Hailing from Chicago, Illinois, The Ponys are an indie rock/garage band that have been around since the early 2000's. The band have released three varied albums to date that have been well received but were never enough for them to break through as a truly successful act.
On their 2004 debut album Laced With Romance, the quartet proved fluent in an addictive and distinct strain of garage rock, primarily that of Standells/Seeds-style 60s rave-ups as refracted through the wiry late-70s vintage punk of acts like the Undertones or Richard Hell and the Voidoids.
Their 2005 follow-up, Celebration Castle, saw the group change its sound to further include moody 80s post-punk, drawing references to Joy Division, Sonic Youth c. Evol, and the propulsive jangle of early R.E.M.
2007 saw their third and most recent album Turn the Lights Out kept that transformation going, the band beginning to sound a little like Sonic Youth Lite -- all cool guitar tone, none of the unpredictable noise jams.
As with all great garage rock bands, however, the Ponys perform their shameless pillaging with such dexterity and stylish swagger that they've virtually rendered themselves immune to accusations of unoriginality. Whether or not any of their ideas are actually new feels irrelevant, the only pertinent questions to ask are does the band make these borrowed sounds their own, and does it sound good? To which the only possible answers must be, respectively, without question and shit yeah.
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