The Death Of A Party

by Lisa Holmes

The party is dead; long live the party

"There is Modern Lovers attitude and a bit of Art Brut tongue-in-cheek combined with old school punk traces especially on the ‘upbadabada’s’ of ‘One Trick Pony Girl’."

Kudos to The Death Of A Party for having one of the most depressing names to Google; from death on prom night, and political rants about the Democrats as the party of death, it is honestly joyful stuff. In amongst this, however, are the reviews and pictures of a band who sound anything but morbid.

Born in 2003 in Oakland, TDOAP are a four-piece headed by singer Gareth Philip Nicholas and guitarist Adam Beck who produce danceable, punk-tinged art rock. There is Modern Lovers attitude and a bit of Art Brut tongue-in-cheek combined with old school punk traces especially on the ‘upbadabada’s’ of ‘One Trick Pony Girl’.

'The Rise And Fall Of Scarlet City' is the first full length release following 2005’s ‘The Shame Of The Sweet EP’, it sounds at times like the most current of bands; think Foals and Blood Red Shoes, and yet strangely dated, referencing Devo and The Fall amongst others. The music has a vehement intensity that lends itself to live performance and TDOAP have earned themselves a fierce live reputation after venturing further afield than Oakland. Signed to local imprint Double Negative Records run by DJ Disco Shawn (a local Popscene DJ) and having tours with Bloc Party and Deerhoof under their collective belts, the future looks bright for TDOAP.

Album highlights include the eerie organ music at the beginning of ‘The Gentle Art Of Making Enemies’, one of the slower songs in the collection, but this doesn’t result in any mellowing of Nicholas’ pouty, attitude-laden vocal, at times it even seems that some hardcore influences may be about to creep in but the screams remain infrequent and strained almost to the point of talking, as he laments; “I’ve got your mug shot on my mind / I’m sick of paying for your crimes”.

‘The Fucking Ocean’ is set to a rolling menacing piano riff that calls to mind the fairgrounds of Tim Burton’s imagination, it is a loud heavily rock influenced song laden with alien effects – totally in contrast to the CSS-a-like intro of six-minute long ‘Amateur Night At The O.R.’. Diverse and intense – the party hasn’t just started; it’s reborn.

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