Dead Ponies: All Saddled Up For Summer Shows

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“We just did a video for our song ‘Snakeskin Boots’ that pretty accurately captures what Dead Ponies brings to the table,” says Albert Vega, who fronts the band along with ex-Midnight Movies guitarist/singer Jason Hammons. “We’ve never sat down and discussed what we wanted to sound like. We’ve just gone with the blank-slate approach from the get-go. As cheesy as it sounds, I think all we knew was that we wanted to rock and we didn’t want to be another Jefferson Airplane knockoff from L.A.

“We don’t think of ourselves as a fiercely original band. There are obvious nods to such indie rock staples as Sonic Youth, the Pixies and Fugazi, but it’s never been a conscious decision.”

Dead Ponies have their origins in Arizona where Vega and drummer Dean Sainz were friends in high school.

“Dean and I had been talking about starting a band for a long time,” says Vega. “We finally began getting together, with no concrete vision in mind. Jason started joining us, and it went from there.”

Hammons, who also grew up in Arizona, recalls, “I had been out of a band for a while since leaving Midnight Movies. So I was kind of itching to get back to playing. I love playing music, and I love the music we’re playing.”

Bass player Dave Robertshaw, who hails from Pennsylvania and has lived in Los Angeles for the past eight years, answered an ad in 2007 to complete the lineup.

Dead Ponies’ live performances are high energy and raw.

“When we play, we try to rock our faces off,” says Robertshaw. “Whether we succeed is a whole different matter. But for 40 minutes we’re gonna lay ourselves out with little regard for pretense.”

Vega agrees: “We definitely emphasize balls over technical ability. Of course, we want the songs to sound good, but if pressed we’ll take energy over execution. I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to move a listener the way I have been moved by music, but that really is the goal at the end of the day.”

Dead Ponies has several upcoming L.A. performances including May 9 on 88.9 KXLU’s Demolisten, where they will be playing live. After going into the studio in April to record six to eight songs, they will be doing a tour of Arizona with a Las Vegas show thrown in to boot.

“When we hit the road, our goal will be to make new fans outside of L.A.,” says Robertshaw. “People have so many choices out here, it's difficult to have a consistent showing of supporters with everybody being into their own thing.”

Despite having such a busy schedule staring them in the face, the band members are not overlooking the here and now.

“We’ve just been diligent about providing a good show for everyone who sees us,” says Sainz. “We’ve been working on getting some really good quality recordings of ourselves, which we’ll promote once they’re done.”

Robertshaw adds, “That, and do some more videos, as we had a lot of fun doing that. We worked with Eric Swenson of f.64 Productions, who did a killer job with it!”

Dead Ponies will perform April 11 at the Puka Bar, Long Beach and April 23 at the Stardust Lounge, Downey. For more information, visit www.deadponies.net.