Listening to Party Dozen’s thick and fuzzy noise rock tunes, you’d be forgiven for assuming the band had 12 members.
But really, only two musical masterminds lie behind the unrelenting wall of sound.
What do you get when you pair a soaring saxophone with incendiary drums? You get a wild and unhinged noise rock duo who’ll grab your attention through pure sonic force – even if it means screaming into the fucking bell of the saxophone.
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Party Dozen’s Kirsty Tickle and Jonathan Boulet have a musical catalogue made up of a coalescence of crunchy saxophone solos, beefy drum beats and fuzzy feedback-drenched noisescapes.
Off the back of their most recent album Crime in Australia, some international shows and a set at Meredith, Party Dozen are due to crush the walls of the Croxton Bandroom for their biggest headline show yet on February 22. With cost of living pressures in mind, tickets are priced at an irresistible $34, though the sheer awesomeness of this band values their shows much higher.
Despite Party Dozen’s Crime in Australia being largely instrumental, this album is by all means conceptual and one only has to look to the album’s name for a hint on its theme. It’s a two-part album, with the first half representing order through its more accessible songs, while the other half descends into disorder.
“We began without any theme in mind, 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. The crime theme quickly became apparent,” the band says.
Tickle describes the vibe of the iconic 80s Aussie cop show genre as being quite silly, while simultaneously possessing a really dark and frightening side.
“I think there’s a real silliness to Australian film and television from that era, but at the same time, it’s really scary as well, like, some of the stories are really fucked up,” Tickle says.
What this duo really nails though is the representation of such a vibe in their instrumentals. Boulet’s varied yet relentless drumming and abrasive mixing represent the hard edge of crime – gritty and enveloped in feedback and noise. While Tickle’s saxophone definitely has a rough edge to it, the honks are sometimes utilised to invoke a more silly, clown-like sound. The result is “an interesting kind of Yin and Yang” between fear and folly.
The track The Big Man Upstairs and its accompanying music video contextualises the theme within the oppressive rule of past Queensland Premier Joh Bjelke Peterson.
From 1968 to 1987, protests against the “hillbilly dictator’s” rule were squashed by the police force, with the punk movement often at the frontlines of resistance. The softer sound of this shoegaze-esque track gives the video’s emotional and confronting scenes of protest a sombre tone, lamenting a time that once was, but thankfully, is no more.
With only two members, Party Dozen maximises on their individual strengths to get as much as they can out of their efforts. The silly Coup De Gronk is just one of Boulet’s “many dumb ideas”, but his drum and bass playing skills, paired with his ability to do the “technical dirty work” of sound engineering bring it all together.
On stage, Tickle’s high-octane performance makes their sets incendiary and exhilarating, bringing a physicality to the show Boulet can’t quite achieve being seated behind the kit (though he definitely still gets into it).
Off stage, Tickle also keeps band admin in check, “or else [they’d] be sleeping under a bus shelter”. The duo complement each other nicely in both their skills and personalities.“We’re good friends, we’ve known each other for a really long time, we kind of make our lives easier as well. We play well together, but we also get along and we tour well together,” Tickle says.
One of Party Dozen’s best strengths lies in their carefree attitude, prompted by feeling lucky to be in the position they’re in. Indeed, being a successful noise rock band is no easy feat.
“I think we both sort of take on the thought process that we’re really lucky to be here and we may as well enjoy it,” Tickle says.
To get tickets to see Party Dozen at the Croxton Bandroom on February 22, head here.
