Pony Club (band)

Pony Club
Origin	Dublin, Ireland
Years active	2001 - present
Labels	Hum
Associated acts	Bawl Fixed Stars
Website	http://www.ponyclub.tv/
Members	Mark Cullen Darren Cullen Jason Cullen Martin Healy David Morrissey Rob Cumiskey

Pony Club are a Dublin-based Irish band, primarily a vehicle for Mark Cullen. Other members include his brothers, Darren and Jason, as well as Martin Healy and David Morrissey, both formerly of A House, and Rob Cumiskey of The Kybosh.

Cullen and his brothers moved from Finglas, Dublin to London in the 1990s after having signed to A&M under their then moniker, Bawl (which also featured Stephen McBride on bass). Bawl had released a series of singles on their own label, Dependent Records, and in 1996 released an album, Year Zero on A&M. This attracted critical attention and some "the new Smiths" hype (the Cullens cited their mother singing Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others at the kitchen sink as an influence) but disappointing sales. For legal reasons, the band had to change its name to Fixed Stars and signed on with Mercury. They released several singles as Fixed Stars, but broke up in 2000, having been dropped before releasing their album.

Ian Broudie of the Lightning Seeds had produced some of the Fixed Stars singles, and Mark Cullen continued to work with Broudie, writing songs for the Lightning Seeds album Tilt, and contributing with Broudie to the soundtrack of Purely Belter. Cullen and Broudie continue to collaborate on "songs for other people", and Cullen has written for Kylie Minogue.

After the post-Fixed Stars transition period, Cullen then signed as a solo artist, under the name Pony Club, to Setanta Records, natural home for many Irish indie acts. As Pony Club, Cullen works with a variety of musicians, still including his brothers, and, recently, Martin Healy and David Morrissey, of Setanta labelmates A House (John Carrol, A House's manager, had also managed Bawl) and Rob Cumiskey of Dublin band, The Kybosh.

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