Ponk is Pink Lady Monster's third offering, following 2020's L0_0k Up Demos and the 2024 EP Psychic Antennae and a Tinsel Heart. Released on July 4, Ponk marks a shift from Pink Lady Monster's earlier spacey atmospheric sound to a set of work that is uniquely energetic, surreal and playful.
With bizarre lyrics like "tyrannical terrestrial lizard on Zoom call" and saxophone flourishes reminiscent of a honking clown nose, Ponk breaks free of genre expectations and becomes a soundtrack for an alternate dimension of its own.
Vocalist and lyricist Simone "Serpentine Ludicrous" started Pink Lady Monster as a recording project in her bedroom in 2020 and soon teamed up with bass player Savanna Johnson. Last year, the band's current lineup fell into place with the addition of Kane Pascarelli on xylophone, bongos and synthesizer; Travis Hatley on drums; Drew Smith on guitar and Bridget Hartman on saxophone.
"We wanted to dive more into the musicality of things and get really experimental and go on tangents with our music and find different ways of emoting a lot of the stuff that we were kind of limited in saying with just two or three people," Simone says. "When our group came together, we had this chemistry where we were all on the same wavelength, and it just naturally got weird."
The band's musical playground is the basement of a house near City Park where some of the members live. Smith says that the group would go down there, drink a few Cutwaters and just have fun jamming together. Almost immediately, Ponk began to emerge.
"The last record was very conceptual, but this one was just born on improvisation and jamming together," Simone says of Ponk. "It was very free from the beginning, and we didn't have any idea of what it would end up being. We noticed after the fact, like, 'Oh shit, this is cohesive, it fits together.'"
The members recorded jam sessions on their phones so they could bookmark any interesting arrangements that surfaced. "There were a lot of 'trust me, bro' moments," Hatley says.
"It's a lot of humor, too," says Johnson.
Hartman also plays in the band Barbara, and Hatley and Pascarelli play in the death-metal band Insipidus. Hatley says a lot of Pink Lady Monster's approach to songwriting is being adopted in his other band.
"I think Denver has a really special thing going on," he says of the local music scene. "It feels like healthy competition. There are a lot of bands in town that are putting a lot of effort and intention into what they're doing and making a lot of unique music, and it kind of drives and pushes everybody. You go to a show that you're not playing and run into all these other players you know, and everyone has a lot of respect for each other."
"When our group came together, we had this chemistry where we were all on the same wavelength and it just naturally got weird."
Chloe Barkley @capturedchlo
Seated in a circle on the living room floor with Simone's black cat, Dash, plopped in the center, the members list the genres and artists that inspire them. It's everything from late-'70s English new wave, post-punk, no-wave, hardcore and jazz to James Chance and the Contortions, Tina Weymouth, Herbie Hancock and Mike Dillon.
"Society seems cooked right now, and then when you listen to music that's coming out, it's the same old dog-and-pony show," Smith says. "I guess whenever we're down there doing whatever we want to do, it feels freeing."
"Everyone's trying to make money off of it, and there's a mold they know people like, and so it's safe to do it because you'll have a better chance of hitting a wider audience and not have to work a job," Johnson says. "I think it's just capitalism in another form."
Ponk takes shots at capitalism and the way it consumes modern society. In "Better," Simone sings about the monotony of walking to a nine-to-five in the rain and "working for a big buffoon." The second track, "Ricochet," is a catchy new-wave-esque piece that sets the tone for the entire album.
Your money is your keeperSimone writes the lyrics, but she says they're always cued by what the other members are doing: "Everyone starts playing together, and then the song is formed randomly, and it has an immediate emotion that I just tap into."
Your money is a drag
Your money is your mama too
Your money is your warm blanket
Your money makes you anxious
Your money is a jerk
Your money likes to make you work
Your money can't give your life a raise
It will never strike the heart
Her lyrics are absurd — bordering on spoken word or stream of consciousness — yet relatable. Her ethereal vocals blend smoothly with the musical cacophony created by her bandmates. You could listen to Ponk repeatedly and have a different experience each time, depending on which instrument you focus on; Hartman's saxophone seems to sing, Pascarelli's xylophone adds interesting rhythms, Johnson's unique bass-forward melodies please the ear, Smith's guitar adds catchy riffs and sound effects, and Hatley's drumming drives the contagious energy present in every song.
Each piece of the band shines on its own, yet also brings out the best in the others. "It's fun bringing stuff to life, like when you make something and you're like, 'Whoa, what the hell was that?' It could never happen with anyone else; it's only something that can be brought to life with our group," Simone says.
Smith and Simone mixed Ponk themselves, also in the basement. "I have even more love for the songs than I did before, which is crazy, because typically after (mixing), I hate it, I'm like, 'Get this out of my head forever.' But I actually love the songs more," Simone says. "I think it's because the way they naturally were, I had more appreciation for them, hearing them out in front of me instead of within it. The stuff we added just amplified what was there."
All of the members are really pleased with the finished product. "It feels very true to what we do as a private group in the basement," Hatley says.
The band will play the whole record on August 8 at the hi-dive, with more shows lined up on August 22 at Skylark Lounge and September 16 at the hi-dive.
"Even though a lot of our songs are inherently kind of dark and gross, I think overall we want people to feel lighter after seeing us," Simone says. "We want people to leave feeling a little silly."
"And maybe a little confused," Johnson adds.
"Do you remember the scene in Hot Rod where they're walking and the riot just starts and they're all like, 'What is happening?'" Hatley says. "I hope it's like that."
Asked about the band's goals for the future, the members initially respond with sarcasm: "European tour!" "Thousands of dollars." "Big bags of money."
But really, they just want to keep developing their sound. "When you play with so many people, sometimes it is hard to fine-tune things because there are so many inputs all the time," Simone says. "So my personal goal is to keep developing the compositions and be expanding our sound and find new ways to surprise ourselves and keep going in different directions."
A tour may be in the future, but for now, the band will play local shows and plans to release Ponk on vinyl and sell other merch on Bandcamp.
"Spread Ponk like a disease," Smith says.
Pink Lady Monster will perform at 8 p.m. Friday, August 8, hi-dive, 7 South Broadway; 7 p.m. Friday, August 22, Skylark Lounge, 140 South Broadway; 7 p.m. Tuesday, September 16, hi-dive. Find out more at pinkladymonster.bandcamp.com; Ponk is available to stream on Spotify, Apple Music and Bandcamp.
