Ponies In The Surf

Siblings Camille and Alexander McGregor (collectively known as Ponies on Fire) share songs like secrets: singing to each other and inviting outsiders to take a peek at their songbook. "Ponies on Fire" - their first album published by the wonderful Asaurus Records - has been one of the most striking records of 2006 so far, even if we couldn't quite understand what it was all about: exploring a wide array of musical styles (from swibng to dreamt psichedelia) and telling fascinating stories of which only the two of them were really aware. A sense of mystery that adds to the overall feeling of the album, making it a small masterpiece existing in a time and space of its own. We talked with Camille and Alexander about the past and the present, and we found out that even the band's name comes from a private joke…

What are the dynamics in a sister-brother band? Who write the chords, the lyrics and the music?

Camille: It's all mixed up and it all happens every which way.

Alex: Each song comes to life in it's own way -- it might be about a certain day or a private joke, or a phrase we can't get out of our heads from a newspaper. I guess since I play all the instruments you would think I write all the music, but sometimes Camille just hears it all herself in her head and I just have to jot the song down to the guitar and do a musical translation.

C: Other times Alex does everything and I just sing, those are my favorites!

What does music means to you, as both records listeners and as artists? Has it always had a primary role in your lives?

A: Definitely always primary. Music was always my best friend, and the biggest mystery puzzle I could imagine. When I heard music as a kid it seemed like alchemy, just magic, you know? And the people who really played with it seemed like sorcerers, even if they were just playing the bongos.

C: We've always been fascinated by it, and Alex in particular has always been very picky about what he likes.

To me Ponies on Fire sounds at times like a private thing, like you two are sharing secrets and are willing to let others take a peek. How does the fact of being brother and sister affects your writing? How would be different for you to play in a "normal" band?

A: In a 'normal' band we might be drawn to shared experiences that might be more recent -- maybe we wouldn't be as childish, or esoteric.

C: We can be more cryptic with each other.

A: Yeah, and sometimes that makes us work harder to avoid certain cliches.

C: Though we like to embrace, or fuck with, a lot of cliches too.

What has changed from "A Demonstration" to "Ponies On Fire" in terms of arragements, instrumentation and recording? Did you take a different approach for the 2nd version of "Government Brand"?

A: Our approach hasn't really changed -- "Ponies On Fire" is more normal for us for what we like to do in a studio, as far as using more colors from exotic instruments and so forth.

C: Alex recorded a solo album before we played together that had more psychedelic sounds, kind of like 'Aviary' -- it was more like the sound of a rainy day, and "A Demonstration" is more like us singing to each other in the kitchen.

A: Yeah, and "A Demonstration" is an exception in that it is more like what we sound like when we play live. It was kind of an experiment in stripping down everything just to the bare essentials of our voices together and the guitar.

C: Like not hiding behind anything and seeing if we can still get away with it when we're totally exposed.

A: Now we're more comfortable with either approach. And "Gov't Brand" that you asked about, that is a song that always meant to have both identities. Some songs only look good dressed up a certain way, others look good in a lot of outfits.

C: Like some only look good in a ballgown, and some look good naked. I still want to record Gov't Brand with a Chinese violin.

A: We like the idea of recording our own songs again if we hear new things in it. Like, Thelonius Monk or Jobim or people like that, they recorded tons of versions of the same songs of theirs. We figure we can do it too.

Every Asaurus release seems to have something special. How did you get in touch with the label? Were you involved in the artwork of the album?

C: We found out about Asaurus through Pants Yell!, who are friends of ours here in Boston. They had nothing but praise for Asaurus, and we did a few songs for a comp of theirs first, and then it just seemed like the perfect label for us the more we heard their other releases. Plus, Pants Yell! are so terrific, we knew we would be in good company.

A: And for the artwork, the front artwork was done by my childhood friend Sacha Twarog, and I think we must have been sending telepathic thoughts to each other about the artwork. We hadn't talked in a while, and I was having trouble thinking of images and had an epiphany that I should ask Sacha for help. But before I could Sacha just wrote me suddenly and shared all these really beautiful iconic images with me that seemed perfect, wondering if I wanted to use them for posters or something.

To me Ponies in The Surf belongs to a dream category of bands that are beyond time, along with english band George and a few others. Is there any artist/group whose work you appreciate and feel it's somewhat similar to what you are doing?

A: We appreciate the spirit things are done with. Many of our friends or musical acquaintaces, especially in Boston, we feel we can relate to their approach, even if we sound really different.

C: Casey Dienel is a piano player who definitely transports you to a different time. Death Vessel too, he's not just timeless, but like headless. A headless ghost.

If you could pick up a different time and place to live in, what would it be?

A: Wow, so many choices. The Depression era in the U.S. or the time of the wild native Indians. Anytime with less possessions.

C: Swinging' Carnaby Street, of course!

How much do you have to live an emotion in order to write a meaningful song about it? Does being in love (with someone/something) helps the creative process?

A: I think you have to feel the emotion for real -- empathize at least, but not necessarily live it. But living it might help you perform differently.

C: I think it's easiest to write songs not when you're in love, but when you're lovesick. Do you have this word in Italian?

Months have passed but I still keep listening to "little boy lost". Where does that song comes from and what's it about? And did you have John Lennon in mind when singing this?

A: Lennon is my favorite musical personality, the way he sings is like an old friend. With him, I get obssessed with one song at a time. "Mother" was a shocker, really beautiful, but also brutal. I heard it came from this 'scream therapy' he was doing, so it sounded to me a little like listening at a psychiatrist's office, just because I missed his wordplay. But I never consciously thought about all that when I wrote my song. Half of 'Little Boy Lost' came to me just walking down the street, it all came to me all at once. I remember the city block where I was walking really vividly. The second half of the song took a long time to come.

C: We really struggled to finish it. Making maps, all sorts of stuff.

A: I remember finishing it on a bus back home from New York at night. I had to steal a turn of phrase from Chehkov and a song title from Mose Allison to finish it.

C: See, we steal from lots of places.

How much is melody important to your music? Do you tend to add or subtract to the basic harmony when writing a song?

C: Melody is what gets stuck in your head, what you can whistle, but it's also the 'sway' of the melody... like riding on a swing between notes is what's really important.

A: We usually subtract harmony. It's a question of color vs. black & white. Harmony gives you color, but can sometimes give you the wrong color that gives a queasy feeling. Or just the wrong shade, slightly wrong shade of teal.

C: And that's just tacky.

Dreamy folk, pop, swing, gospel and bossa, psychedelia… are your musical interests as wide as your records suggest? Do you strive to fit different musical styles in each record?

A: I usually buy old cheap vynil records, like for two dollars. I'm just trying to find one great 'magic' song per record, the styles don't matter much. When you think about it, one per record, that's a pretty good ratio. And if a record looks kind of strange, like you can't really figure out what kind of person would make it, or who would buy it, it begs the question "Why was this ever made?" I just get too curious from there. A real interesting musical personality might make the style of the musical backing unimportant. Musical styles just create different moods and some songs can exist in a million moods.

C: Some styles are just fads anyway. Some cool people seem to fall for fads reluctantly, though, but that might still make for good art. At least when you look back on it with some hindsight.

A: A more detached perspective can help.

I know I'm not supposed to ask you this, but on the net I couldn't find a reference to your name so I might as well ask… why the name Ponies in the surf?

C: Can I tell it?

A: yeah

C: So, a friend of hours gave Alex a black velvet 'paint-by-numbers' paint kit for his birthday. I threw a party for him, and after everyone had left and it was really dark and late we were trying to draw this painting, which at first just looks like a kind of puzzle of squiggly white lines because it's in the negative. You only see the figures emerge as you paint in the colors.

A: And when I could see it and I'd figured it out I said, "Hey, those are horses on the beach." And Camille said "No, they're 'ponies in the surf.'" That cracked us up for like ten minutes, it was just the strangest little phrase, and that's where our name comes from.

C: We originally thought a band with a name like that would only be allowed to play for children's birthday parties and libraries, things like that.

What are you up to at the moment? I read you are planning a 7" on Tragadiscos. Are there gonna be new songs? What's in store for the future?

C: Later this week we're starting to record a whole bunch of new songs and a couple of older ones with our friend Andrew Churchman, "Mr. Pants Yell!", playing drums. And we recorded a few songs at the M.I.T. radio station in the spring. The 7" for Tragadiscos will be a small pressing, and I know Alex especially is excited to have our songs on vynil, it's such a great format for posterity.

A: I always feel like we're one or two LPs behind as far as songs we want to record, we have quite a few newer songs. Plus we have a lot of cover songs to record. I'd like to give those away as an extra party favor stuck in one of our next LPs. A little bonus.

C: As far as touring, when we finish some recordings we think we'd enjoy going to Europe, or at least Montreal. Hopefully England and Spain will allow us. How is Italy for shows? Is your government as much of a farce as ours?

Salvatore

Links:

Ponies In The Surf website: www.poniesinthesurf.com
Ponies In The Surf@indiepop.it: ../bands/poniesinthesurf.htm
Asaurus Records: www.asaurus.org