Photo + Words: Lauren Pine

If you want some early 2000s punk nostalgia, combined with honest yet uplifting lyricism, look no further than Dead Pony.

The Scottish rock band’s latest EP ‘Eat My Dust!’ dropped on 15th May, full of striking, powerful tracks like ‘Boom!’ and ‘Freak Like Me’. To celebrate its release, they headed off across on a limited run of UK shows, including a stop in Southampton.

Before they’ve even started the show at The Joiners, someone is onstage instructing the crowd to bring the energy, and not to let him down. Popping my earplugs in, I was ready for things to get loud.

As their pre-show playlist came to a sudden end, the lights dimmed and the band snuck through the crowd. Drummer Euan Lyon and guitarists Liam Adams and Blair Crichton bounded onto the stage with a recording playing that introduced them in a wrestling-match-style way. 

As the band started playing, building up their energy, lead singer Anna Shields joined them, launching straight into a performance of ‘Eat My Dust!’. 

They kept this momentum up with their electrifying 2024 single, ‘Everything Burns’, before running through three of the EP tracks ‘Freak Like Me’, ‘Fury’ and ‘Boom!’. Throughout these songs and most of the set, Crichton regularly encouraged the crowd to get the pit going, an instruction they were more than willing to take. 

After showcasing these latest tracks, they appeased the fans with a performance of ‘RAINBOWS’ from their debut album, ‘IGNORE THIS’. Then, in what would seem like a big genre shift, they did a cover of Alanis Morissette’s ‘You Oughta Know’. Released in 2005, the song actually fits well into the setlist since the band talked to Kerrang about the early 2000s influences on their latest release. 

“I loved Britney Spears, Nelly Furtado, Christina Aguilera. We’re always trying to reference them in some way that feels fresh and new.” said Shields. During that same interview, Shields also commented on the way they hope people relate to their music:

“When you go on tour to all these different cities, it doesn’t matter if you’re in London or Sheffield, Paris or Munich, there’s like-minded people all across the world that feel the same.”

It’s a feeling that is certainly present in that room. Looking around, you notice how the audience consists of all ages and genders, each with their individual styles, yet all connecting with the music in some way. Whether that be letting it all out in the mosh pit in the centre, singing every lyric back on the sides, or looking up in admiration from the barricade, you can see the way their music reaches everyone where they stand. 

‘COBRA’ and ‘MANA’ from ‘IGNORE THIS’ and the vulnerable, yet still thunderous ‘Lost Inside Of Me’ were up next before playing their supposedly final song, ‘IGNORE THIS!’

After finishing it up, they ask the crowd if they want one more (spoiler alert: they do). While a lot of the audience were asking for their 2023 track ‘MK Nothing’, Shields reminded them that it wasn’t “the MK Nothing tour, it’s the…?”, prompting them to respond “Eat My Dust Tour”. The band then launched into playing the lead single for a second time, with a much livelier crowd than when they played it at the start of the show, having had time to get loud and energetic.