Off the back of their latest single release ‘The Present’, I spoke to Pit Pony members Jackie, Garth, Potter and Andrew before their final gig of their mini tour, at Leeds’ Hyde Park Book Club. Over the course of half an hour, we discussed their new single, how to juggle childcare and bandlife, the importance of DIY and how the North East, specifically North East history, has shaped their image.

Released at the end of September, ‘The Present’ shows a softer side to the band, reflecting on the nature of long term friendships, and their restorative nature. Singer Jackie Purver describes the origins of the single “Garth had a guitar part that was kind of, you know, a bit softer. We don’t usually do it like this but I already had some lyrics. We don’t really plan exactly, like oh we’re gonna have so many loud ones. It’s quite exciting isn’t it.”
Pit Pony discuss the varying influences on them, and how they gel within the band, Jackie says “I think I was listening to Grace Cummings, just loads of female singers, First Aid Kit, people like that. Garth’s just always listening to Paul Weller. So that’s where the Present came from. We were listening to a lot of boygenius.”
While other members of the band lean more towards “heavy music, a lot of psychedelic stuff”. “We get influences from everywhere, like film soundtracks, and all of these influences together is kind of what makes our sound and makes it our strength” says Potter.

The single was recorded last year while Jackie was seven months pregnant, this had a knock on effect, leading to a small break with the band (this Book Club gig was initially scheduled for last year). Having a couple in the band, with two small children has its own challenges “It is very difficult. We’ve got some good grandmas to look after them, we’re very fortunate. It is a nightmare practicing though.” Jackie explains. “We’re always very forgiving when they’re late,” Andrew responds.

Now Pit Pony are back to business, the next plans are a third album, following 2025’s acclaimed ‘Dead Stars’. The band spoke about how the way they write music has evolved over their career, guitarist Garth Purver notes the unexpected success of their first single ‘Osaka’ in 2019, and how its success influenced how they initially wrote songs “the first single we put out, did really well, we put it out just like a proper DIY band, and it ended up on the 6 Music playlist, and we were like ‘fucking hell’. Couldn’t believe it. We felt like that was the way we had to go, just recording like 3 at a time. And we’re just banging out these singles worrying about, like, is it gonna be on the radio?” Recording their first album [2022’s Black Tar] allowed a change away from this cycle, as Garth goes on “We did the album we were like it’s a bit of freedom, we don’t have to think like that. It’s quite freeing really to do it.” Jackie continues “ If you’re doing singles, it’s always good to bear in mind, is it good live? are people going to like it? Sometimes an album is better cos you get to do the nuances”.

Like all DIY bands, finances are a major concern. Formerly of Clue Records based in Leeds, the band received PRS funding to record their first two albums. With ‘Black Tar’, Andrew says “The first album as well, we kind of almost recorded it live. Because of things like time and money, apart from the vocals everything else is pretty much in the room.” This funding was essential for the band, Garth admits “ yeah we were very fortunate, that’s how we got to do the album. Without that funding we wouldn’t have been able to do them. The financial constraints have kind of determined a lot of our progression as a band.”

Pit Pony wear their North East origins on their sleeve, not only through their name, in tribute to the mining history of the region, but on their merchandise “one of our old t-shirts has a shape on it, which is actually the shape of the old Northumbrian kingdom. We were like, oh that’ll be cool just put that in. “ A new T-shirt will follow this theme, in tribute to little known history of the region, “at the minute, we’ve got something which is from South Shields, where I’m from, its a shrine or a headstone, of someone called Regina, its renowned across the world, but its in South Shields, it had the first aramaic translation on there, she was a Roman who used to be a Celt, but she’s in Celtic dress. Apparently historians all over the world go and visit. We wanted to put something in that’s like a little bit of a nugget of North East culture that nobody knows about. It was my friend Emma Nagouse, the historian who writes for ‘You’re Dead to Me’. We went on holiday with her, and she told us about this and we were like “we’ve got to get Regina on a tshirt” Jackie relays.

With references to The Metro in their lyrics, and Purver’s regional vocals, Newcastle is important to Pit Pony. The band reflects on how the scene has changed, and why, “It comes out, just from talking about my own experience. It’s nice, I think the whole Sam Fender thing has given it a huge boost. It’s nice to galvanise people and showcase what we’ve got up here.”
Andrew goes on “ I think the interesting thing about Newcastle is, it’s a hugely diverse city, but it’s traditionally forgotten about by touring bands. So there’s kind of microscenes going on. Everything from weird experimental noise music, to metal, to a really big electronic thing in North Shields is amazing. It’s something we’re all passionate about.”
“It’s really DIY, everything was DIY.” Potter concludes.

Lastly, I ask the band what they would advise younger musicians, with some of the band having played across the North East since they were 14. The band collectively responded “Just do it. Just do it. Get out and play. If you put it off, the younger you do it the better.”

Words by Dan Brabban