FEATURED IN THIS ISSUE

1. THE PONY INTERVIEW WITH NICOLE ATKINS
2. CALENDAR OF EVENTS

This Week at The Stone Pony: PAPERBACK RADIO (Thursday),
NICOLE ATKINS AND THE SEA (Friday), PETE YORN (Saturday),
ROCK FESTIVAL (Sunday)

New On The Stone Pony Calendar: Status Green (August 3), U Melt (August 4),
Tea Leaf Green (August 5), Dropkick Murphys (August 9),
New Riders of the Purple Sage (August 10), Robert Randolph and the Family Band (August 11), Martin Sexton (August 18), Steel Pulse (August 26), Flogging Molly (September 15), Keller Williams (September 16), Pinback (October 6)

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Visit The Stone Pony on MySpace.com at: http://www.myspace.com/ponyrock

NICOLE ATKINS BRINGS NEPTUNE CITY
TO ASBURY PARK

As she prepares for her debut full-length release, "Neptune City," on Columbia Records, Nicole Atkins travels a short way from her hometown to perform, along with her band, The Sea, at the Pony on Friday evening, July 27. Atkins, who taught herself to play guitar when she was a child, established herself in the North Carolina music scene, while studying illustration at UNC Charlotte, and later became a part of New York City anti-folk movement and the local Asbury Park scene.  Her demo eventually got noticed by the major labels and she eventually signed to Columbia and released her debut EP, "Bleeding Diamonds" (Red Ink/Columbia).  The songs were enough to give Atkins a wave of interest, including a nod from "Rolling Stone" magazine as one of Ten Artists to Watch in 2006. Her pensive ode to her hometown, "Neptune City," has already received attention as a single and video on MTV. The Stone Pony is proud to welcome her back to our stage. The Pony Newsletter interviewed Nicole about the impending release of "Neptune City" and her exciting year ahead.

The Stone Pony: You've been receiving a lot of positive press attention recently. Rolling Stone called you one of "10 Artists To Watch" and Time Out New York featured you in their music section. Have you gotten comfortable yet with seeing your face staring back at you from a magazine and do you feel that most of the press coverage is accurate in representing you and your music?

Nicole Atkins: Well, I guess I haven't gotten comfy with it yet. I can't say I don't like it but it is pretty surreal. I enjoy talking to journalists about my music but that is about as far as I really care about it. Sometimes the press will say great things about my music and sometimes they'll say awful things. I can't let it affect how I make the way I make music so I don't really read it. I like to bring the good ones that I'll find once in a while to my grandparents, though. They get a real kick out of it.

The Stone Pony: After much anticipation, your debut full-length album, "Neptune City," is coming closer to its release.  At this point, are you nervous at all about how it will be received or do you want to just get it out there already so you can start promoting it and moving on to the next step?

NA: I'm just excited about it finally getting out there. Writing these songs really helped me get through a lot of things in my life at the time and creating the arrangements with my band, The Sea, the Swedish band, the Mopeds, and my producer, Tore, was one of the most deep and exciting - not to mention hardest - music making experiences I've had thus far. I can't wait for people to be able to get the record and live in it on their own.

The Stone Pony: You went to Sweden to have "Neptune City" produced by Tore Johansson (Cardigans, Franz Ferdinand, OK Go).   How did you start working with him and why was he the best choice to produce the album for you? Do you feel that he brought out something different in your music that you didn't expect?

NA: I was hanging out in my backyard in Neptune last year refinishing a cabinet for someone and Tore called me from Sweden. He told me that he had heard my demos and said "you know how children and dolls are really beautiful but also really creepy? I want to make a record with you that sounds like that." So, I flew over there and worked on "The Way It Is" and "Together We're Both Alone" with him. We really connected on an emotional level with the songs and the arrangements so I knew it was right. Our goal was to make the sound Sun Studios meets Dark Side of the Moon, which isn't that far off of an idea from my earlier demo and EP. But with Tore, we had more instruments and resources and fantastic players than I could ever imagine.

The Stone Pony: You've been called a "gifted illustrator" who studied at UNC Charlotte. How involved are you with the graphic design related to your music?   Do you do your own album cover artwork, website design or other visual aspects of your music?

NA: I don't know about "gifted," maybe lazy or lucky-once-in-a-while illustrator would be better. For now, I create all of the concepts for my artwork and videos and work with my illustrator friend Nic Rad to make them come to life. Also, our guitarist's girlfriend, Nancy Prator, designed a beautiful backdrop for our shows based off of one of the scenes from the video for "Neptune City." I currently came up with a great marionette video idea that I'm hoping to get in motion fairly soon.

The Stone Pony: So many artists get signed to a major label and either get forgotten or have a very bad experience before returning to life as an indie.   You were able to release a successful EP with Columbia Records and things seem to be building perfectly for the release of "Neptune City".   Do you see yourself having a long career as a major label artist and is there anything that you feel will make the experience work for you where it hasn't worked for others?

NA: I really don't know how to answer that question. All I know is that I only want to make music that is honest and true to my heart and my head and, hopefully, Columbia will continue in the future to let me do that. Wherever I am at, I know that making tunes is the only thing I'll probably do for the rest of my life, other than driving, breathing, loving, and talking sh*t.

The Stone Pony: Your music has been compared to the sonic equivalent of David Lynch's filmmaking.   When you write, do you specifically aim for a certain style and discard lyrics that might be too obvious or literal?  Are you curious how listeners react to the lyrics and how they might interpret them?

NA: Most of the time a line or two will pop into my head and I wont know what it means but it will sound mysterious and appealing to me. So I'll follow it and try to give it a body and then I'll try to decode it and make sense of its meaning, then tailor it a bit. As a music fan myself, I think it is really important for people to hear the lyrics and make their own meaning out of them, for themselves, no matter how far off base it is from its true meaning. That's the fun of songs to me.

The Stone Pony: You've said that you're "not a political songwriter, but you can't help write about things that are happening to you and around you."  Does it surprise you that more musicians have not had the same effect politically as happened in the 1960s? Do you feel that musicians should be involved in causes, such as the recent Live Earth events, and does it detract from the art when musicians try to write political lyrics?

NA: I do find it a bit surprising that there isn't more of a protest song movement, but people do their own protests in their own ways. It's a much different time than it was back in the '60s and I do think that a lot of people feel a bit hopeless with where our sad government has lead us. On the other side of that, there does seem to be a lot more hope sprinkled into music these days. I feel that musicians just like anyone else should write about or say whatever it [is] that they want to say. Anyone who would ever say "just shut up and sing" to an artist who is voicing their opinions about the state of the world today is just demeaning art in general.

The Stone Pony: You've spent a lot of time over the years performing in three very different music scenes: North Carolina, New York City and around Asbury Park. How has performing in different cities, both as a solo artist and with a band, shaped your songwriting and your performing style? Have you found that you learned things that artists who stick to a single area wouldn't experience?

NA: The main thing I would say about that is that I met so many interesting people, musicians, writers, artists, everywhere I went. I had many interesting experiences in every city, good and ugly. I think having so many great musician friends from Charlotte, NC, really shaped my musical vocabulary and turned me on to lots of great old country and atmospheric music. Then, in NYC, I became friends with musicians in the anti-folk scene, who showed me that sometimes the obvious melody isn't always the best and to follow my own voice. Asbury Park gave me a sounding board to try out all of my songs on stage in every stage I was at musically in my life. Currently, the scene in Asbury, with friends like the Parlor Mob, I feel a really great support network at home. As my life gets busy with touring, it's nice to come back to my "home" home and still feel inspired by the music around me.

The Stone Pony: You started playing guitar with an instrument that belonged to an uncle that you found in your attic.  Do you still have that guitar?   What are your primary stage and studio instruments today? Are you someone who's always looking for new guitars as you travel around, or are you content to stick with one or two axes that you're comfortable with?

NA: I do still have the guitar. It was an old Yamaha. My current guitars are a black '69 Hagstrom Viking that I got in Sweden, and a Martin acoustic. I love looking at guitars but right now I'm just more concerned with keeping the ones I have in good working shape because I am totally attached.

The Stone Pony: What are your plans beyond the next show at the Pony and your tour with Chris Isaak? What are the current plans for the release of "Neptune City" and are there other upcoming projects that you'd like fans to be on the lookout for?

NA: The final touches are being put on "Neptune City" and we will have a release date real soon. So, be on the lookout. Other than that, we are doing the Austin City Limits festival and then a tour with the Raveonettes in October. My band, The Sea, and I are also featured in a new American Express commercial that should be airing this summer. That should be pretty hilarious. (Laughs.)

The official Nicole Atkins website can be found at www.nicoleatkins.com. Her latest EP, "Bleeding Diamonds," can be purchased online or at fine music retailers like Jack's Music in Red Bank, NJ.

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