“Going to the biggest music concert in the world? I mean, I think it’s kinda the biggest opportunity that any up and coming band could have.”

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Bad Pony are a Sydney quintet of many talents. Since releasing their debut EP Limbo in 2015, they’ve taken over the Australian music scene with national radio play and sold out shows along the way. They’ve been showcased at Singapore’s Music Matters, Canadian Music Week and Australian Music Week, and have now gained themselves the opportunity to play at South By South West (SXSW) next week.

However, before they fly out to conquer America, I got to talk to frontman Jarred Young about their latest single ‘Knife’, the upcoming EP in the works and the struggles of the US Visa system.

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First, let’s discuss the new single ‘Knife’, which I am obsessed with by the way!

That’s really nice to hear, thank you!

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Tell me a little bit more about what the song’s is all about and what the recording process was like.

It’s the first time we’ve used another producer cause we’ve been self-producing all our stuff for a long time. So we tracked it ourselves as we usually do at Sam [Tomlinson. Lead Guitarist]’s little studio up north of Sydney and  we had Adrian Breakspear produce the song. He’s a really amazing dude so I reckon it’s someone we’ll probably keep working with on future tracks. He did an amazing job.

In terms of content, I don’t wanna go too much into it but it’s basically about being frustrated. I’ll leave it nice and vague, keep the mystery alive.

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Speaking of Adrian Breakspear, he has worked with the likes of Gang of Youths and Pharrell Williams. Did you get to learn anything from him whilst he was producing the track?

Unfortunately, the mixing process was pretty remote so we didn’t really get to be in the same room as Adrian. But we’ve learnt his approach to mixing, which is quite different to ours. Lately, we’ve been trying to make our mixes a bit less polished and a bit more gritty and grungy and Adrian was sort of more along those lines as well. He just has a really good ear for rock music. You listen to the artists he’s worked with or the albums he’s produced and none of them sound super alike. He’s really good at pulling out a certain sound for a certain band. We definitely learnt that from him.

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‘Knife’ follows on from previous singles like ‘Deficiency’ and ‘Half Blood’, what inspired you guys to down in a darker, rockier direction?

Sam and I do most of the songwriting and when we were writing these songs, it was quite a dark time for me personally. So when we were writing, I really leant into that feeling and the dudes just came down on that road with me. Sam started listening to some heavier stuff as well so we both had that darkness and that heaviness in the both of us and really blended in together.

For me, there was a period of a month where my partner of six years left me, the last of my family all left Sydney and my cat got run over, so I was pretty sad for a little while there, but I’m pretty content with life now.

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You guys released your last EP in 2015, are songs like ‘Knife’ something we can expect from the next release from you guys?

Yeah, definitely! We’re gonna put out an EP to stamp and seal this little dark and heavy time in our lives, and it’s definitely going to be heavier. And we’ve already starting writing for an album as well so hopefully, we’ll have the album ready to go for next year. We’ll be touring the EP a little later this year as well.

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The last 12 months has been quite a whirlwind for you guys. Tell me a little bit about your highlights from the past 12 months and how crazy it’s been for you guys through the past 12 months.

We started with a little tour of Canada and the US, which was our first time over there and it was bloody lovely. We played Canadian Music Week and then we did a little tour with So Far Sounds around the States, which was really fun as well. We released three songs, played Australian Music Week, won a prize through that, we toured Australia 3 times as well; it’s all kind of a blur for me [laughs]. It’s kind of hard to remember what we did because we’re always working on the next thing, even while we’re doing something else. Like right now, we’re preparing for SXSW but we’re also preparing for the next EP with the next EP tour and then, we’re also planning the album on top of that. We’re just constantly hammering away at different projects.

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You guys are about to fly over to the US for SXSW. How did the concept of you guys playing SXSW become a reality?

It was pretty weird! [laughs] We’ve always wanted to go over there, and it’s been a personal dream of mine to go over and watch all the music, let alone be selected to play over there. It’s pretty wild.

But practically, it was the first thing we asked our new management agency Arrow Agency, who are bloody lovely, to do for us. We thought “we may as well just apply, you never know what’s going to happen”. And then, we got an email one morning and I had woken up at like 7am after crashing at Sam’s house. I don’t know why I woke up so early but I looked at my phone and saw this email from SXSW saying “You’ve been invited to play” and I absolutely lost my shit, ran into Sam’s room and screamed at him.

Since then, it’s been pandemonium trying to get it all organised. Like the Visa process is wild. I’ve only just let out my excitement to air as of today. Like two hours ago, I got an email saying that my passport is actually on its way to a house so I can have it and leave the country and get into America. So yeah, I’m stoked about it, but it sucks that I was the last guy in the band to get their passport too so it’s been wild.

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That must’ve been super frustrating to be the last one in the band to get their passport!

Yeah! And I went in first too. I went a week and a half before all the other dudes and tried to be really organised but it totally backfired [laughs].

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I can’t imagine what the guys would have done if you didn’t get your passport on time.

I would’ve been heartbroken. The guys were actually joking about that yesterday as well. Isaac [Chamberlain, synth] was gonna be the singer in that situation.

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At least they had a plan!

I would’ve paid to him sing as well [laughs].

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It’s usually a dream for most artists to break in America. How do you guys feel now that you have that opportunity to play at SXSW and build a fanbase over there?

Yeah, I mean, that’s the dream, really. We had our first crack to it last year, which was only a selected amount of dates but like, going to the biggest music concert in the world? I mean, I think it’s kinda the biggest opportunity that any up and coming band could have. We’re really stoked about it. We hope we can make the most out of it and see lots of awesome music in the process.

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So what’s next for Bad Pony after SXSW? Obviously, you mentioned a new EP and an album in the works, what can your fans expect in the meantime in between those releases? Perhaps a sneaky hint as to when the release dates for the new EP and album are?

Yeah, why not? [laughs] So we’re going to drop the EP around June or July and then, we’re gonna be touring with some of our best friends but I won’t say who! And yeah, I think we’re just gonna push the hell out of that EP and then, just try and finish off the year playing lots of shows and working on the album. And we’ll kick off the new year with the album. We definitely wanna get back to the States this year after SXSW as well so there’s lots going on.

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