Imre Poniklo

Imre Poniklo (born 16 October 1974) is a Hungarian indie musician, best known as the lead singer, songwriter, lyricist and guitarist of the indie rock band Amber Smith. He is also a solo artist under the name Poniklo. As a singer, Poniklo's voice lies in the baritone range.

Early life and personal life

Poniklo was born in Budapest, Hungary. He grew up in Csepel. His father was a sewing machine-engineer.^[1] He started becoming interested in pop music at the age of 12. Since 1988 he has been a big fan of the Manchester artists such as The Smiths and Morrissey. However, his first vinyl record was of Pet Shop Boys' Actually.^[2] Poniklo attended the School of Journalism of Bálint György for one year. However, after one year he realized that journalism is not his field. In 1995 he became friends with József Simon, who has been the album designer of Amber Smith, after seeing his advertisement in the Magyar Narancs. Simon was recruiting musicians in order to form a band who like The Smiths. Poniklo and Simon started writing songs together and formed the band Fanzine.

In 2010 Poniklo's relationship with his first wife deteriorated and they decided to separate and then later to get divorce. Poniklo composed the album called Amber Smith during this period which obviously reflects his sadness and disappointment in his life.

In 2012 Poniklo entered into a relationship with Berta Tonelli and on 7 June 2013 Poniklo's second child, Barnabás Poniklo, was born in Budapest.

Amber Smith

Poniklo is the founding member of Amber Smith along with Péter Egyedi, and Ádám Földes. Later, Poniklo recruited Annabarbi's Bence Bátor, Időrablók's Oszkár Ács, Zoltán Kőváry, Tamás Faragó.

Gabriella Hámori

Poniklo is the songwriter for the Mari Jászai Award-winner Hungarian actress Gabriella Hámori's debut album entitled Nem Örmény Népzene. Hámori was invited to sing a song by Serge Gainsbourg at Poniklo's acoustic concert in 2012. After the concert Poniklo suggested working together on a project since he wanted to try himself as a songwriter for someone else.^[3]

The Poster Boy

Poniklo is the founding member of The Poster Boy.

Solo project

Poniklo's first full-length studio album, entitled Poniklo, was released by Twelvetones Records under exclusive license from EMI services in October 2009.^[4] He recruited Michael Kentish (The Random Chocolates) as bass guitarist, Bence Bátor as drummer. The album was mastered by Paul Ven der Jockheyd at Foon Mastering Studios in Belgium. Poniklo asked his friend Jose Simon, who previously designed the covers of the Amber Smith albums, to design the cover for his solo album. The album contains the track called Tomi which was probably written about The Moog's frontman Tamás Szabó nicknamed Tomi. The song has the line ″De miért kell dalokat írnos, ha nem szólnak semmiről?″ (in English: ″But why do you have write songs if they are about nothing?″.^[5]

On 27 September 2013, Poniklo is expected to return on the stage after spending a couple of months in silence.

Discography

As a solo artist:

• Poniklo (2009)

With Amber Smith:

• Nincs Ránk Szükség (2001)
• My Little Servant (2003)
• rePRINT (2006)
• Introspective (2008)
• Amber Smith (2012)
• Modern (2015)

With Gabriella Hámori:

• Nem Örmény Népzene (2014)

With The Poster Boy:

• Things We Had Time For (2012)
• Melody (2012)
• Bonjour, C'est pop Deux (2013)

With SALT III.:

• SALT III. (2013)

With Yonderboi:

• Were You Thinking of Me? (2007)

Musical influences

Poniklo cites several bands throughout his interviews among which The Smiths are a recurring artist. However, he mentions David Bowie, Serge Gainsbourg.

Instruments

Guitars

• Epiphone Casino VT
• Fender Jazzmaster
• Fender Telecaster Classic Player Tele Deluxe
• Gibson ES-325

Effect pedals

• Boss DS-2

Amplifiers

• Orange

See also

• Budapest indie music scene
• Amber Smith
• The Poster Boy
• Bence Bátor
• Zoltán Kőváry
• Oszkár Ács
• Tamás Faragó

References

External links

• Amber Smith
• Poniklo MySpace