Telstar Ponies are a Scottish

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band formed in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

in 1994. Their musical style varies considerably but displays influences from

Krautrock Krautrock (also called , German for ) is a broad genre of experimental rock that developed in Germany in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It originated among artists who blended elements of psychedelic rock, avant-garde composition, and electron ...

, folk (especially latterly), and experimental noise.

History

They were formed in 1994 by

David Keenan David Keenan (born April 1971) is a Scottish writer and author of five novels. Career He used to run the Glasgow record shop, distribution company and record label Volcanic Tongue. Journalism His work for ''The Wire'' (for whom he wrote f ...

on leaving 18 Wheeler. The original line-up included drummer Neil Grant as well as Sushil K Dade (ex-

Soup Dragons The Soup Dragons are a Scottish alternative rock band of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Named after a character in the 1970s children's television series ''Clangers'', the group is best known for its cover of the Rolling Stones' song " I'm Fre ...

, BMX Bandits, later of

Future Pilot A.K.A. Future Pilot A.K.A. is the pseudonym of Glasgow indie musician Sushil K. Dade. Dade is a former member of the Soup Dragons, BMX Bandits and Telstar Ponies. Future Pilot's music blends classic indie pop with Indian classical, dub and hip hop ...

) on bass and John Hogarty (ex-BMX Bandits, later of

National Park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

) on guitar. Grant was replaced on drums by

Brendan O'Hare Brendan O'Hare (born 16 January 1970) is a Scottish multi-instrumentalist musician, primarily known for being the drummer in the rock band Teenage Fanclub from 1989 until early 1994, and a member of and collaborator with Mogwai. Career O'Hare ...

(ex-

Teenage Fanclub Teenage Fanclub are a Scottish alternative rock band formed in Glasgow in 1989. The group were founded by Norman Blake (Scottish musician), Norman Blake (vocals, guitar), Raymond McGinley (vocals, lead guitar) and Gerard Love (vocals, bass), al ...

) in time for the recording of their first single "Maps and Starcharts".Strong, Martin C. (2003) "Telstar Ponies", in ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, 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 Richard Youngs (born 29 May 1966) is an English musician based in Glasgow since the early 1990s. His catalogue of solo and collaborative work formally begins with ''Advent'', first issued in 1990. He plays many instruments, most commonly choos ...

to the line-up for the latter. They split up in 1997, following the departures of both O'Hare and Laird, who formed Macrocosmica. They reformed minus O'Hare in 1999. A third album was recorded, mixed by

Christoph Heemann Christoph Heemann (born 1964) is a German musician. He was born in Aachen, West Germany. Heemann has recorded under his own name, with the tape music group H.N.A.S. (, meaning "No deer on the sofa" or "deer not on the sofa"), and with many coll ...

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 Volcanic Tongue was a record shop, distribution company and record label located in Glasgow, Scotland. It specialised in underground music from the United Kingdom, United States, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. They described their remi ...

, a shop, label and distributor specialising in outsider music.

Members

First line-up *

(vocals, guitar) * Neil Grant (drums) * Sushil K. Dade (bass) * John Hogarty (guitar) Second line-up *

(vocals, guitar) * Rachel Devine (vocals, guitar, violin) * Gavin Laird (bass, vocals) * James SK Wān (vocals, brass) * Brendan O’Hare (drums, guitar, vocals) *

- (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)

Discography

Singles

*"Maps and Starcharts" (1994)

Fire Records Fire Records was an American independent record label, set up in 1959 by Bobby Robinson. Amongst others, it released records by Lightnin' Hopkins, Elmore James, Buster Brown and Arthur Crudup. At one point it was thought Fire had issued the l ...

*''Not Even Starcrossed'' EP (1995) Fire *"Her Name" (1995) Fire *''Mors Factum Musica'' EP (1996) Instant Mayhem *"Does Your Heart Have Wings?" (1996) Fire *"Brewery of Eggshells" (1996) Fire *"Voices From the New Music" (1997) Fire (withdrawn) *"Farewell Farewell" (1999) Geographic *''Hares on the Mountain'' EP (2002) Static Caravan-Obelisk

Albums

*''In the Space of a Few Minutes'' (1995) Fire *''Voices From the New Music'' (1996) Fire

References

External links

AllMusic Entry
{{Authority control Scottish indie rock groups Rock music groups from Glasgow Scottish pop rock music groups Fire Records (UK) artists