Telstar Ponies are a rock band from Glasgow, Scotland. They
were signed onto Fire Records Their musical style varies
considerably but displays obvious influences from Krautrock,
folk (especially latterly), and experimental noise.
They were formed in 1994 by David
Keenan on leaving 18 Wheeler. The original line-up included
drummer Neil Grant as well as Sushil K Dade (later of Future Pilot
AKA) on bass and John Hogarty (later of National
Park) on guitar. Grant was replaced on drums by Brendan
O'Hare (ex-Teenage Fanclub) in time
for the recording of their first single 'Maps and Starcharts'. By the
time this single was released Dade and Hogarty had been replaced by
Gavin Laird and Rachel Devine. This line-up recorded
two albums, In The Space Of A Few Minutes and Voices
From The New Music, adding Richard
Youngs to the line-up for the latter. They split up in 1997
following the departures of both O'Hare and Laird. However, they
reformed minus O'Hare in 1999. A third album was recorded, mixed by Christoph
Heemann and Andrew Chalk, but was never released. The band's current
status is described as being on "long term sabbatical" by Devine, Laird
and Prior, who have formed Porch Song Anthology in the
meantime. Keenan plays with Taurpis Tula and Tight Meat Duo, curates
the Subcurrent music festival and runs Volcanic
Tongue, a shop, label and distributor specialising in outsider musics.
Band members:
First line-up
- David Keenan (vocals, guitar)
- Neil Grant (drums)
- Sushil K Dade (bass)
- John Hogarty (guitar)
Second line-up
- David Keenan (vocals, guitar)
- Rachel Devine (vocals, guitar, violin)
- Gavin Laird (bass, vocals)
- Brendan O’Hare (drums, guitar, vocals)
- Richard Youngs - (vocals,
keyboards, violin, guitar -- 2nd album only)
Reformation line-up
- David Keenan (vocals, guitar)
- Rachel Devine (vocals, guitar)
- Gavin Laird (guitar, vocals)
- Kenneth Broom - (drums, saxophone)
- Raymond Prior (bass, vocals)
External links
