For a veteran band finally catching some breaks, Matt Pond PA??s current tour couldn??t have started with a worse omen. After making the short trek from their home base in Brooklyn to play Manhattan??s Bowery Ballroom, thieves broke into their van and stole almost all of their gear.
??We were blown away, couldn??t believe it,? sighed frontman Matt Pond during a day-long drive from Phoenix to Dallas. ??But we dealt with it well, borrowed and bought all our stuff, and made it to Boston to play a show the next day.?
Stolen instruments and a balky tour van, however, aren??t about to slow down Matt Pond PA, who headline an early show at 9:30 Club on Saturday. With a critically acclaimed new album and a high-profile placement on indie tastemaker teen drama The OC, the emotive chamber pop quintet is hitting their stride.
After years of struggling to make ends meet in the indie scene, Pond embraces the commercial breaks his group has earned. ??People think [indie] bands are supposed to operate without any money,? Pond said. ??If you lose all your money in this business and you lose a huge chunk of your life, it just doesn??t make sense.?
With Pond??s searching voice and brooding lyrics, Rolling Stone dubbed his group ??emo for grown-ups,? a tag Pond tries to play down. ??Critics will always have to say something,? he said. ??If Neil Young came out right now he??d be considered emo.?
Started in Philadelphia in 1998 (hence the PA), Matt Pond PA initially featured a revolving cast of musicians assisting Pond with his lush orchestrations. ??I started writing songs years ago with a bunch of people,? Pond recollected, ??but only in the last few years have I really considered this a band.?
Pond acknowledges how grueling life on the road can be and hopes that his current group sticks together, but affirms that he??s in this for the long haul. ??I like it, but I wouldn??t want to do or not do anything for someone else,? Pond laughed, ??which is why it??s just not possible to have a girlfriend.?
9:30 Club, 815 V. St. NW; with Youth Group, Sat., 6:30 p.m., $10; 202-265-0930. (U St.-Cardozo)