Straight outta Ottawa, the Canadian sensations Pony Girl spoke to Music Forever Magazine about taking their surrealist synth-pop on the road after the release of their new LP Laff It Off, out now via Paper Bag Records. Check out the last of their current Canadian tour dates in Vancouver at The Anza Club on November 27th.
Esteban: Hi there, so who is in the current lineup?
Pony Girl: Mili Hong on the drums - fuckinโ monsta! Gregg Clark on bass (โGood Timesโ by Chic can be heard playing in the background), Julien Dussault on guitar, Yolande Laroche on vocals, keyboards and clarinet! Pascal Huot on vocals and guitar.
How did you all meet each other? Is everyone from Ottawa?
No oneโs from here, but we got together at the University of Ottawa and played our first show at the student-run cafe where Pascal and Gregg worked.
Where did the name Pony Girl come from?
People at shows say strange things like, โStay Golden, Pony Boy!โ [We] didnโt really get whyโฆ until someone explained thatโs a phrase from The Outsiders movie or novel. โPony Girlโ are in fact random words we found among the pages and pages of Pascalโs drawings and doodles. Someone in the band proposed we used it as a joke, and the name stuck!
What are some of your musical or cinematic influences?
90s pop, rock and hip hop music. Cheesy or not, as long as it slaps. Modern pop, Hyperpop, Caroline, Charli, the whole gang. 80s ambient music.
Movies: In The Mood For Love, Yi Yi, Drive My Car, Tampopo, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, Synecdoche New York.
How did Laff It Off come together? Where was it recorded? How long did it take? Did the pandemic affect its coming together?
Laff It Off and its sister album Enny One Wil Love You were recorded before 2020 at a handful of studios in Canada. Some rural studios like Port William Sound (Mountain Grove), Studio Wild (Saint-Zรฉnon), and studios in town like Little Bullhorn (Ottawa) and Toute Garnie (Montrรฉal).
How does Laff It Off compare to making Enny One Wil Love You in terms of sound and vision?
Well, in some ways theyโre pages from the same book. Or a better analogy might be two sides of the same coin? Sonically distinctโฆ but inseparable when it comes to lyrics and themes. We went into the studio to record one album, and quickly realized we had the material for two. Enny One is the electronic, more โproducedโ pop aesthetic which Pony Girl loves to perform. Laff It Off is the collection of songs which highlights our live โoff-the-floorโ sound.
I see that youโre touring Canada. Are you touring the U.S. soon?
Weโve had a few offers from festivals in the U.S., and itโs really cool to see Laff It Off is charting at a bunch of campus and alt radio stations. Tour dates TBA!
I read that โWannabeโ is about facing stage fright? How have you confronted it or coped with it? Were you shy as children?
After 2017, I had developed performance anxiety. I just couldnโt go on stage and โget into itโ. I felt too far from myself and even further from the people we were performing to. Ultimately we took a break until 2022 and that gave me the space and time to reconnect with myself, the band and figure out what we wanted to accomplish together. Something that helped me a lot was to stop drinking. I used to think that it helped me cope with stage fright but it just made it worse. It distanced me from the present moment and made me feel like an observer. When I am on stage I want to feel everything, I want to sink into every note and make them last for a million years. You simply canโt do that when youโre buzzed. I try to approach every show as if itโs going to be my last one. I want to make it worth our while and I want everyone in the room to feel that emotional weight. I was not shy as a child.
Is there a favorite single on the album? Or maybe a favorite lyric? What's it about?
I like the line, โYour own Rite of Spring, heckled from the standsโ in the track โCome Goodโ. Itโs a reference to Stravinskyโs ballet, which is famous for causing a riot during its premiere. At the time, there was nothing quite like it. It was polarizing. But as time passed, it became one of the most admired pieces of music of the 20th century. โCome Goodโ is all about second chances. The conversation is never over. There is always space for change, room for growth.
What was your first concert?
I donโt remember. But in the early 2000s, I saw YES with the original lineup (minus Bill Bruford) at a private outdoor concert. My dadโs friend got us tickets through a lawyer friend who knew these fancy pants capitalist organizers. Weird gig but amazing to see this band at an intimate concert.
Were you around for the Ottawa Truckers strike last year? Did that inform any lyrics or music?
We were, yes, very unfortunate. That was hell. But no! The album was mixed and mastered by that point.
If you could describe your sound as a marriage of two or three bands, what would they be?
I got no clue! But an early review of Pony Girl saidโฆ in like 2013โฆ โI think Rรถyksopp & OSI had a baby that was raised by Sigur Rรณs & Little People.โ A more recent writeup in the Sled Island festival program says, โyouโd like to see Pony Girl live if youโre into Grizzly Bear, Royal Canoe or The Flaming Lips.โ
Whatโs next now? What are some of your goals for the future, whether personally or musically?
Weโre heading to the studio next week to record LP5. Itโs sorta funky?
Is there anything that you wish somebody would ask you?
Are you too cool for the weird kids or are you too weird for the cool kids?
Thanks for talking with us!