The Parties Interview: SXSW 2010

Turn on the Parties and you might easily think you're hearing a long lost recording of one of your favorite '60s pop/rock groups. With a less discerning ear, one might think they were actually listening to the Beatles or the Who. Frontman Jeremy Powers recently took the time to sit with Spinner and let us in on why they literally live up to their name. The Parties had rather be playing a backyard shindig any day; luckily for Austinites, the Parties will be playing their backyard at SXSW.

Describe your sound in your own words.

Jeremy Powers [vox/guitar]: We definitely draw inspiration from a retro sound -- that psychedelic jangling period between 1955 and 1967. I've heard some bands say, "Oh now we're not a retro band." We are the opposite, that's what we like, that's what we play, that's what we write. Oh hang on, my dog wants in on the interview ... he wants to play.

What kind of dog?

His name is Buddy he's a mix, a Lab/Beagle rescue dog. Coming to Austin I'm going to have to leave him at the parents' house. The Parties may sound like a '60s band, but we're not like the Grateful Dead where we travel with our pets and families and everything on the road.

So how did you guys form the Parties?

I used to be in another band but I decided to get my own group together. I got a new guitar player and a new drummer and now the Parties are tighter musicianship-wise. There's no glamorous story to it; we just put out an ad on Craigslist and here we are, a much better band.

Where are you guys from originally?

I grew up in California. Adam Symons [guitar] grew up in Connecticut and Rex Padayhag [bass] grew up in the Philippines. Our drummer Rob Uyitingco grew up in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Rex grew up in the Philippines so that's cool to talk about that.

What are your musical influences?

Obviously, the Beatles. We love the Byrds before they dabbled with country, we love the Zombies, we love power pop, Badfinger. All the late seventies power pop. We love power pop a lot of our songs are really poppy sounding.

Like the Who or Mott the Hoople?

Oh we love Mott the Hoople. We like to mess around and play 'Once Bitten Twice Shy.'

How did you come up with the name the Parties?

We used to play a lot of house parties. When you go to a house party you're always surprised or excited when you see a band playing. When you go to a bar sometimes that can be expected or sometimes you may be going just to hang out at a bar and it's no big deal that there is a band there. Whenever there is a band at a party, you think of a good time, people drinking beer out of tubs, everything's free, people just enjoying themselves. Neighbors getting pissed ... I've definitely had to deal with pissed neighbors.

We had some neighbors go ballistic on us at a house party before so we had to get out of the garage ... get out of the house party and just play some live shows so that is what we're doing now.

So that's the plan to get out of the garage this year?

We are. We are recording another record. The last record we did we just went in and recorded, now we have a bunch of songs we have written we just have never really sat down to record them or play them for people, and a bunch of those songs we are getting ready to play at SXSW. The whole process of making a record shifts gears on you ... record mode is different than live show mode, so after SXSW we will hunker down in the studio. The new record should be out some time this fall.

I know how that goes with musicians. You say fall ...

Well I would have told you this summer but there's no way! We are planning to spend more time on it and make it more complex.

Is this your first SXSW?

We played SXSW last year and we did CMJ. That's one thing we're looking at: expanding our presence. For us it's kind of like a vacation. We are playing two day parties this year. Spider House on Friday March 19th, and Sunny Vintage on Saturday. Saturday night we'll be on the roof at Wave.

SXSW is fun for us though because last year we made new friends we played with a Canadian band called the Hoa Hoas from Toronoto and they were awesome guys. We are playing a day party with them again this year and we are hoping to meet lots of new people again this year, too.

Since you've weathered SXSW before, what's your survival guide for newbies?

Stick to regional beer. We'll be drinking Shiner Bock and Lonestar beer the whole weekend. You never know what you'll get into, so power through it. Drink water before you go to bed if you go to bed and try to get some sleep, because sleep you can't get back. Pace yourself the first night instead of going too crazy. We'll fly in on Wednesday so we'll arrive drunk so we'll be on our roll already. Pace yourself.

Beatles or Stones?

I can't answer; that I love them both. I love Keith Richards. Seeing Keith Richards, it's like, f--- dude, he's amazing!

If you could trade places with any artist who would it be?

Keith. He's got it. He can power through. I have a picture of Keith in my house.

What's on your iPod that would shock a Parties fan?

Willie Nelson. I played a country show recently and boy is it a challenge. I'm sure you'd never think Willie Nelson from listening to the Parties.

Tara Lacey is a contributor from Seed.com. Learn how you can contribute here.