Pony Club

On 23 February ‘04, Mark Cullen’s Pony Club released their second album following 2002’s Home Truths, which was very well received with the following press quotes:

"a debut of extraordinary promise - a musician whose mastery of his materials indicates that Home Truths is only the beginning" (Records of the year 2002) - Sunday Times

“swirling computer-kicked songs bear the seedy glamour of Soft Cell or Pulp at their best” (Albums of The Year - 2002) - Uncut

“paranoia pop with a sprinkle of domestic violence that sounds like the last Ash album snorting a bucket load of bad ketamine” - NME

“like a Mike Leigh script put to music” - Hot Press

It’s not easy recording an album by yourself on a home PC in your childhood bedroom, especially when your brand new wife is living in the same room. Bands always complain about the difficult second album. That’s why to usually record it in LA or some chateau in France, not some council house in one of the most neglected suburbs in Ireland. Second albums usually mean recording sessions fraught with tension. Producers coming and going quicker than managers at Elland Road, bass players feeling unappreciated, drummers terrified of the click-track, A&R mens visits becoming shorter and shorter, pluggers wondering how they’re going to get anything on radio, but all of this pails into insignificance when your wife and mother don’t get on.

Mark decided to leave London to return home after seven years . “I recorded “Home Truths” in Dublin and it made me realise how much I missed the place. I’d had enough of London, I’d been through two major record deals. I’d watched the band disintegrate around me, all my friends were turning into cokeheads, I got married and I noticed that Irelands Celtic Tiger had finally been captured and Dublin was slowly returning to being the shit-hole it was before I left, so it all made perfect sense. But, if I’m really honest the real reason I left was because I had huge council tax arrears. Every letter I got was red, seven court orders and I knew my credit rating could do with a fresh start.”

Mark and his brand new wife moved back to Dublin, but had to live in his parents’ house in Finglas for six months, while he recorded the album. “We lived in the bedroom I shared with my brothers when I was growing up. I just set the computer up in the corner. It probably wasn’t the ideal start to the married life. I did all the recording during the day, nights were spent listening to my wife complaining about my mother and vice-versa.”

Half way through recording Mark decided to do some gigs - “just to get out of the house”. “I did a gig in a small venue in Dublin called The Sugar Club. For a laugh I decided to do my party piece, “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye” accompanied by my very own Pans People action to lyrics routine. When the song was over I looked up and saw Morrissey in the front row breaking his bollix laughing. Surprisingly he offered me some gigs in America and Europe with the highlight being The Albert Hall in London.” More gigs with The Streets and The Dandy Warhols followed before he decided to bite the bullet and return to the bosom of his family. Family Business is a record for all the family. You’ll be glad that Mark Cullen doesn’t keep it in the family.