Meet Pony Club: a girl band that doesn't want to be a girl band and a punk band that would rather sing about day-to-day life than London burning, rifles in Eton or various political opinions held by the monarch. But who cares what they are not? What they are are three women and a maniacal drummer who produce some very exciting, furious punky music.

Equine Love Songs:

Pony Club formed in 1996. They are Sara (bass), Kate (vocals and guitar), Helen (vocals and guitar) and Ween, the only man of the outfit (drummer). The name, Kate explains, is supposed to be ambiguous. '"Pony Club" sounds like a cute name, but we're not a cute band. We liked that idea. Plus the fact that there's an S & M club in London with that name.'

'Not that we've ever been there,' Sara quicly interjects. Of course not.

Tour de Farce:

Over the seven years of being a band, Pony Club have played at many venues in the country, including one ill fated tour when the band they were supporting split up after the first gig. 'It was really bad,' Sara says. 'Because we'd all taken the time off work to do it, so we were kind of stuck with it.'

Now, though, the band are more likely to pick and choose what they do. They refuse to do girl band nights as a matter of principal. 'It's not that female bands are bad round here,' Sara explains. 'It's just that we'd rather be appreciated for being a band than just a band with three women in.'

Calm Down!

One gig that they are particularly pleased with was their performance at a Calmer Night. 'We felt honoured to be asked to do Calmer,' Kate says. 'We spent a long time working on some of our quieter material getting it just right.' The other band members nod in approval.

Writing duties are spread equally between the three women of the band. 'We've been trying to get Ween to write something,' Sara says. 'He'd probably have some interesting things to say.' But it looks like Ween will need a lot more convincing before he ventures out from behind his drum kit.

The Write Stuff:

Song writing seems to be a very therapeutic activity for the band. Principally writing about things that are going on in their lives at the moment, the music is filled with a passion and emotion that could leave many other bands looking stale. 'It's really good that we're such good friends,' Sara explains, 'because it means that we know exactly how the person writing the song is feeling and why they are writing it, so we can give them loads of encouragement.'

As with most bands, musical influences are different for each individual, although the Pixies, Wedding Present and The Breeders all feature heavily in lists of their most listened to records. As Sara and Kate are wearing Blondie and Velvet Underground T-Shirts, it would seem sensible to include them too.

Music for the Masses:

I ask them about what they think of the current music scene in Gloucestershire. The Pony Club have nothing but praise for what is going on. 'Over the past year it's really taken off,' says Sara. 'I think a lot of it has got to do with Demob coming back. That has encouraged a lot of people.' Meanwhile other local favourites include Three on Speed, Shelby (who they supported on Thursday 13 November), The Mysterons and Silverman. 'Freeloader were quite good too,' Sara adds. 'Until they split up.'

To Be Continued:

Meanwhile, what's happening next for the cutely named un-cute band? We're thinking of getting some recording done soon, and maybe a few gigs,' Kate says. 'We'll just see what happens. Whatever happens, the main thing is that we're with friends and that we have a laugh.'

Sounds good to me.

16/11/03 - First published on www.bbc.co.uk/gloucestershire on this link