Pony Pack

Pony Pack are a three-piece, consisting of a energetic drummer who tries (and fails at times) to control his Bonham-isms, a Juno-esque bass player who stands and commands and a guitarist whose sylvan movements and effortless rug-cutting motions are drawn from the classic tradition of Rock and Roll. I’m betting he really likes James Williamson, which of course is fine by Incendiary. Pony Pack are entranced by the old Harlot/Mother Goddess idea that underpins the tradition of classic Rock Entertainment. Feedback, speed-drenched blarts of noise and throwing shapes of course abound. The lyrics; a bitch-fest of curt observations and undisguised rants, dovetail the visual elements very well indeed. At times it could be a Grande Masque by Inigo Jones, updated for the likes of Lemmy & co. Their performance on this particular evening is disjointed and a tad gauche, which is actually a very good matter, as if they get things too slick it’d be a waste of talent and they’d be on thin ice. However, there’s plenty of room in these hinterlands of their sound (especially in the slow numbers) where lots of interesting things could develop. What the heck, given a big P.A. they could be knock-out. - Incendiary magazine

All in all, this is a very good debut album from a band that hasn’t been playing together for all that long (they formed in ‘06). It’s a pretty straight-ahead formula that has worked for this particular brand of garage rock for quite some time now, so, why change it, right? Right. While Pony Pack doesn’t do a whole lot in the way of reinventing the wheel on Claws & Fists, they do lay it down with enough raw vigor and sonic bite to do themselves a considerable amount of justice. Vocalist/bassist Jane Mack exerts tremendous performances, on both the mic and the bass guitar (there’s some serious bass-lines on here, by the way), throughout the album. It is fittingly produced, full of potent vivacity, and never once sounds too pristine, proper, or premeditated. This is very refreshing to hear my friends, especially in a day and age when the recording norm consists of hours upon hours of copying, pasting, and countless other horrendous, studio ‘tricks’ taking place beneath the jaded fingertips of so-called ‘engineers’. What? I’m not bitter! Okay, maybe a little... Basically, what I’m getting at is that the songs on this album sound like they were played by three band members in the same room with the same unbridled passion for their music. It’s tight, it’s solid, and most importantly, it’s alive! All I have to say to this is, fuck yeah! I have unfortunately never seen Pony Pack live, but it is my guess that Claws & Fists is a prime example of what they’re capable of. If you want to hear what a real band playing together sounds like, or if this is something that you’ve long since forgotten, pick up this album. - Mass Movement magazine

Which leads us neatly on to our next artist on this mammoth bill; Pony Pack who are a trio hailing from Amsterdam, Holland. On bass and vocals you had Jane Mack, on guitar Orang Goreng and new drummer Nora Uitterlinden who has been with the band for roughly a year. The band was pretty much no-holds barred from the first song. Battering their way through a collection of riot girl inspired 3 chord hardcore punk. Vocally Jane Mack resembles Kathleen Hanna of Bikini Kill and Le Tigre. So much so that at any point during the performance I was half-expecting a call for Revolution Girl style now! The gloriously sloppy performance betrayed a garage rock influence of the more updated kind in the style of The Pandoras and The Donnas. Although hardly the most earth shatteringly original band I’ve ever heard, they certainly made up for it with sheer enthusiasm and passion. Our very own Kev for example was certainly enraptured by the performance and was head banging down the front like he did back in the early 80’s to Saxon and Iron Maiden. I on the other hand was quietly impressed if not overawed. It did make a nice break to the very subtle and beautiful music being offered by the first 2 acts. Sometimes you just wanna rock and Pony Pack fulfilled that role perfectly. - The Lunacy Review

Trio hailing from Amsterdam and signed to the Tocado imprint who craft the kind of atonal blistered boogie that we here are much thinking we need to hear more of around this here gaff, obviously cultured and much in awe of all things Babes in Toyland and L7 though tempered with less of a scowl but packed with more than enough prime trimmings of agitated nonchalance as to have you more than suspecting that they’d beat the crap out of you just for the hell of it. There’s a playful menace to the Pony Pack sound not least found on the darkly malevolent ‘bread circus’ - a macabre and austere angular peek a boo beauty cradled by a stunningly attractive grim fairground mantra whose bloodline loosely skirts around the Banshees ’playground twist’ and yet finds its overall kinship attached to the much admired David Cronenberg’s Wife. Mind you that said ‘samlee’ does hint at a seriously frazzled Elastica all fraying riffage and pulse popping pretty punk pop shape cutting elsewhere there’s the eye poking skewed bubblegum pop knee jerk of the frantic three chord throb of the Revillos like ‘Idontwanttoknowthekindofhell’ while perhaps the sets best moment ‘thigh bone’ diffuses elements of Sleater Kinney with the wiring and unravelling psychosis of ‘goo’ era Sonic Youth. Well worth investigating further. - losingtoday.com