Look listen vibrate Red Pony Clock

PHOTO by LIZETH SANTOS

Gabe Saucedo sings and plays guitar, organ, banjo and trombone in San Diego’s Red Pony Clock, an enormous cheery pop band famous for its everything-but-the-kitchen sink instrumentation, theremins, sousaphones and marimbas, and earnest if goofy lyrics. He grew up in San Diego—humorlessly describing his neighborhood as “the ghetto”—listening to rap and “trying to look hard all the time,” he says, and when he was around 15 was beaten senseless by 10 or so people and left outside to die. (In an e-mail for this interview, he puts the story into one short sentence.) After that he switched schools and changed his ways. Music never crossed into his mind until 1994, when 16-year-old Gabe saw the Flaming Lips. He says the show “changed my life forever. I went home and asked my little brother to teach me how to play guitar.”

At first, Red Pony Clock was Gabe’s solo recordings done in his bedroom. It’s grown to a loose affiliation of friends—currently 12 members strong—all necessary to support Saucedo’s elaborate songwriting: “I’ve always found it hard to edit myself,” he says. “When I get a melody in my head, the complimentary parts start coming with it pretty much right away.” Over the years, Gabe estimates that his songs have churned through 30 to 40 past and present band members. “Last summer we toured the US for six weeks as an 11 piece,” he says. “That was an incredible time and some of the best shows we’ve ever played.”

Obviously numbers like that make live sets unique, but as it stands, it’s perky and inventive ’70s radio pop. “Special People”—off of their most recent record God Made Dirt—sounds like happier Nilsson Schmilsson and “There’s Nothing Wrong With Getting High” is bouncy ranchero-rock lifted by Spanish guitar, trumpet, vibraphone and accordion. The record’s highlight is probably the second track, “The Hardest Half,” which sounds a little like a more-awkward “Stand by Me.” Saucedo sings “My friends were all afraid things would change when I finally got laid” over an acoustic guitar and is soon joined by a thick brass section, Pet Sounds harmonies and soft drums.

Red Pony Clock get a lot of Beach Boys comparisons—“Good Vibrations” also had a theremin, there’s lots of staccato organ employed and the harmonies heard on “Hardest Half” and “My New Best Friend” would have never happened if it weren’t for the Wilson brothers—but also like the Beach Boys, Gabe’s songs benefit but don’t depend on sophisticated instrumentation. (Brian Wilson’s “Surf’s Up” on solo piano is just as affecting as the studio version, but in a different way.) God Made Dirt would probably be just as good as an acoustic album—behind all of the ornate production is honest, service-with-a-smile songwriting. It’s that exact combination that keeps the listeners around: earnest, frank lyrics over elaborate arrangements. Ever humble, Saucedo credits it all to the rest of the band: “I don’t know that I could ever go back to doing things solo. Anybody can come up with a great idea, but without a support system to help them see it to fruition, most people probably wouldn’t ever do anything.”

RED PONY CLOCK WITH TALKDEMONIC, THE GREAT WHITE JENKINS, LLOYD AND MICHAEL, VOICE ON TAPE, GLASSER, INFINITE BODY, RAFTER AND PALMS UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA IRVINE | PHOENIX GRILLE | SAT 3PM | CHECK WEBSITE FOR PRICE | ALL AGES | ACROBATICSEVERYDAY.COM

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