Telstar Ponies

Telstar Ponies are a rock band from Glasgow, Scotland. They were signed onto Fire Records Their musical style varies considerably but displays obvious influences from Krautrock, folk (especially latterly), and experimental noise.

They were formed in 1994 by David Keenan on leaving 18 Wheeler. The original line-up included drummer Neil Grant as well as Sushil K Dade (ex-Soup Dragons, BMX Bandits, later of Future Pilot A.K.A.) on bass and John Hogarty (ex-BMX Bandits, later of National Park) on guitar. Grant was replaced on drums by Brendan O'Hare (ex-Teenage Fanclub) in time for the recording of their first single 'Maps and Starcharts'. By the time this single was released Dade and Hogarty had been replaced by Gavin Laird and Rachel Devine. This line-up recorded two albums, "In The Space Of A Few Minutes" and "Voices From The New Music", adding Richard Youngs to the line-up for the latter. They split up in 1997 following the departures of both O'Hare and Laird. However, they reformed minus O'Hare in 1999. A third album was recorded, mixed by Christoph Heemann and Andrew Chalk, but was never released. The band's current status is described as being on "long term sabbatical" by Devine, Laird and Prior, who have formed The Porch Song Anthology in the meantime. Keenan plays with Taurpis Tula and Tight Meat Duo, curates the Subcurrent music festival and runs Volcanic Tongue, a shop, label and distributor specialising in outsider musics.

Band members:

First line-up
* David Keenan (vocals, guitar)
* Neil Grant (drums)
* Sushil K Dade (bass)
* John Hogarty (guitar)

Second line-up

* David Keenan (vocals, guitar)
* Rachel Devine (vocals, guitar, violin)
* Gavin Laird (bass, vocals)
* Brendan O’Hare (drums, guitar, vocals)
* Richard Youngs - (vocals, keyboards, violin, guitar -- 2nd album only)

Reformation line-up

* David Keenan (vocals, guitar)
* Rachel Devine (vocals, guitar)
* Gavin Laird (guitar, vocals)
* Kenneth Broom - (drums, saxophone)
* Raymond Prior (bass, vocals)

External links

* [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=1:THE|TELSTAR|PONIES All Music Guide Entry]