Pit Pony - 'Vacancy'
Newcastle Quintet Pit Pony look set to propel themselves into the stratosphere on new single ‘Vacancy’.
Pit Pony are one of the best new punk/indie bands around – Well Well alone was enough for me to book a ticket for them at their Shacklewell Arms gig – April 25 – they’re also playing in Sunderland, Middlesborough, Edinburgh, Newport, Halifax and Liverpool in the same week – bringing their new album Dead Stars on the road. Every track released so far from the band has been nothing short of spectacular and Vacancy is no different. It’s a song that navigates the complicated relationship with social media – and you’ve all seen life hacks populate every app from TikTok to Instagram.
“It’s about being dumbfounded by the modern world and social media;” quotes vocalist Jackie Purver, making a grand statement about the need to document everything you do and consume. It’s a song designed to tear down the culture of fast-car coffee drinkers making videos in carparks and the need to always speed up; encouraging the audience to escape from the world of the always online where you’re led to believe this thing that an influencer sells you is an essential purchase. It’s a rallying cry to disconnect from that sphere, and it calls to arms like the best of them. Starbucks are currently being boycotted for their company’s ties to Israel and this song feels designed to tear the Starbucks culture down from the inside, standing up for the need to reflect life as is and not as we’re perceived to be by the need to be always online, and always be creating content.
The band have cited Fontaines and Wolf Alice as influences in their past tracks, especially Skinty Fa and Blue Weekend, and that much is evident here as it builds and builds, Purver letting her anger and frustration out at the rest of the world – screaming, calling for it to slow down. It turns inwards and looks upon itself – the complexities of modern life explored at every turn with a fiercely honest approach that has earned them a core following already; building on what was explored in previous singles, Well Well and Cut Open, with tremendous success. IDLES fans will find themselves right at home having supported them I the past – but influences range as wide as Nadine Shah and Ennio Morricone. You can see shades of 50s doo-wop and heavy rock mixed in as one here and across their work so far – and as a follow-up album to their debut, World to Me, Dead Stars looks set to propel Pit Pony into the stratosphere.
Words by Miles Milton-Jeffries
