Gary Lightbody and Peter Buck Hitch Up for Indie Supergroup Tired Pony

Posted on May 14th 2010 6:30AM by Matt Glazebrook
Comments

The all-star indie supergroup may not be the most original concept, but it would be unfair to accuse Snow Patrol's Gary Lightbody and R.E.M.'s Peter Buck of flogging a dead horse. No, as their name suggests, the duo and their alt-rock 'Who's Who' of collaborators are more gently prodding a Tired Pony.

The Tired Pony project apparently sprang from Lightbody's desire to indulge his passion for Americana. "I can't get away with writing pure country music because I haven't lived that life, but I love it so much that I always wanted to try my hand at it," he explained to the BBC. "It's inspired by my love of Wilco, Calexico, Lambchop, Palace, Smog -- these bands that look at the darkness in America."

As well as R.E.M. guitar slinger Buck, the official lineup of Tired Pony includes a Scottish contingent of ex-Snow Patrol man Iain Archer and Belle and Sebastian drummer Richard Colburn, while Irish producer Jacknife Lee both performs with and handles mixing desk duties for the ensemble. The group's first album 'The Place We Ran From' -- a "twisted love letter to the States," according to Lightbody -- features additional contributions from singer-actress-all-round-indie-icon Zooey Deschanel and Editors frontman Tom Smith.

Buck -- introduced by Lee to a collective that was originally slated to comprise of simply Lightbody's friends -- described the sessions that led to the album as "loose and easy-going." "Gary would just play a song, then [we would] immediately go out play it once, or maybe twice, and then it was done," he reported. "I didn't even know Gary was considering it as 'a band' until it was nearly finished."

Lightbody also revealed the record will be supported by at least one London concert in the not-too-distant future. "We just wanted to do a gig as soon as possible, to let people see that it was a proper band, not just this odd floating idea," he said.