New Young Pony Club

The London dance-rock group New Young Pony Club initially featured Tahita Bulmer (vocals), Andy Spence (guitar), Igor Volk (bass), Lou Hayter (keyboards), and Sarah Jones (drums). Inspired by LCD Soundsystem, the Stranglers, and Gang of Four, the band arrived with the release of the Ice Cream 7" in February 2005. The limited-edition pressing of 1,000 copies sold out in just three days, fueling New Young Pony Club's growing popularity among the U.K. music press and chic blogs. A deal with Modular Recordings, home to Wolfmother, the Avalanches, and Van She, and a second single, "The Get Go," followed before the year's end, but NYPC was still aiming to break overseas. They got it when their biggest U.K. hit, "Ice Cream," was featured in the Intel Core 2 Duo television commercial in fall 2006. U.K. tour dates supporting Lily Allen followed in November. Fantastic Playroom, the group's first album, finally surfaced in 2007. Even considering the band's extensive subsequent touring, the wait for their second album, The Optimist, was a lengthy one; it was issued in 2010. ~ MacKenzie Wilson, Rovi