“The Velvet Underground was taken! …declares singer-songwriter-seer-sage Paul Megna, sole proprietor of the Oxygen Ponies regarding the official name of his one-man-band. There’s actually more to that story….
“I wanted to use a moniker because I find it freeing to record and perform under a bit of a disguise. For me, songwriting and performing is such a naked, soul bearing ‘exorcise’ that I need to create a little distance for myself. I woke up one morning and ‘The Oxygen Ponies’ was in my head. I just knew. So it must have been floating around out there in hyper-space, looking for a place to land. And that’s what ‘oxygen ponies’ are - those ideas and thoughts that float around in space above our heads - waiting to be taken. ”
Tracked in all of ten days, Harmony Handgrenade is the second Ponies release and the first wherein other musicians were invited to contribute to Megna’s vision of himself and the world around him. If you’re in a neo-political sentimental mood for Jakob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Ray Davies, Cat Power, Elliot Smith, or the softer side of Mike Ness - this is your go-to record for the troubling times that are 2009. Megna’s laconic lounge-lizard libretto in the title track says it all: “melody / marzipan / played nude in the marching band / never trusted Uncle Sam / God and country - nothing’s worse than a land where the free are enslaved / in the end we’ll ascend from this grave.”
Though Megna is the brain-trust on this roller-coaster collection of love, longing, and post-apocalyptic optimism, the talented folks who helped flesh out H.H. deserve honorable mention and then some. Along with co-producer Don Piper, Megna was able to capture the spontaneous spirit of a live performance or, dare we say, “jam session,” on this disc, despite the fact that such an outcome was not necessarily his goal. None of the musicians were given demos ahead of the sessions, and in some cases they only heard the parts that they were brought in for. Megna notes” it’s kind of like Shakespeare, where you’re never given the whole script - just your role and where it fits in relation to the whole.”
He illuminates further: “I’m fortunate enough to belong to a great little rehearsal community in Dumbo (Brooklyn, New York) called ‘Saltmines’ where bands such as The Walkman, Animal Collective, White Rabbits, French Kicks…have rehearsal and project spaces. Don’s studio grew out of this setting. So we’d literally be in the studio working on a song and I’d say ‘I need a killer Rhodes part on this…I think so-and-so is rehearsing today, let me run down the hall and see if I can grab him for a few minutes.”
Megna’s passion for the fine work his musicians rendered on H.H. can hardly be contained. “I feel like all the players on this record are so fantastic and I was blessed to have them. It’s hard for me to single out individuals without mentioning everyone, but if I had to pick one, it would be Konrad Meissner on drums. He’s like my safety net. He’s so enthusiastic and talented and easy to be around. Konrad has played with Syd Straw, Teddy Thompson, Graham Parker, the Silos…and a bunch of others.”
For those of a certain baby-boomer generation, one cannot help raising an eyebrow to the song title “War Is Over” which was a rallying cry of John & Yoko at the height of the Vietnam War era. Akin to Lennon’s finest hours, the song’s slashing guitar rhythms, thumping back-beat and acidic delivery raises the ghost of the late, great Beatle. But it’s not all fire and brimstone as Megna, firmly in Lennon mode, punctuates his words with strong melodies and, of all things, a trumpet solo! Megna jokes “I think that’s blasphemous - mentioning the Oxygen Ponies and John Lennon in the same sentence! He affected his generation on so many levels. I can’t even image what his life must have been like…” As for how Lennon would have fared in modern times, Megna’s analysis makes perfect sense: “He would have had a field day with Bush in the White House and would have given Hillary a run for money as Secretary of State.”
The Oxygen Ponies’ Harmony Handgrenade is out on Hidden Target Records May 19, 2009.
--Tom Semioli [May 11, 2009]
