's manager, had also managed Bawl) and Rob Cumiskey of Dublin band, The Kybosh.

Setanta Records was a UK Independent record label. The label published indie Irish music in the late eighties and nineties.

Independent music is music produced independently from commercial record labels or their subsidiaries, a process that may include an autonomous, do-it-yourself approach to recording and publishing. The term indie is sometimes used to describe a genre, and as a genre term, "indie" may include music that is not independently produced, and many independent music artists do not fall into a single, defined musical style or genre and create self-published music that can be categorized into diverse genres. The term ‘indie’ or ‘independent music’ can be traced back to as early as the 1920’s after it was first used to reference independent film companies but was later used as a term to classify an independent band or record producer.

The Kybosh

The Kybosh are an Irish rock quartet, made up of brothers Rob Cumiskey and Donal Cumiskey, Brian Higgins and Anthony Doyle based in Dublin, Ireland. They came to prominence with the release of their first EP, 'Rubicon' in February 2007, and entered the Irish Top 50 that month.

So far, Pony Club have released three albums, the first two on Setanta. Home Truths (Allmusic review: 3.5/5 link) was named album of the year for 2002 by Dan Cairns of the Sunday Times, [7] and resulted in Cullen being offered a support slot on Morrissey's American tour. [8] For financial reasons, the band were unable to take up this offer, but they did get to support him at his concert at London's Royal Albert Hall that year. [9] The second is Family Business (Allmusic review: 4/5 link) from 2004.

Morrissey English singer

Steven Patrick Morrissey, known mononymously as Morrissey, is an English singer, songwriter, and author. He came to prominence as the frontman of the Smiths, a rock band active from 1982 to 1987. Since then, he has pursued a commercially successful solo career. Morrissey's music is characterised by his baritone voice and distinctive lyrical content featuring recurring themes of emotional isolation and sexual longing, self-deprecating and black humour, and anti-establishment stances.

Royal Albert Hall concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London

The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, and is one of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings. The Hall is a registered charity held in trust for the nation, and receives no public or government funding. It can seat 5,267.

Following the demise of Setanta, the third Pony Club album, Post Romantic, was released in November 2008 by Hum records.

Cullen has been called one of Ireland's top songwriters of the last decade. [10] [11] He receives particular attention from critics for the quality of his lyrics, which are often compared to those of Jarvis Cocker for their power of observation and acerbity, as well as tributes for his songwriting from artists such as Morrissey and Terry Hall. [9]

Jarvis Cocker English musician, singer-songwriter, radio presenter and editor

Jarvis Branson Cocker is an English musician, actor and presenter. As the frontman of the band Pulp, he became a figurehead of the Britpop genre of the mid-1990s. Following Pulp's hiatus, Cocker has pursued a solo career, and for seven years he presented a BBC Radio 6 Music show called Jarvis Cocker's Sunday Service.

Terry Hall (singer) British singer

Terence Edward Hall is an English musician and the lead singer of The Specials, and formerly of Fun Boy Three, The Colourfield, Terry, Blair & Anouchka and Vegas. He has released two solo albums and has also collaborated with many artists including David A. Stewart, Bananarama, Lightning Seeds, Sinéad O'Connor, Stephen Duffy, Dub Pistols, Gorillaz, Damon Albarn, D12, Tricky, Junkie XL, Leila Arab, Lily Allen, Shakespears Sister, Salad, and Nouvelle Vague.

The London band New Young Pony Club called themselves "New Young" to distinguish themselves from Pony Club. In response, Cullen has joked that he is happy to be known as the Old Decrepit Pony Club if needs must. [9]

Discography

Pony Club singles and albums

SingleAlbumYearLabel
Home Truths2002Setanta
Family Business2004Setanta
Post Romantic2008Hum
"Diplomat"2009Hum

Bawl singles and albums

SingleAlbumYearLabel
"Bathroom"1995Dependent Records
"Girls Night Out"1996Dependent Records
"Glen Campbell Nights"1996Dependent Records
"Beyond Safe Ways"1996Dependent Records
"Sticky Rock"1996Dependent Records
Year Zero1996Dependent Records, A&M Records
"He’s All That’s Great About Pop"1997Dependent Records

Fixed Stars singles

SingleYearLabel
"Blueprints"1999Mercury
"Every Night"1999Mercury
"Here Comes the Music"1999Mercury
"What If the World Sleeps with You?"2000Mercury

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References

  1. ↑ Ormond, Hugh (2004-02-08), "Keep It in the Family", The Times , retrieved 2008-11-29
  2. ↑ Strong, Martin C. (2003) "Bawl", in The Great Indie Discography, Canongate, ISBN   1-84195-335-0
  3. ↑ Archived 31 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine .
  4. ↑ Archived 24 June 2012 at the Wayback Machine .
  5. ↑ "madasafish". Lightning-seeds.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-08-11.
  6. ↑ Clayton-Lea, Tony (2009-01-14), "Pony Club takes the reins again", The Irish Times , retrieved 2009-01-29
  7. ↑ Cairns, Dan (2002-12-08), "Records of the Year: Pop and Jazz", Sunday Times , retrieved 2008-11-29
  8. ↑ Strong, Martin C. (2003) "Pony Club", in The Great Indie Discography, Canongate, ISBN   1-84195-335-0
  9. 1 2 3 Kelly, N. (2008-11-15), "Is romantic Ireland dead and gone?", Irish Independent , retrieved 2008-11-29
  10. ↑ Downes, Darragh (2008-11-14), "Pony Express", Irish Times, The Ticket, retrieved 2008-11-29
  11. ↑ Mulally, Una (16 November 2008), "Post Romantic album review", Sunday Tribune , archived from the original on 31 May 2009, retrieved 29 November 2008


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