'Pony', Al Park’s long-awaited follow-up to 1999’s 'Human Thing' is finally here. And boy has he been some places in the
meantime. Mostly inside his own head, exploring past loves and excitedly lurching towards future endeavours.
You’ve heard California, the sunny centre of the musical umbrella that Pony is spread across, you’ve heard Running Away From A Broken Heart - the country ballad that reaches across to the far side of the umbrella, While the first track, Friend of Mine, takes you on a soaring journey on a warm
bed of guitar feedback to the other side.
You’ll find everything else in between across the album's other 7 tracks,
and it all manages to cruise Al’s long, rich history of songwriting while at the same time, cohesively
''It has a retro sound that covers my history in music-Tom Petty, Rolling Stones,Steve Earle, Bob Dylan-they're all
lurking in the grooves of this album. If you grew up in the late 20th century then this is for you. If you're a
21st-century citizen then let me take you back in time''
It has been said that Al Park was the first guy to bring punk music to Otautahi….. man, if that all wasn’t enough, some
tunes on PONY sound more like an indie-rock stomper from Dunedin circa -’84.
Waves of warm guitar feedback,
rich Beach Boys-eque walls of harmonies,
country fiddle and lead guitar twang intertwining and
intersecting at the crossroads,
Rolling Stones boogies and Howlin' Wolf stomps,
Dylanesque whispers through the backroads and the swamp,
put that all together, and what more could you want?Produced by Adam Hattaway & Elmore Jones, Pony is now available on all streaming platforms and compact disc.Purchase 'Pony' On CD HereAl Park - Upcoming Live Shows
27th May - The Loons, Lyttelton - Album Release Party
with special guests; Adam Mcgrath, Jess Shanks, Adam Hattaway, Tess Liautaud & Frankie Daly.
3rd June - Donovans Store, Okarito - with Unknown Legends (free show)
4th June - Barrytown Settlers Hall, Barrytown - with Unknown Legends
5th June - Reefton Club, Reefton - with Unknown Legends
With special guest Tash Goodwin
(Tickets available on the door)Al Park
In Christchurch, if you’ve been around music, as a fan, as a player,
or as a business then you know Al Park. If you spend 10 minutes in public with him, you’ll have ten different hellos
coming his way, from head nods to hour-long debates, everyone knows him to say hi to.
Those close to him know his influence as well. There’s probably (and thankfully) an Al in most towns and cities but for
those of us in chch we know him from everywhere:
From his early punk days in Vapour and the Trails and the founder of seminal (first and initially only) Punk venue
‘Mollet St.’,
- To playing the pimp in The Exponents video for ‘Victoria’
- To packing every venue in town with the Latino Rock’n’Soul of Louie and the Hotsticks,
- Standing behind the counter and dispensing (sometimes unwelcome!) opinions on everyone’s buying habits at Chch’s
greatest record store Echo,
- To being one of the meanest bar band leaders in The Latter Day Sinners,
- To running one of the most popular touring circuit venues in Al’s Bar,
- To being a father figure to the disparate friends who made up the ‘Lyttelton Sound’ (Marlon Williams, Aldous Harding,
Delaney Davidson, The Eastern, Lindon Puffin),
- And finally but not at all the end of things, as an integral part of the city’s post-quake musical recovery.
Al has simply been there for everything and everyone.
ENDS
Al Park Online
For more information please contact Bad Gin Sanctuary
Gina Johns | gina@badginsanctuary.com | +64277688668