Talk about an unnatural setting for The Ponys to be playing their music. The middle of an afternoon is as strange and uncomfortable as it gets for the Chicago band, which operates exceptionally better closer to the witching hour than they do to snack time on Wednesday afternoon. It takes a physical transformation or more of one for a body to absorb what Jered Gummere is writing and singing about before a sunset, before a good, solid wasting. Hear the band’s Matador Records debut Turn the Lights Out and it’s self-explanatory that they’re NOT asking. The idea of putting yourself into a dark room or below an inky, dead sky is as smart of a suggestion as buttering a cookie sheet before making a batch of chocolate chips. Since the band had all the time in the world before it started its nationwide tour with The Black Lips (this past weekend in Austin at South By Southwest) to support the new record, it drove in for a day trip visit to record their session early in February. It was right during the middle of a work day when we did this dealio. They did the unnecessary and brought their own beer a 12-pack of Pabst Blue Ribbon and tore into their four-song set without any hesitation, somehow making it feel 12 hours later with the first 30 seconds of music. The air got stale with cigarette smoke, the eyes got bloodshot and skin felt the kind of electric lethargy that the band churns out with its moody harangues and its tumultuous, slow, but loudly burning firestorms of dissent. You half expected to walk out onto the streets and be dead with cold and emptiness and when we got the last flickers of sunlight, everything felt disorienting. The Ponys must feel that way often, out of place whenever the sun still hangs lightly, scuttling off to hang upside down like bats in a belfry, waiting it out until the light’s no more. This was the same afternoon that The Chicago Reader was here to hang out with us and snap some photos. There was discussion of going to the casino afterward to blow some money. There was talk of heating bills and the comfort of Kmart-bought work boots. It’s doubtful that anyone will ever see Gummere wearing the same yellow hunter’s sweatshirt emblazoned with a frolicking white tail deer on the current tour or ever. It’s more of a daytime shirt and the band’s a group for the deepest of night. Sean Moeller

First song
Hara Kiri (The Ponys) [3.19MB] [2909 downloads]


– original version appears on Turn the Lights Out
The definition of Harakiri is basically to commit suicide by slicing open your abdomen. So, I guesswewere really trying to have the music and lyrics go along with that theme. It’s kind of mellow in the beginning and then all of the sudden, the guitar slices you open.

Second song
Kingdom of Hearts (The Ponys) [2.02MB] [2794 downloads]


– original version appears on Turn the Lights Out
I really like this song. It might be my favorite song on the record. It has this cool poppy feel but also has this deep feeling of desperation.

Third song
1209 Seminary (The Ponys) [2.97MB] [2638 downloads]


– original version appears on Turn the Lights Out
This song is about this house I lived in when I was in high school. We called it the fort and we fucking destroyed it. Everything was spray painted and nothing fucking worked. One day we came home and there was a message on our machine that our landlord was dead. So we drew a monument on the walland never paid rent again.

Fourth song
Poser Psychotic (The Ponys) [3.75MB] [2679 downloads]


– original version appears on Turn the Lights Out
To sum this one up, it’s basically about people who act crazy even though they’re not, so people think there is this really crazy cool artist when they’re just a fucking poser.