Quick-fire Questions: 10 minutes with Party Dozen
Ever wake up in last night’s leather jacket, shake the hangover off in an instant, run a comb through your greased locks, and smash the hinges off the front door before swaggering out onto the street? Me neither. However, if you want to hear how that might sound, then check out Party Dozen, perhaps the coolest band in the Southern Hemisphere. This is hip funk.
The Sydney duo Kirsty Tickle and Jonathan Boulet always provided a swaggering vibe with their vibrant mix of wailing, distorted sax, brooding drum tone, and some thundering guitar, all culminating in a volley of toms and plunked piano chords that head towards Halloween territory. Their latest album, Crime in Australia, is that same heady blend, but it’s been bulking up in the gym.
Created essentially in isolation in their Marrickville studio, the band set out without a plan but soon found a muse in the studio itself. As Boulet explains: “Marrickville in the 1960s-70s was a notorious crime hot spot. If a car was stolen or someone was missing, they’d look for them in Marrickville. Since then, the area has been highly gentrified, and slowly, the once grimy industrial warehouse-lined streets are being swapped for monstrous apartment blocks with palm trees.“
Reminiscing about these dark yet oddly natural days, the band delved into a sound that conjures The Sweeney car chases, tight flares, and fantastic moustaches in equal measure. “We began without any theme in mind,“ they explain of their fourth record, “Just the beginnings of some song ideas. As we were discovering the songs for this album, each song felt more and more at home in an old cop TV series soundtrack.“
They add: “The Crime theme quickly became apparent. The record feels split into two contrasting sides: The first half is ‘order’, being as listenable as Party Dozen has ever been. Each song is law-abiding and dignified in its own place. The second half is ‘disorder,’ becoming more unlawful, unhinged, louder and noisier.” Indeed, rather than a pastiche of cool crime itself, the band almost thrust you into the centre of a panicky, ‘I want to get out of here now’ heist.
The movies lie; a heist would not be a thrilling thing to embroil yourself in; it would fry your synapses with harrowing, defecating stress. Crime in Australia captures that in the best possible, uncomfortable way. Honestly, that is a compliment. A big one, in fact. Even Nick Cave is very approving.
So, we decided to steal a quick moment in their crime series binge to plop a few lighter questions in front of them. From their take on The Beatles’ back catalogue to their musical icon and the concert they wept at, these are quick-fire questions with the inimitable Party Dozen from Down Under.
Quick-fire Questions with Party Dozen:
1. What song would you want played at your funeral?
“‘Tequila’ – The Champs”.
2. Is there one genre of music style you haven’t tackled yet but would like to?
“Not specifically, but we’re always just trying to get faster and heavier.”
3. Have you ever cried at a concert?
“Yes, Dirty Three at the Sydney Opera House in 2019 – they played their first notes, and I was a mess.”
4. Who the fuck is Mark E Smith?
“Little bit of a dickhead – RIP.”
5. What was the first song you remember loving?
“Hmm… lots of fuzzy memories of loving the Grease soundtrack when I was four years old, but the memory that sticks is stealing my older sister’s Fiona Apple CD when I was in year six. I absolutely loved ‘Never is a Promise’, which is a bit depressing now I think about it.”
6. You’ve been asked to create a soundtrack for the forthcoming movie adaptation of a book; which book would you like it to be?
“A remake of Picnic at Hanging Rock“.
7. When are you at your most creative?
“When only small pockets of time are available. Too much time leads to laziness for me – I need to be really busy to create.”
8. What classic record do you think is wildly overrated?
“Anything by Metallica or Pearl Jam… I’m sorry, it’s just not for me”.
9. If you could only pick one, who would you say your ultimate music icon is?
“PJ Harvey”.
10. Have you ever had a weird celebrity encounter?
“I live in Australia, so nah.”
11. What’s your most controversial cultural opinion?
“A lot of the best Australian music is actually Scottish.”
12. What has been your favourite album of 2024?
“Kim Gordon – The Collective. I could listen to her name bathroom shelf items all day long.”
13. One meal you had in a foreign location that you still crave again?
“I was in Osaka right at the start of 2020 and had a sardine and pork fat ramen that I still think about weekly.”
14. What venue would you love to play?
“Red Rocks seems like a pretty good time.”
15. Are The Beatles overrated?
“Look, there is good Beatles and bad Beatles. I’m gonna stay positive on this one and say nah, they’re not overrated.”
