Video: Tired Pony's 'Point Me at Lost Islands'

Snow Patrol frontman Gary Lightbody, R.E.M.'s Peter Buck, producer Jacknife Lee and Belle & Sebastian drummer Richard Colburn form the foundation of the new supergroup Tired Pony. Back in January, the group came together in a Portland, Oregon studio for one week to lay down the tracks for their debut album The Place We Ran From, due out September 28th. The album also features contributions from She & Him's Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward as well as Tom Smith of Editors.

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"I wanted to make a very American record," Lightbody says of the side project. "It's inspired by my love of Wilco, Calexico, Lambchop, Palace, Smog, these bands that look at the darkness in America. I wanted to write a twisted love-letter to the States. This is the first record I've written that isn't about me and my love life, primarily. These are all stories, told in the first person I guess, but not necessarily with me in the central role, just me talking through various characters. I don't do that ever. I just wanted to approach this record totally differently. It's certainly different to Snow Patrol."

Above, watch Tired Pony in the studio as the supergroup performs an intimate rendition of their The Place We Ran From track "Point Me At Lost Islands."

Tired Pony will make two North American appearances: On October 1 at Irving Plaza in New York CIty and October 4 at the El Rey in Los Angeles.

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Song Stories

“1999”

Prince | 1982

“I don’t consider myself a great poet,” Prince told Rolling Stone. “I just know I’m here to say what’s on my mind.” In the case of the apocalyptic party anthem “1999,” he was worried about then-president Ronald Reagan’s foreign policies. The song’s melody is based on a riff borrowed from the Mamas and Papas’ “Monday, Monday,” and Prince originally envisioned the first verse with three-part harmony but later split the vocals between himself and members of the Revolution. Because Warner Bros., with whom Prince was locked in a contractual battle, owned the original’s masters, Prince rerecorded the song and appropriately released that version in 1999.

More Song Stories entries »

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