"We're The Ponys from Chicago, Illinois, and this one's called 'I Wanna Fuck You’.”

Quite an introduction. The rock onslaught begins.

‘Everyday Weapon’, taken from this year’s Turn The Lights Out, is one of the most perfect ways to kick off a gig. Haunted by a reverberated surf-Pixies ghost, it’s a detached, claustrophobic, almost macabre sound; a bit like The Fall meets Joy Division, interspersed with fat-as-fuck US rock riffs reminiscent of Dinosaur Jr.

The Ponys used to create catchy, guitar-driven pop songs; now they create nightmares. From their pristine pop perfection of previous releases, such as 2005's Celebration Castle, the band has taken the plunge into the darkness of the lock-up garage this year. Like the ones I often walk home past, where homeless people go to sleep with warm, comforting oil vapors soothing them to sleep like a mother’s lullaby. And it’s a change for the better. Frontman Jered Gummere's grungy bellow, hair in the eyes and skeleton t-shirt (think Donnie Darko) sit with this new image perfectly. Pre-Turn the Lights Out he sounded, at times, like a sneering, gurning Jagger on speed (a voice not too distant from Steve Bays of Hot Hot Heat), but nowadays he sounds more like Thurston Moore loitering in the shadows of some dive of a bar. ‘Poser Psychotic’ is literally spat out like a possessed Black Rebel Motorcycle Club chewing on a wasp, and during the solo Gummere starts throwing himself around like Cobain once did in his heyday.

The eye of the storm comes when, due to technical problems with guitarist Brian Case’s equipment, Gummere fills the silence with Michael Jackson jokes and, once he realises we’ve all heard them before, “What do you call a cow that’s had an abortion? Decalfinated.” Bada-boom. Quality stuff… uhh, yeah. Thankfully, The Ponys retreat quickly back to what they do best: whacking out a bloody good rock song in the form of new album standout ‘1209 Seminary’ - the spiralling lead guitar manages to echo around the intimate Water Rats. Whilst their set could definitely benefit from some more variation, happily it consists heavily of new material, with the exception of the twisted but bouncy ‘Another Wound’ and ‘We Shot The World’. Closer ‘Pickpocket Song’ takes a while to warm up, but eventually explodes like a psycho wielding a knife around a play school.

There’s sod all unique about their old sound and, likewise, sod all unique about their new sound, but The Ponys sure are entertaining. The fact that they are just about to return to the US to tour with Deerhunter confirms as much. Following a one-song encore, the majority of the crowd appears to have been blasted enough for one night. The venue empties apart from a few remaining die-hards, who are rewarded after a vocal fight with the PA in the form of one more song.