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Where Is My Mind?: Dangerous Ponies' Chrissy Tashjian
- by Q.D. Tran
After pulling back from the brink of breaking up, Dangerous Ponieshave returned, refreshed with a wonderful new EP Tenderheart. The band just went on the first part of their current extensive tour, which included a stop at SXSW, and they are getting ready to head out its second leg in support of their new album. But first, they’ll be celebrating the release of Tenderheart tomorrow night at MilkBoy Philly with family, friends, fans, freshly pressed 7” vinyl records and new bassist Andy Black (formerly of Nicos Gun). We had chance to catch up with Dangerous Ponies frontwoman Chrissy Tashjian to discuss the band’s trials and tribulations since the release of their self-titled LP and what’s in store for the future of one of our favorite indie pop outfits. You can read what she had to say below.
The Deli: Why did you name the new EP Tenderheart?
Chrissy Tashjian: It was Sarah’s idea to name the EP Tenderheart. It’s almost kind of a reminder… the world is such a fucked up, scary place… it’s really hard to put yourself out there, and remain open. However… I find that even if it’s hard or painful, life/experiences/projects and daily existence can be much more rewarding if I can really try to be vulnerable.
TD: How do you feel this release is different from your past ones?
CT: Well… first of all, I think we have grown a lot as people and writers. We really took a lot more time to pick the songs apart and put them back together. In the past, we did all of the engineering/mixing ourselves. This time, Kyle helped with a lot of the logistical aspects/editing; however, the record was produced by Joe Reinhart at The Headroom.
TD: What obstacles did you experience while recording this album, and what did you learn from them?
CT: I think we learned that no matter what, we never allow ourselves enough time :). We always seem to be just getting everything finished right before the deadline. I think we also learned that having everything be entirely democratic is near impossible. It was really nice to have a fairly objective party involved (Joe).
TD: Why did it take you so long to release a follow-up to your self-titled LP?
CT: So many reasons… after our 2 month-long self-titled release tour, we almost broke up. We decided to really scale back, and take it slow for a while. Our music/song writing was evolving and developing into something pretty different. Mikey moved to New England for a minute so he was commuting back for rehearsals. Sarah and I moved to the country last season to farm, so we actually ended up writing a lot of these songs in our barn. It was an intense and trying period of time.
TD: What are your plans for future releases?
CT: When we went in to the studio, we actually tracked 13 songs. We focused on 4 for the 7”, but we have another 9 songs that are still being finished for our upcoming full-length, as well as a host of other song possibilities that we are working on. We are going to be spending the summer working with Joe, really finishing a full-length that so far I couldn’t be more excited to share. I’m so excited to share those new songs.
TD: You performed at your first CMJ this past October, and made the trek this year to SXSW again. How were those experiences? Would you do them again?
CT: Both CMJ and SXSW are fun, but daunting. It’s a super blast to run all over and play tons of shows in a very short period of time and meet tons of people that are also on their hustle, doing what you do. The experiences can be super overwhelming because of the sheer volume of music/people/bands you encounter. It’s like hyper saturation.
TD: Did you come across any new acts that you are really into now? If so, who are they, and what are they like?
CT: OH EM GEEEEE, Oaklands Religious Girls are IIIINCREDIBLE (they are actually playing KFN TONIGHT). I haven’t seen a live show like that before. It was outstanding. Also we played with a band in Nashville called How Cozy that I think we all just totally fell in love with.
TD: This is a pretty long tour that you are currently on. How is it going?
CT: It’s going really well. Like I said, SXSW is really saturated, so is touring all of the cities remotely close to it, so it could be a little rough. However, we toured back with our buddies Norwegian Arms, and they are actually the best dudes so that was a blast. We actually did two weeks to SXSW and back. We are back chillin’ in Philly for a week. We have our release show in Philly, and then our following support tour. The vinyl didn’t get here till today so I’m super looking forward to having the actual 7” instead of just the download cards :).
TD: What are the best cities and venues that you’ve performed at on this tour, and why?
CT: Jeff Blinder throws a festival in Greenville, NC every year called SPAZZFEST, and that was actually a SUPER blast. It was packed; the folks where rad; people danced. It was super fun. My other favorite show was in Athens at Farm 255, this really rad Farm to table restaurant. They have shows in at night. It was amazing.
TD: What are your least favorite things about going on tour?
CT: How bad people can smell. How hard it is to get good/healthy/affordable food on the go.
TD: Have you found a permanent bassist yet?
CT: WE HAVE AND WE ARE SO THRILLED AND WE LIKE HIM SO MUCH!!! His Name is Andy Black, and he is for sure a bass wizard.
TD: What are you most excited about for this Friday’s show?
I’m just so so excited. I’m excited to see people that I haven’t seen in a minute because I was recording non-stop, then on tour. I’m super stoked to see all the bands that are playing. It should be a blast.
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