what does white pony mean?

We got the answer, straight(ish) from the horse’s mouth

IS THE TITLE A REFERENCE TO DRUGS?

Chino: “Honestly, it didn’t start as a drug reference. That’s not what it was, that’s what people took from it or whatever. I always found it very ambiguous. I found more excitement in people trying to understand what it was, and then come in with their own ideas. And then I would just go ‘Hmmmmm yeah, yeah OK, maybe…’ and never confirm anything. I enjoy the ambiguity of it. If anything, that’s how I’d always perceived it.”

BUT… WHAT DOES IT ACTUALLY MEAN?

Chino: “There’s a song that actually is a drug song, called White Horse [released in 1983 by Danish duo Laid Back]. There’s always these tales about death coming on a pale white horse. I don’t know, we just kind of ran with it, not really knowing exactly where it was going to go, but it was kind of neat to have this very raw, un-thought-out idea to riff off of.”

WHERE DID YOU GET THE IDEA IN THE FIRST PLACE?

Chino: “It’s a piece of clip art. Like, free clip art. Like what an emoji would be back then

– a little one-line drawing. I don’t know why I picked it out. I thought it was very ambiguous. I liked the name, ‘White Pony’.”