It’s been a while between drinks for New Young Pony Club, who in ‘06/’07 somewhat pre-emptively lead the way for new wave of – well – ‘new-new-wave’ indie bands with songs like Ice Cream and The Bomb. Having since taken a step back from their record label Modular and the overall vibe of their first album Fantastic Playroom, New Young Pony Club have re-evaluated their sound and with their new album The Optimist, taken a more considered and mature approach to their craft.

Having just stumbled off a solid 24-hour flight to Brisbane from the UK, lead singer Tahita Bulmer had a chat to inthemix about what fans can expect of their upcoming Parklife appearances as well as their one-off sideshow this week.

Summer has just wrapped up in Europe and I read that after your first album your label didn’t push the band much throughout Europe aside from the odd club date or festival. How was it finally getting to play to all those fans?
It was amazing. It’s definitely something we were waiting to do and wanting to do and looking forward to. And obviously there were a lot of people who were really happy that we’d finally turned up and were playing songs that they’d been waiting to hear for ages.

Now your new album The Optimist is self-released and also self-produced by band mate Andy Spence who I read really “pushed himself” on this one. How exactly did he push himself?
I think we both pushed ourselves in terms of making this record. Just sort of, trying to think outside the box because I think when we made Fantastic Playroom we had a very set idea about who we were and what the band was capable of. That was great, because it meant we had that very specific sound, but I think with this album it was really important to us to move forward and develop as a band and see what we could do three years on. It was just a question of mentally pushing yourself and not being too protective of what New Young Pony Club had been.

There were lots of scary moments for us, not just because we were self-releasing and self-producing the album, but also because we wanted so much to do more and to have moved forward artistically as well. So there were lots of times when we were looking at each other going, “I don’t know where this song is going. Do you know where this song is going?”

It was basically like, there was this little bit of ground where we were standing, and there was light there but all around us there was darkness and we could just move in any direction but we had no idea what would be over there, so we did that a lot.

As a result, the overall sound is much more complex and layered – did you give much thought to how you would incorporate this complexity into the live show while you were writing, or did that come after?
Oh no never, you never think about things like that. You just kind of go, “Yeah this feels good, this is what we’re doing at the moment”. You write songs, and if you still love those songs six months later then they go on the album. And you don’t really think about whether they’re going to work live, or how many keyboards you’re going to need, or whether you’re going to need a choir of 50 people.

How has the live show changed with this new album?
Something that was levelled at us a lot with the first album was that we were this party animal band, and it made us perhaps a little bit two dimensional. And I think having those kinds of songs on The Optimist and playing those songs live, next to the songs from the first album, means it’s much more of an emotional journey for the people watching the band now.

You have the happy songs and you have sad songs as well. You have songs about loss and about being exuberant sitting next to each other, and it makes it a lot more exciting and visceral. And you have moments of real intimacy as well, like Lots A Girl and Before The Light. When we play them live they are always really beautiful, intimate moments that’s very different from the stuff we’ve done before.

Let’s talk Australia. You’ve just touched down for Parklife which kicked off in Brisbane on the weekend. Does Australia kind of feel like a second home to you, considering you were originally picked up by Australian label Modular?
Yeah, we’ve definitely found here to be somewhere where people seem to be really open minded and very welcoming of bands. I think because geographically speaking, Australia is so far between America and Asia, I think fans here are really excited when bands from Europe come over because they know that we’re that little bit further away from you. It’s like the extra excitement that all these bands have come from wherever it may be. You have that sense that of, “Oh this is super special; you’re not going to be here every three weeks or three months”.

I’ve noticed that at a few of the Parklife stops you’re playing at the same time as Missy Elliot – give us three reasons we should see you over Missy Elliot?
That’s a hard one, because I’ve kind of been inclined to see Missy Elliot myself.

We might see you duck off stage to check her out perhaps…
Yeah, exactly! If the whole band disappears off stage for three songs you all know why. I would come and see us because…um, well we’re just something different from Missy Elliot. She’s definitely the leader of the party, the big cheerleader and that’s cool, but if you want something that’s a bit more intimate and a bit more of an emotional ride, then you’ll come and see us.

You’ll also be treating Sydney to a one-off sideshow – what extra bits and pieces can those going to this show expect over your Parklife slot?
They’ll probably just see a more fully rounded presentation of what we are now. I think we will play more of the slow ones, like Stones and Before The Light on the sideshow. Whereas I think the festival shows will be focused on the songs people are more familiar with, because we can probably assume we’ll be playing to a more mixed bunch of people. We’ll definitely play Ice Cream and The Bomb and we’ll probably play more stuff off the old album, the more excitable tracks.

Once you’re done here, you’re off to South Africa – what are your plans beyond that?
I think we’re going to start album three. Just get on with it. It’s a very different situation now that we’ve done The Optimist. We have a better idea of what we’re capable of. I think we’d like to bring back some of the more fun aspects of Fantastic Playroom and marry them to the depth and sonic excitement of The Optimist and we’ll make the ultimate New Young Pony Club album, which will probably be even more schizophrenic than The Optimist.

New Young Pony Club’s Parklife sideshow:

Fri 1 Oct – The Forum, Sydney JOIN THE ROLLCALL

Parklife 2010 dates:

Gold Coast, Parklands – Sat 25 Sep – JOIN THE ROLLCALL

Perth, Wellington Square – Sun 26 Sep – JOIN THE ROLLCALL

Melbourne, Sidney Myer Music Bowl – Sat 2 Oct – JOIN THE ROLLCALL

Sydney, Kippax Lake – Sun 3 Oct – JOIN THE ROLLCALL

Adelaide, Botanic Gardens – Mon 4 Oct – JOIN THE ROLLCALL