PONYTAIL LIVE @ AUDIO, BRIGHTON
March 09, 2009,
Written by Fern Edwards
OK so it's a Saturday night and Audio - one of Brighton's leading venues for club nights and live music, should surely be fairly packed out by this hour but it's not. Surprising considering the bargain ticket price of £6 for four bands and DJ sets in between, yet I could just about count no more than 100 people, roughly half of which consisted of American-Apparel-wearing-Vice-reading hipsters, and the support bands themselves. At no more than two songs into the Baltimore 4-piece's set, guitarist Ken Seeno asks quietly "does everything sound OK? do we need more guitars?" while vocalist Molly Seigel chirps "could we have a little less light? So I can see you guys". "More of you guys!" shouts an enthusiastic fan. "More of you guys!" Seigel laughs back, upon acknowledging the empty spaces around the venue.
But as the set unfolds, the crowd thickens out and becomes a small sea of head bobbing, bouncing, dancing and jumping enthusiasts. Infectious tracks like 'Beg Waves' are executed with perfect energy and sweat starts collecting around Seigel's wavy hairline, as her face contorts with joyous non-lyric yelps. She practically delivers her wails and squeaks with trance-like concentration as if channeling the band’s chaos through her small pubescent-boy like frame, while fellow guitarist Dustin Wong contributes additional yelling and squealing as he thrashing his guitar with frantic leads and jaunting chords. All of this unrelenting energy is held tight by Jeremy Hyman who attacks each fill as though he may never stop.
The set feels extremely short, with tracks melting into each other and the pace and vigor of Ponytail's unique blend of Japanese noise-rock and pop mayhem doesn't cease to delight me, infact, I find myself completely entranced by Seigel's rolling eyes and wide grin as she bounces in and out of the crowd. '7 Souls' and 'Late For School' were definitely stand out moments, but the best was saved til last when 'Celebrate The Body Electric' was cracked out. Although a roller coaster ride of 7 minutes on their second album Ice Cream Spiritual (We*Are*Free, 2008) this thrill feels a little shorter but probably isn't, I'm just wanting the song to keep going on and on. 'Til next time, eh.
For more info on Ponytail, check out their MySpace
Fern Edwards
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