photo by Becky DiGiglio
On the left, we see Candice Renee who is the drummer. On the right, we see Jeff Cesare who plays the guitar and sings. These two lovely and young Californian figures are Blood Ponies. On November 15 that outfit from San Diego releases their first proper album, ‘Hoax’, which hides inside 10 very loud and really very loud post-punk oriented bullets. Let me put this in other words; November 15 sees their debut LP after February’s single ‘Hostile Takeover’ and 2017’s ‘A Desolate Place’ EP, and the world is not quite ready for this! The band claims they play some sort of a Dystopian Doom Punk music but the real thing is that they play heavy post-punk that is injected with the region’s acclaimed trademark morbidity of deathrock, this is California at its finest!
‘Hoax’ LP is a beautiful destroyer in all, want that wall of sound? You got it! Want some real pumping doom? You’ll find it in there too! Are you looking for sweet revenge and the artistic sauciness? You’ll taste plenty in there! What is ‘Hoax’ after all? Well, it is all these and more, yes! I hold the press release in my hands which kindly informs:
‘After meeting as teenagers at a midnight showing of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Candice Renee and Jeff Cesare began their path of creating dark post-punk in the city of sunshine. Today, they spread the gospel of goth while wearing plenty of sunscreens.’
I love that attitude but way more I really loved their album. ‘Hoax’ is not for zapping as it is also not for fun, no way! Within these 10 songs, Candice and Jeff prove themselves as real and conclusive rockers form the heart with a dark edge and some noise-enormous! No, these are not the kids of The White Stripes but if I tried to relate them with another American outfit that would be only the Friendship Commanders from Nashville because they both take no prisoners. These are bands do-or-die, take-it-or-leave-it, etc. Blood Ponies won’t put you in the test to give ’em another chance. If you instantly replay their album it means that they won the battle, and you are a very happy person on the phone “you must come here, do you know Blood Ponies…yeah, I thought so!” On October 31, the band cleverly unveiled maybe the coziest track off the album, the noisy sweetness of ‘Submit/Surrender’ where everything in there is just (dark) rock-and-roll-babe, let’s go!
As it looks, the second single will be ‘Four Walls’ where you can taste their thrust and the power they have as a very well-tuned duo which may easily take you from noise rock to a darker path. Don’t ignore the song ‘Still Life’ if you believe in the delights of doom, don’t ignore the other tune ‘2182’ if you are fond of the traveling punkbury approach, and listen closely to ‘Deluge’ with the ongoing groove underneath. Also, if you are that listener desperately looking for surprises in the records…‘To Be Hungry Already Means You Want To Be Free’, or in other words...‘Untitled‘. Blood Ponies are a bit of a dangerous and tricky outfit as weird as is their name. And on November 15, you’ll see why we chose to present ‘Hoax’. It is one of the most imposing records in 2019, a very cool and nice-sounding by a band so sharp!
For those of you who still don’t know, Blood Ponies‘ debut full-length album ‘Hoax’ is due out, Vinyl and Digital, on November 15, 2019.
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photo by Becky DiGiglio
Written by Loud Cities Mike
