Northeast Party House Any Given Weekend Interview

Northeast Party House Any Given Weekend Interview

They are the best of times. They are the worst of times. We all love a party, but they don't always go the way we'd like them to.

Northeast Party House knows this well, as do many of the characters inhabiting their debut album, Any Given Weekend. 'I've got some ketamine rolling round my place/I'm 21 and I'm swallowing my face/I need to shake it off" sings Zach Hamilton-Reeves on the title track of this young band's hotly anticipated debut.

Since forming in Melbourne Australia in 2010 (and being -Unearthed' by triple j that same year for their song Dusk), Northeast Party House have built a cult following thanks to their electrifying live shows, and songs combining the heady exhilaration of dance music with pop hooks and rock backbone. These five young guys – most still in their early 20s – have brought the party to stages ranging from the Falls and St Kilda festivals to national support slots for acts such as Jungle Giants, Midnight Juggernauts and Ball Park Music.

For the uninitiated, an early self-titled EP – which featured 'Dusk' and live favourite -Embezzler' – and a couple of digital singles, -Pascal Cavalier' and -Stand Tall', gave a taste of the band. However, it wasn't the full picture, says keyboardist Sean Kenihan.

'Everything has always revolved around our live show," Kenihan says, 'Playing live has always been a very different experience to [just] listening to our music. And that's always been the confusion with us."

Not anymore. With Any Given Weekend, Northeast Party House have finally bottled their live genie into an album of 10 cohesive tracks that are destined to ignite parties all around the nation, in one of the most accomplished debut albums you'll hear in 2014.

Any Given Weekend is Northeast Party House's ode to partying – the good, the bad and the ugly – and the band members' gloriously shambolic ride into adulthood. Party guests on Any Given Weekend include love, lust, friendship, bright lights, sticky walls and the odd stimulant, along with songwriting chops aplenty.

Album opener -The Haunted' creeps up with mesmeric, sparse beats, bass and keys, and smooth vocals from Hamilton-Reeves before a sonic ambush of searing wall–of-sound keys thumps you into next week.

-Youth Allowance' – inspired by friends of the band who lived like paupers during the week so they could party all weekend on the government tab – arrives with a screeching guitar intro akin to a teenage whine of entitlement that lurches into an anthemic punked-up chorus, with Hamilton Reeves snarling 'Let's all get on youth allowance….let's all lose our shit allowance".

The new album also heralds a new lineup. Originally a six-piece, founding members Kenihan, Hamilton-Reeves and guitarist Jack Shoe are now joined by Mitch Ansell on guitar and long-time collaborator Malcolm Besley on drums.

Besley produced the band's debut EP and toured with them as an audio engineer before joining as drummer prior to the recording of Any Given Weekend. Having also clocked up production experience with Snakadaktal and the Holidays, Besley co-produced Any Given Weekend with Kenihan, the pair recording most of the songs in their own home studios.

Although recording was done quickly in order to capture the band's live energy, the album itself had a slow gestation, says Kenihan.

'It's been a really long road for us. Writing this record has taken about two years," he says.

Evolution takes time. The band did not, however, throw the baby out with the bathwater in the process. Embezzler – that live favourite from the debut EP – became the sonic touchstone for the future; so much so that it has come along for the ride in 2014. With re-recorded, oomphier drums, it's now the album closer on Any Given Weekend.

'With Embezzler we really feel a connection to that original sound and the way that that marries itself to the album now and where we're at," says Kenihan 'We feel like we're finally arriving at a place, like coming full circle back to ourselves again."

So with Any Given Weekend, Northeast Party House have brought the party home. And it's one you don't want to miss.

Check it out here.

Interview with Mitch Ansell

Question: How would you describe Northeast Party House?

Mitch Ansell: A pretty tiring and time-consuming situation that I've gotten myself into but one that seems to reward me just enough to make me stick around.


Question: What was the main motivation behind the album Any Given Weekend?

Mitch Ansell: I guess being young, partying and having a sick one at festivals became the story of the album. It's really just a collective of our personal inspirations coming together through 10 tracks.


Question: Do you write your own songs? What's your inspiration?

Mitch Ansell: We do indeed. We throw a cover in the middle of the set, which is usually of the hard rock variety. This becomes a nice little outlet to play music that some of us were inspired by growing up but might not translate perfectly to our own material.

Watching other bands do amazing things in their live set at Festivals, most notably Meredith Music Festival in Victoria.


Question: What music/artists do you listen to when you are not playing your own?

Mitch Ansell: One of my favourite releases last year was -Wild Onion' by a band called Twin Peaks out of Chicago. Super catchy rock and roll band that came out of nowhere for me. I've also rekindled my love for The Smiths since getting my drivers license as it's the only full album I can play in it.


Question: What's next? Tour/Album/Single?

Mitch Ansell: We're touring throughout March/April at some great venues, pretty excited about this one. We started writing for album #2 at the start of the year so a single will be out this year no doubt.


Question: Was there a moment you contemplated throwing in the towel?

Mitch Ansell: It's usually each week, most likely for all of us but hey that's just how things have to roll sometimes.


Question: Do you prefer performing live or recording?

Mitch Ansell: Playing live is always a really important moment for us as it's spontaneous and gives us a chance to see how people react to what we're doing. We spend a lot more time playing live than recording so it's a bit hard to put the two against each other.

Question: What/who was your inspiration to go into the music industry?

Mitch Ansell: My Dad's a jazz shredder from way back so there were always guitars around the house. I guess my family unintentionally pushed me into playing music.


Question: What is the biggest challenge you have faced along the way to your musical success?

Mitch Ansell: People jumping on stage and stepping on my guitar pedals, I love their enthusiasm but that shit is the worst.


Question: What's a typical day like?

Mitch Ansell: Scrolling through endless band group texts, rehearsing for an hour when we've paid for 6 and carrying heavy gear pretty much sums up a typical day for us.


Question: What has been your favourite part of becoming a music artist?

Mitch Ansell: Playing at Falls Festival in Lorne over the 2014/2015 New Years. It's a place I went to every year growing up so it was absolutely surreal to play on a stage that I have watched all my favourite bands on.


Question: If you could collaborate with another artist, who would it be?

Mitch Ansell: Bowie.


Question: What is the story behind the band's name?

Mitch Ansell: A friend of ours named Sam Northeast had a raging party that lasted a week or so back when we were teenagers. That's pretty much the story.


Interview by Brooke Hunter