Crazy Horses... New Young Pony Club

Sometimes when you call someone for an interview it’s not a good time because they’re either in a rush, distracted or just not in the mood to tell you down a telephone why they think they’re new record is their best yet. Today, however, when I phone Tahita Bulmer – a woman with more presence than a poltergeist – she’s incredibly chatty, diligent and absorbing to listen to. So what’s the problem? Well, although it’s a July day in London, for Bulmer it may as well be a July day in the Amazon.  “Sorry we’re just getting really, really badly rained upon. I think I might go somewhere where there is a little bit more shelter,” she explains, as she can be heard dashing for the “shelter” she speaks so longingly for. “It’s really quite insane out here,” she adds, “we’re just trying to walk across the Millennium Bridge and have got caught in the most hideous rain with people falling over and stuff.”

As raindrops crackle against the microphone she’s speaking into, the scene sounds dreary, damp and depressing, yet, as Bulmer roars with laughter at the whole thing, it sounds so sublimely New Young Pony Club as well – it’s unexpected yet ridiculously welcome.

You’ve probably heard of the New Young Pony Club, and if not, then you’ve definitely heard of something by the New Young Pony Club. Most likely in the shape of the five piece’s infamous ‘Ice Cream’ - a sleazy slice of electro glossed with hedonistic and teasing lyrics - which appeared as the soundtrack to Intel’s Core Duo 2 processor campaign last year. “I can give you what you want,” sings Bulmer seductively on the song, as a voice over woman tells consumers – in an equally as suggestive way - to “Multiply your possibilities.” It’s not thirty seconds long, but for New Young Pony Club, its instant effect has made their four years of trying to make it in the music industry look like a life time.

“I think we were very wary in the beginning because it was so early on,” admits Bulmer, about the campaign, “but then it’s a worldwide advert that was going to be played prime time, several times a night around the world so...” she pauses. “People that we had advising us were saying that if you were going to get that on MTV then you would jump at the chance and here is an advertising agency and a company going, ‘we’re going to pay you some money to do it as well.’” As Bulmer reveals, being signed to an independent label – the Australian imprint, Modular, whose other artists include, Wolfmother – also facilitated their decision. “It wasn’t a huge amount of money but it really helped,” she chuckles.

The money that the advert brought them might not have been much but it’s been instrumental in bringing the New Young Pony Club to the position that they’re at now - that is, at the general release stage of their long awaited debut album, ‘Fantastic Playroom.’ Bulmer’s voice sounds overjoyed at the mention of the pop-punk-electro dance album (yes, it’s a certified genre dodger) finally being in the shops. “We’ve been looking forward to this time, if we’d have had our chance we’d have released it a lot earlier really, we’ve been champing at the bit, to use a sport analogy, to get this released and let people hear it because it feels like there’s just been a lot of hype and there hasn’t really been any...” she suddenly changes direction. “Well there has been some music but there hasn’t been lots of music to show off basically, so it’s nice to have something that people can listen to and go ‘oh yeah, they are really good’ or ‘oh yeah, I hate them,’ you know?”

Like New Young Pony Club’s early independent singles, ‘Ice Cream,’ ‘The Bomb’ and ‘Get Lucky’ – which all appear on the album – ‘Fantastic Playroom’ is a provocative record about living in the moment. An album which talks as liberally about sex, relationships and social shenanigans almost as liberally as those said things happen in the 21st century. Indeed, there’s an obvious juxtaposition behind the often simple, bass and drum driven tracks like ‘Jerk Me’ and ‘Grey’ and the culturally significant lyrics which the songs contain. “To a certain extent I must have human relationships and sexuality and gender on the brain I think,” admits Bulmer. “From things like that to the experiences that you have and the people you meet, films, places you go to and other music - I find it seems quite esoteric the inspiration behind songs.”