Turn the Lights Out

A few weeks back I made myself a CD for my car. I wanted a real ass-kicker for the long car ride I knew was coming up. During the creation of that disc, I re-discovered The Ponys. See, I bought their first album LACED WITH ROMANCE back when it came out in 2004. I found out about the band through Little Steven’s Underground Garage (THE best show on terrestrial radio). Their infectious single “Trouble, Trouble” was great garage rock in its purest form. Having enjoyed LACED WITH ROMANCE (except for the annoying track “Chemical Imbalance”) I decided to check out their next album CELEBRATION CASTLE in 2005.

This record unfortunately didn't register with me for some reason at the time I bought it. I think that sometimes, you’re just not ready for stuff. I wasn’t ready for CELEBRATION CASTLE. At the time I was listening to a lot of WILDHEARTS (really heavy, metal/pop) so The Ponys with their guy/girl garage sound just didn’t click with me. For whatever reason, the band slipped through the cracks in my iTUNES and vanished from my mind.

But while I was trying to figure out what to put on my “Awesome Rokk” compilation, I happened back upon CELEBRATION CASTLE. Wow. The record is great, but there is once track that will blow your mind. It comes in about halfway through, and boy is it a dozy…imagine blistering, I mean BLISTERING…wailing, blood coming out your ears, guitar on this track. The kind of stuff that makes you sit up and take notice…the song is called “Shadow Box.” Go, find it now. It’s brilliant, awe-inspiring rock. I will never get my fill of that song.

Anyway, so I rediscovered The Ponys just in time! They have a new record out: TURN THE LIGHTS OUT. As I’ve mentioned, The Ponys are a garage rock band. They’re heavily influenced by bands as diverse as The Clash, The Talking Heads, and XTC. There are two vocalists a guy (Jered Gummere) and a girl (Melissa Elias).

Now, before you go “Aww…how cute” stop right there. The Ponys are not your typical “he sings/she sings” kind of band. They’re darker and more interesting than that. For the most part Gummere does most of the singing, and that’s good—he’s the most consistent. Elias has a tendency to be rather, annoying (sorry). The worst song the band has ever put out (the before mentioned “Chemical Imbalance”) features her whinny warble. Conversely, however, my favorite track “Shadow Box” is also sung by her. So go figure. For the most part, Gummere’s vocals fall into two categories: a mellow growl or a manic wail (the difference is go great, I used to think there were three vocalists for this band). Often times these two very different styles are used within the context of once song.

When I think of this band, for some reason I think of Halloween. A time when people transform themselves into scarier versions of themselves...check out that album cover. Nothing sums up this record better than that picture. They’re dark, but in a mysterious sort of way…but they’re not really “gloomy” per say. I’d liken them to a cloudy day (rather than a moonless midnight). This is a band that writes songs with titles like "We Shot the World" and "Let's Kill Ourselves" but sings them with a wink. A knowning wink, they don't take themselves seriously.

TURN THE LIGHTS OUT was surprisingly difficult to find (I ended up getting it at Vintage Vinyl after striking out at 3 other stores) but I think it was well worth the effort. This band just keeps getting better.

Making my way home to KC, I sat and listened to all three records back-to-back. On each record I can hear a dramatic improvement in every aspect of this band. From the lyrics to the music…hell, even the album art is better.

The album opens with “Double Vision,” the lead single. It’s fantastic, I loved the tambourine opening. I get worried whenever a band puts its best song first, but my fears here were unfounded. TURN THE LIGHTS out is consistently well crafted. And, well...awesome.

My only source of disappointment came from the high benchmark set by “Shadow Box.” I really wanted another barn-burner that was going to roast my ear drums. While TURN THE LIGHTS OUT doesn’t have a track that I’d call an equal to “Shadow Box,” I think the guitar licks overall are better this time around.

“Small Talk” has a panoramic/U2 “Bullet the Blue Sky” feel to it. The tracks “Shine” and “Poser Psychotic” are two admirable attempts to top the work done on CELEBRATION CASTLE, and even though they don’t fully succeed—the act of trying to top themselves has elevated the whole album. This band went into the studio with the intention of moving light years beyond their last record. Did they succeed? No, of course not—but by having such lofty goals The Ponys have grown creatively in ways that should have taken them a couple more records. Most bands are content with just matching their previous achievements.

Example: The overly long, distorting jam-outs from the first record? Toned down, and put to good (and more focused) use on the final track “Pickpocket Song.” The lyrics are just as obtuse as ever, however there are a few moments that seem quite personal. My favorite falls on the albums title track “Turn the Lights Out.” A brave, “With a Little Help From My Friends”-inspired tune seems to use its sing-a-long structure to conceal just how personal it is. Gone too are the whiny Elisa tracks, all her songs work for me on TURN THE LIGHTS OUT. She doesn’t use the Valley-girl-on-crack vocal styling. Believe me, that’s great news.

So in general I’m pleased with this album. While I’m still ga-ga for a song on their last record, I think TURN THE LIGHTS OUT is better overall as a whole. I really wish this band would get some recognition in the larger world. In a perfect world they’d be bigger. TURN THE LIGHTS OUT will be in heavy rotation in my car CD player this summer.

Jason gives TURN THE LIGHTS OUT an “A”