Cut and Paste
Interview With The Party Girls
Norwalk
From Issue 1.2, November/December 2004
The Party Girls are a little bit corny in a sickeningly funny, completely off the topic of conversation, kind of way.
For every one band whose members are concerned with being successful or turning a profit, there are probably a handful of bands like The Party Girls. Know the type? They are kind of goofy and better at comedy than at trying to sell themselves during an informal interview. Example: Insisting this interviewer see the pony in Andy’s backyard.
Listening to The Party Girls is comparable to listening to a bunch of cartoons (this was written without the slightest intent to be patronizing). Because this band
can laugh at themselves (and takes advantage of any opportunity to do so), this makes them rather likeable in the face of some of the other, more serious bands out there who have to have the shiny instruments and follow all of the rules.
Listening to the members of this band is like listening to random banter:
Andy (with a slight drawl) said something unqualified.
Ray said, “Huh?”
“What,” said Andy.
“Huh,” said Ray.
Or, take this conversation between Ray and Adrian:
“KROQ plays a lot of crap. They’re just a bunch of phony balonies. They tell you to call in and that your vote counts, but then when you call and request like the Queers, they just hang up on you. That’s my vote, you know? I thought it counted. I like the new station 103.1.”
“They play like some electric, slow shit. I’d rather listen to CD’s in my room. I don’t need the fucking radio,” countered Ray.
“Yeah, you do,” said Adrian. “It tells you if you’re on time.”
“Oh, yeah, I’m going to turn on the radio and be like ‘oh, Kevin and Bean’s over. I’m late.’”
Aside from these impromptu conversations, it is hard to decipher whether the members of this band are indeed an active band.
The three do play instruments. Ray has been in five bands and has been playing the drums since he was 5.
Andy, originally from Missouri, took a music appreciation class. “We yelled ‘Wasp’ a lot and that was pretty much it,” he said. He knows how to play the guitar, but his background in singing is limited to karaoke nights at bars.
As for Adrian, “I’m not a very good bass player. I’m not going to lie. You can put that shit.”
The Party Girls produced one full-length CD with 14 songs; their last practice was about a year ago; and Andy is their recently found singer (who was replaced on the same day of the interview when their former singer packed up and left).
The question remains, are The Party Girls a real band? Bass player, Adrian insited they are legitimate.
“We took a one year break. Ray was living in Lancaster. That’s life. It can’t be all perfect. We can’t be all emo about it,” said Adrian.
True. Life and bands can’t “be all perfect” and The Party Girls slapstick approach to their band is indicative of a lot of bands today who are fun to listen to but remain low on the radar because they do not waste a lot of energy in making themselves perfect.
The band’s music is a combination of old Ramones style music in that it is simplified rock: basic chords and catchy choruses. Of course, the members add their spin of humor on the subtle realities of life. Song such as “Manwhore,” “Emo Girl” and “Back on the Fram” are indicative of this band’s call to very basic and brief music with nothing too serious.
Yes. The typo on “Fram” is intentional (the song is supposed to be “Back on the Farm”.) Just before printing the album covers, Adrian noticed the typo but decided to leave it there.
Upon picking up the album, one will also notice that Ray will forever be The Party Girls “brummer.”
Perhaps what makes this band worth anyone’s time, is that despite their endless chatter and joking, the comedy is all on the surface. They use all of the idiocies and things that would make other people embarrassed, to their own advantage. This of course, is what makes them interesting rather than bland and characterless to listen and talk with.
They just want to play music in front of their friends, and that is pretty much it. Sure, a label deal would be nice, but realistically, is that ever going to happen and should they even care? The resounding answer is a who cares attitude.
“The only reason I joined, was to make a fucking bag of cash,” Andy said sarcastically.
“We’re just normal people like everyone else. We’re just a little different,” said Adrian.
When asked what makes them different from any other band, Ray probably summed it up best when he said nothing is unique about The Party Girls. “It’s just the same chords over and over again,” he added bluntly.
Well, maybe that is not completely fair to say. The Party Girls are different in that they prove bands do not and should not have to be perfect. Their parents did not buy them equipment to impress people with to blend into a homogenized music scene. They are a reminder that music is music. It is not the way a band dresses, looks or even spells the words “farm” or “drummer.”