Pony Club Interview

(Originally published in Campus Magazine, February 2009)

With a career stretching back to when Miley Cyrus was in nappies, Mark Cullen is a veteran of the music industry by today’s standards. Despite his extensive back-catalogue, Cullen’s band Pony Club’s latest album ‘Post Romantic’ is being hailed by many critics as the best work of his career.

When I ring him for the interview, he hangs up on me. Mildly insulted, I try again. “Sorry, I’m just driving at the moment,” he says. “But go ahead, I’m on a country road and there’s no gardaí around.” Conscious of the hazard I’ll be exposing Mark and the inhabitants of this rural area to if I hang on the line too long, I launch into my questions.

Your new album spent a couple of years in production. What was the reason for the wait?

My wife contracted a virus Guillane Barre Syndrome a couple of years ago and was paralysed for a few months. I had to look after her and our two children so I didn’t have time to be working on an album. It puts things into perspective when something like that happens.

When did you go back to working on the album?

It was all recorded in 2006, just not released. The record company we were with, Setanta, went into liquidation in the meantime but then Dave Purcell from Hum Records asked to hear it and wanted to put it out.

Some of the lyrics on the album suggest a sense of disappointment with life. Is it important to have songs that deviate from common themes like sex, drugs and rock’n’roll?

Things go wrong in life. Even if you have loads of success, it’s depressing to be getting old, fat and losing your hair. I think it’s really important to sing about what you know. When I heard the new U2 song, I just thought ‘For f*ck’s sake, why don’t you write about what it’s like to be millionaires?’

Did it annoy you when a band called 'New Young Pony Club' arrived on the music scene?

It annoyed me but we already had two name changes so we weren’t prepared to change again. Their music is awful but if one of their fans buys our album by mistake, that’s great. I like to think of us as ‘Old Decrepit Pony Club’.

Are there any Irish artists you’d tip for 2009?

I’ve heard good things about Imelda May but, honestly, Irish bands tend not to inspire me. It’s a pity so many try to sing in an American accent rather than being proud of where they’re from.

What’s next for Pony Club?

We’re going to be performing a Girls Aloud track on ‘Podge & Rodge’ in a few weeks and going on an Irish tour in April. We’ll be releasing new EP’s every couple of months too. We aim be as big as Bell X1 by the end of the year…

Pony Club play Whelan's this coming Friday, 13th of February.

[Image: Myspace]