SEX PARTY
interview by Livia
Who doesn't love a sexy party? Ones where the participants are smokin' hot, as is the case with this Red Deer quartet, are especially great. This small time band has accomplished some big things, considering they only laid their roots a little less than a year ago. Now wrapping up a western Canadian tour with Kelowna based Terza Rima, and already sporting a full length self-titled album, I expect the term Sex Party will soon hold a whole new meaning; Look for it in the lights. I was able to sit down on the patio with the band before their show at Tropicana in Calgary for a pint and some great conversation.
Livia: What do you do in the band?
Dan: I play Synthesizer.
Tyler: I'm the drummer.
Paige: I sing and play with little keyboards once in a while.
Jason: I play bass.
Livia: Ok, how did the band start?
Paige: Dan and I had a vision, although it changed slightly.
Dan: We did it confusing, (looking at Paige) I started jamming with you a bit, and then we added in Jason. We switched around drummers a bit and eventually came back to Tyler.
Livia: So where have you all played?
Paige: We just got back from BC, we did Vancouver at the Lamplighter, and then we played Kelowna and some other cities on the way back.
Jason: And we've already played Edmonton, Calgary, and Red Deer a bunch.
Livia: Do you do a lot of local shows?
Dan: Yeah.
Livia: Do you like to stick to all ages, or 18+?
Dan: We're starting to quit it, all ages shows just don't work. We promote all the shows we do, we book them, we do everything. So when we have an all ages show we book the hall, and we set up everything. The money that we put in just isn't coming back. You can barely break even, and what we get back isn't close to the work at all.
Tyler: Bar gigs, there's money in alcohol.
Dan: The one bar we played at, they only pay us a percentage of the liquor sales for the night. But yeah, it all comes back to “There's money in booze.”.
Livia: You have an album out right now, right? When did that come out and how many tracks are on it?
Tyler: There's 69 tracks, ha-ha.
Paige. Ha-ha, there's 11 tracks, and one bonus track on it.
Livia: What's it called?
Tyler: The album is self titled, we're against having a name for your first album and then coming out with a self titled one later.
Jason: But if you called it greatest hits it would be fine.
Livia: What are you headed for in the future, do you want to do bigger things?
Jason: Yeah, we wanna be superstars.
Tyler: Superstars, yeah.
Dan: Who doesn't wanna be? But yeah, we have a band commitment, to leave here in a year and move to Vancouver. It just works a lot better for us.
Paige: There's just not much you can do in Alberta. Before we go we're hoping to get a whole new album written, get it recorded.
Jason: We've already started on the new album, we've got 4 tracks.
Dan: We talk to a couple bands in France right now, the French like us.
Paige: We should look into playing Montreal, it's like mini France.
Livia: They've got a great music scene out there, but I'm sure Vancouver will be a good market.
Dan: The thing about Vancouver, it's weird, when we were out there it wasn't really. The night we were out there was the last night before they tore the venue we played at down to make a dance club.
Tyler: There are a few venues that play live music, but the bigger ones only book big bands.
Dan: It's a struggle with so many big bands coming through, to book a smaller band. But, it might give the opportunity to open for a good band.
Paige: The thing is finding a good place to live in general, while you're waiting for things to happen. I think you write better music when you have a good environment around you, better influence.
Livia: Where do you find your inspiration from, what are your influences?
Dan: Our musical tastes are very different.
Livia: Who writes the songs, is it collaboration?
Everyone: Yeah
Dan: It all works out. Like that last song we did, Jason and I were just jamming not looking to write anything.
Jason: We were actually looking to change a part in one of our older songs.
Dan: We jammed and we thought, “This is so cool we need to write a song”. We wrote it, took it on tour, played it a bunch, and recorded it. It's probably one of our best songs, sometimes it just sort of works.
Livia: Do any of you have side projects?
Dan: (looking at Paige and Tyler) They both do.
Jason: I kind of do.
Paige: There's another band I've recorded a couple songs with on cello. With cello I just sort of play with whoever.
Tyler: I play in some other bands. Everybody wants a drummer, when I went to school there were like 3 drummers in the program, 35 guitarists, and 3 bassists.
Livia: Yeah, everyone plays guitar. So, where did the name come from?
Tyler: The name wasn't actually supposed to be a name.
Dan: I used to just always yell “sexy party!” when we jammed, and then we just took that and we kept it.
Livia: Do you guys have real sexy parties?
Dan: The other night actually we took some pictures.
Tyler: You can't tell whose limbs are whose.
Dan: We partied like it should be. Earlier that night we played a lingerie party, so it was a lingerie party at a mansion, the way it should be.
Livia: So you got a taste of the life, ha-ha.
Dan: Yeah, I've put my dick in Jason's face before.
Jason: This one show I was wearing really short shorts and this guy was fondling me, he touched my balls and told me my ass was as smooth as a woman's.
Livia: Did you get any pride out of that?
Jason: No, he was this big cowboy dude in a cowboy hat, he was scary. He kept saying “Oh, but I'm not gay!”.
Livia: You're asking for it when you wear short shorts. Who's the slut of the band?
*Everyone laughs*
Dan: There are a couple of them actually. (Looks at Jason) We're steady boyfriend boys, so you can probably guess who they are. You guys would have to have a thumb wrestle to see who it is.
Livia: What do you tour in?
Jason: That '99 Windstar with the car-top carrier.
Livia: Nice, so who are you playing with tonight?
Tyler: Terza Rima
Livia: What is your association with them, how did you get hooked up?
Paige: Through myspace, they talked to Tyler first, we talked about going out there and we kind of planned our tour around it. This is one of our last shows on the tour, It went really well.
Livia: How long did it last?
Jason: A week? Two weeks?
Dan: We went and played the Vancouver show on our own, and then we came back through Kelowna and met them.
Livia: I forgot to ask, how old is everyone?
Paige: It was my birthday yesterday, I'm 21 now.
Jason: I'm 21.
Tyler: I'm 22.
Dan: I'm old, I'm 24. I'm the old kid but the youngest at heart.
Livia: Paige, you said you're moving to Calgary right?
Paige: Yeah, I got a job today, I'm here pretty much now already, I just have a couple more shows to do first.
Livia: How is the band going to work with the distance?
Paige: I'm just going to drive the 2 hours once a week, it won't be too bad.
Dan: So what I always wondered is why sites like Godsgirls never involve males, is there not a market for it?
Paige: Is there a male equivalent?
Livia: I don't actually know if there is anything equivalent! I think that would be awesome.
Dan: I always wanted to do it.
Tyler: We'll do a three guy set, muff tuck!
Livia: I think there would be a market for it! So, for the non-locals, is there anywhere people can buy your album online?
Dan: We're working on it.
Jason: People can just send us money directly and we'll send them the album.
Dan: We will probably have something up pretty soon.
Paige: In Calgary we've got some albums at Megatunes and at Play in Market Mall, we're going to be dropping some off at Megatunes in Edmonton as well.
Livia: So, do you think Myspace has influenced your fan base at all?
Paige: I don't know about influential, but it's like, culture.
Jason: It's influential! There are bands that add us and then I am like “Wow, I really dig that” and I get into their band and listen to a different kind of music, and it makes me write differently.
Tyler: It brings people together with music; you can see what's going on in, for example, Edmonton. You can check it out, see what bands are popular.
Paige: And like, how many plays you get, that's legit. It doesn't show you how many people have money to buy the CD, or come to the shows, or have a means of getting there.
Tyler: It shows how many people like it.
Dan: It makes you wonder who the fuck is listening to my music?!
Livia: What are your guilty musical pleasures, each of you?
Tyler: JT, JT, JT! I love JT. I love Timbaland.
Jason: Oh! Nelly Furtado, MC Hammer, NWA. We all love NWA, and like a few girly j-pop bands.
Paige: 80's and 90's hip hop.
Dan: Mine would be weird ones, like Journey.
Livia: Ok, I think we're pretty much done.
Dan: Yeah, what else could you talk about? If anyone ever reads this or somehow sees this, I want a speed skating outfit. It doesn't even matter what colour, it just has to be tight. And a speed skating outfit.
Livia: Does it have to be shiny?
Tyler: That would be even better.
Jason: With LED lights, or lasers.
Hear that? Get this man into something tight, pronto. I have only good things to say about these four, and let me tell you, their live performance definitely didn't disappoint. Check them out on myspace (http://www.myspace.com/sexxxparty), if you like what you hear you should shoot them a line and grab their album. If you are lucky enough to have the chance to catch a show, you better take it in, and make sure to grab some of their great swag while you're at it.
