When you’ve been making it on the scene for as long as the guys in Pong have, there’s always the danger of being taken for granted.
Formed by veterans of beloved Austin underground institutions Ed Hall, the Pocket FishRmen, and ST 37, Pong was well aware of the need for continuous upward regeneration to avoid such a rut from the very beginning. While 2001 debut Killer Lifestyle established the local quintet’s clever mash of hard rock guitar licks, retro-futuristic synth-pop, and rump-shaking grooves, the just-released Bubble City goes one better by clarifying it for the ages.
“We approached the first record as a ‘What can we do for free or cheaply?’ endeavor,” says drummer Lyman Hardy. “We wanted to take the time to get the sound right with this one.”
Subsequently, Pong wound up spending two years and $20,000 to finish the album. With no label support, they raised funds from gig to gig. While Pong’s live shows are sweaty, life-affirming dance-a-thons worth writing home about, bassist Larry Strub defines Pong’s overriding raison d’être as “making the kind of album I wouldn’t cringe at if someone put it on at a party.”
It’s hard to imagine a decent party where the Vocoder-driven boogie of “Interpol” or the lighter-raising rock anthem “Finally” wouldn’t be welcome additions to the mix. Pong hopes to shorten the timetable for their next album, but don’t expect any cut corners.
“When you’re this old, I don’t care how long it takes,” says Strub. “If you get tired and frustrated, that’s when you have to step back and figure out what your objective is. I’m not in this band to tour. I like doing the live stuff, but I’m in this band to make records.”
This article appears in March 18 • 2005.
