For this episode Mark Cullen joins me to chat about his three bands: Bawl, Fixed Stars and Pony Club.

Last year a listener messaged me on X writing:

“Were you into them?”

Yes, I was, absolutely.

Mark Cullen along with his brothers Darren and Jason came from Finglas and along with Stephen McBride they formed Bawl in the early 90s. Mark wrote the songs, sang and played guitar. Darren played guitar, Jason played drums and Stephen played bass.

After a flood of A&R interest they signed with A&M Records in 1995.

The first thing I ever read about Bawl described them as “Pulp meets Magazine” and in the same Melody Maker piece Mark mentioned been influenced by both Cathal Coughlan and The Go-Betweens’ Robert Forster:

“Mark says he’s been influenced by the ability of songwriters like Cathal Coughlan (The Fatima Mansions, ex-Microdisney) and The Go-Betweens’ Robert Forster to mix “sarcastic and ironic words” with defiantly melodic pop music.”
Ian Watson - Melody Maker (04 Nov, 1995)

There was enough there to make me sit up and take note.

‘Bathroom’, Bawl’s debut single came out in November 1995. Melody Maker described it as “Sonic Youth playing Magazine: all power pop chords one minute, great bursts of dizzy feedback the next.”  I was hooked straight away.

Two further singles followed in the first half of 1996: ‘Girls Night Out’ and ‘Glen Campbell Nights’.

Each one better than its predecessor.

Year Zero, Bawl’s debut album arrived that September. Reviewing the album in Melody Maker Ian Watson wrote:

“Mark Cullen, whose talent for casting a wary eye over the messy machinations of suburbia recalls the like of Mike Leigh and Jarvis Cocker.”

The band’s first three singles weren’t on the album and Watson criticised this decision but wrote that, “these are mere trifles in the face of what is an exhilarating pop debut.”

Those three brilliant early singles may not have been on the album, but it didn’t matter because it seemed as if Cullen had pop masterpieces in abundance and Year Zero was choc-a-bloc with them.

A few more singles were lifted from the album (‘Beyond Safe Ways’ and ‘Sticky Rock’) but things started to go awry for Bawl when PolyGram, A&M Records’ mother company was acquired by Seagram and integrated into its Universal Music Group.

A lot of Bawl’s labelmates were dropped by A&M but the Dubliners were given the option of moving from A&M to Mercury Records.

Even though Bawl were from Dublin, this hadn’t stopped the band from being lazily lumped in with Britpop by some quarters of the British music press. Britpop’s moment was now over and Mercury encouraged Bawl to change their name and start afresh.

Mark Cullen’s second throw of the dice was Fixed Stars.

A couple of singles were released, produced by The Lightning Seeds’ Ian Broudie. Though glowingly received by some in the media ultimately Fixed Stars debut album, Illegitimate Targets went unreleased.

Fixed Stars disbanded and Mark went on to co-write songs with Broudie for The Lightning Seeds.

Enter Setanta Records. Now listeners to this podcast need no introduction to Keith Cullen and his London/Irish label Setanta. I’ve devoted episodes to Into Paradise, A House, The Frank and Walters, Catchers, Brian, Power of Dreams and I’ve also told the story of Finbarr Donnelly. The very first release on Setanta was Donnelly and Ricky Dineen’s post Five Go Down to the Sea? band Beethoven. Keith encouraged Mark to get away from the big record label machine and to start again.

So, Mark’s third throw was Pony Club.

Now, I could have devoted this episode to any one of the three Pony Club albums. I love them. Debut Home Truths is a remarkable record about coming home from London to Finglas and moving back into his family home with his new wife.”

“We lived in the bedroom I shared with my brothers when I was growing up,” said Mark at the time.

He continued: “I just set the computer up in the corner. It probably wasn’t the ideal start to married life. I did all the recording during the day, nights were spent listening to my wife complaining about my mother and vice-versa.”

These tough circumstances lead to a searingly honest and at times unsettling record. It was followed by Family Business and then Post-Romantic, two more extraordinary albums.

A fourth Pony Club album Semi-Detached has gone unreleased.

Around the same time as I tracked Mark down for this episode it was announced that Pony Club would play a rare live gig.

Pony Club are set to play an acoustic set in the United Arts Club on Fitzwilliam St Upper in Dublin on September 13, 2025.

It will be Mark’s first gig since 2017 and it will be my first time seeing him play in over 20 years.

I’m really looking forward to it.

In one of his first press interviews Mark declared: “I deserve fame more that most fuck-wits that get it.”

At the time I put his youthful arrogance down to attention seeking but thirty years later as I reread that interview I thought damn right he deserved it.

Over the course of three bands Mark has released four absolutely essential albums, all worthy of revisiting.

It’s criminal that they’re unknown or long forgotten by most music fans.

Like with a lot of episodes of this podcast, Mark Cullen and his bands are not household names but I hope regular listeners will trust me and give this one a chance.

Ultimately, I really hope that this episode introduces or indeed re-introduces people to Mark’s incredible song-writing.

For Further Listening/Reading:

Year Zero by Bawl and Post-Romantic by Pony Club are not available on any streaming service.

Home Truths by Pony Club is on Spotify:

Family Business by Pony Club is on Spotify:

Below: various articles, reviews and features about Bawl, Fixed Stars and Pony Club (click on each image to enlarge).