Pony Face
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Pony Face

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Pony Face formed in 2008 when Bailey and drummer Kris Emond took time off their other musical projects to explore some roughly defined musical ideas. “We just got together in a rehearsal space and started jamming,” Bailey says. Within six months Pony Face had added some level of structure – and bass player Anth Dymke – to Bailey and Emond’s fledgling band concept. “We started off playing really droney rock,” Bailey says, “but we sounded like a terrible garage band.”

Utilising the room that a three-piece band structure can afford, Pony Face proceeded on its artistic journey, releasing its debut album Stars Are Bright a couple of years ago. Almost immediately after launching Stars Are Bright, Pony Face commenced preparations for the band’s second album. “As soon as we finished the first album we started writing this album,” Bailey says. “We had some offcuts from the first record, and some ideas for the second album.”

While Bailey makes it clear that Hypnotised isn’t a concept album, he does admit that there is a theme running through the record. “We were playing with the hypnotist theme,” Bailey says. “We saw it as cool to parallel that theme with a droney, psych, Kraut sort of sound.” Consciously or subconsciously, the band had found itself attracted to songs that explored different facets of hypnosis. “We had a couple of songs in the bunch that seemed connected, so we played on that.” Bailey says the notion of hypnosis is a critical aspect of his own approach to music. “I really like the idea of getting lost in the music,” he says. “That’s what I like about seeing live music.”

When it came to recording Hypnotised, Pony Face set out to secure the services of Casey Rice, the highly sought-after producer responsible for realising the complex, spacious sounds of the Dirty Three. “We knew that Casey was a really great producer,” Bailey says. “And anyone that captures the Dirty Three on record like he’s done on those records must be pretty talented.” While Pony Face had a sense of the sound it wanted for the record, the band deferred to Rice’s experience and skill in committing the songs to recorded form. “For this record we don’t take any credit for the production – that was all Casey,” Bailey says. “But the songs didn’t really evolve that much in the studio – I suppose they grew a little bit, but it wasn’t like the songs were just skeletons when we went into the studio.”

Pony Face and Rice put down the “nuts and bolts” of Hypnotised at Head Gap Studios, with subsequent elements of the album recorded at a church in Yarraville and Ladyland. “We did the vocals at the church because it was a quiet location,” Bailey says. “But the rest of it was mainly done at Head Gap.” For one of the ‘hypnosis’ songs, Ciccadas, Pony Face enlisted the assistance of former Models bass player, and current Rockwiz orchestra member, Mark Ferrie. Ferrie’s contribution included reading text from a 1970s dream interpretation text. “I met Mark when I was helping out with the Rockwiz schools tour,” Bailey says. “We had this Spiritualized-type track, and I thought it’d be good to have Mark contribute to the track by reading from this book of dream interpretations, this ‘70s hippie stuff,” he says. While Bailey was on good terms with Ferrie, he wasn’t sure Ferrie would agree to lending his mellifluous tones to the song. “Just talking to him while we were doing Rockwiz I noticed how good his voice is,” Bailey says. “But I didn’t think he’d accept when we asked him to help with the song, but thankfully he did.”

With its predilection for rich, kaleidoscopic soundscapes, Bailey agrees that Pony Face falls within the broad church of psychedelia. “I suppose it’s psychedelic, but not in that traditional, ‘70s sense,” he says. “Maybe it’s more modern-day psych rock.  It’s a pretty common term but it’s definitely more descriptive than just indie rock,” Bailey laughs. Consistent with modus operandi of psychedelic bands, Pony Face does avail itself of the opportunity to explore and expand its music in a live setting.  “There were a couple of songs on the last album, and on this album, that we don’t really know where they’re going to go,” Bailey says. “Kris can really go out there, and we’ve just got to keep up with him!”

While its immediate focus is on launching and promoting Hypnotised, Bailey says the members of Pony Face are keen to commence work on the band’s next record as soon as practicable. “We write constantly, and we’re already excited about doing the next record,” Bailey says. “We really want to make the perfect album.”

BY PATRICK EMERY