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Interview with
SEAN KENIHAN (keys)
from
NORTHEAST PARTY HOUSE

(October 18, 2023)

Interview with Dave Bruce

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How did the band come together? Is there someone who is a “driving force”, or do you all make decisions together?
Jack and I grew up together, playing in various school bands throughout high school. Zach went to our school too, a few years below us. In the summer of 2008, once Jack and I had finished VCE, he would come over to my house and we’d sit around making music, talking shit, playing Fifa, dreaming of starting a band as cool as Foals or the Presets. After about a year of doing this we decided our demos needed some vocals, but neither of us could sing. It just so happened Zach lived around the corner so we got him in one evening. Sitting on the couch with headphones on, he sung softly and self consciously into my crappy AKG microphone, over a demo that would later be released as Dusk. He just made the words up on the spot and they stuck. We still give him shit about how they don’t make any sense.
I didn’t take long for us to find a drummer and bass player, who both actually left the band and were replaced by Malcolm and Oli before we recorded our first album. Mitch also joined early on as our second guitarist. When we first started we also had Moz (our hype man), who would control the strobe lights, hit cymbals and wasn’t shy on the mic. He made his graceful exit once we decided to start ‘taking things more seriously’.
Jack and I were the driving force for the band in those early days, but as the band grew together and became solidified as a group various members have pushed the band through different periods, taking up the mantle of organising the six of us. Mitch and Zach especially have taken their turn leading the band at different points.
Each time we decide to write an album it comes together differently, with different people taking the lead. We’re working on a body of work at the moment which is mostly just Zach and I in the studio, which is probably why it’s heading in a more electronic direction.

How would you describe your sound? Why do you think fans resonate with your music?
Our sound is really varied and has varied quite a bit over time. It’s not something the band is proud of actually; we really struggle to produce a consistent sound. I think that mainly comes from having six members, all with quite different taste in music. I guess I’d describe our current sound as Electronic Driven Indie Pop? I don’t know really, most artists struggle to define their sound, you’d probably do it better than me.
The one thing that really unites us, which I think also resonates with fans, is our desire to put on a good live show. We were playing packed out shows in Melbourne long before we had any success on radio, not because the songs were great, but because we brought lots of energy on stage and people had fun at our shows. I’ve lost count of how many people have said “I never quite understood your band until I saw you live”. I think our fans know that they’ll have fun at a Northeast show, it’s probably just that simple.

Which artist’s music and/or performance, past or present, inspires you today?
This is one of those questions that would really split the band. If all six of us were here you would get six unique answers… and actually, for each person you would get two answers; the artists who they’re inspired by personally by, and the artists who they draw inspiration from, in regards to writing in the band. Personally, if you think you know about dance music and you’ve never heard of Donato Dozzy and Voices From The Lake, go educate yourself. You are only at the beginning of your journey. In terms of inspiration for Northeast writing, I’ve been listening to a lot of stuff from the early 90s and 2000 like The Chemical Brothers, Happy Mondays, as well as newer pop and electronic stuff, The Blaze, Calvin Harris, Troye Sivan’s new stuff is fun.

Your last single ‘Brain Freeze’ was back in March! What new music is on the drawing board?
We’re working on a body of work at the moment, which we’ll announce early next year. Next year will be a big year for us.

If a new fan was being inducted into the Northeast Party House fan club, which song would they need to listen to at their initiation? And why?
Calypso Beach is our most popular track and is a good pop track to start with. Heartbreaker is a great representation of what we do live. The BACARDÍ DANCE FLOOR will be a great opportunity for any budding Sydney fans to come check out what we are about as well.

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BACARDÍ DANCE FLOOR is coming up on the 27th October in Sydney. What are you looking forward to, and what can the fans expect?
I think it’ll be a good time! Looking forward to sipping on some BACARDÍ and soaking up the Sydney sun. We’ll be bringing the energy to this show just like any other, hopefully everyone’s a few Bacardi’s deep by the time we play so we can have some fun.

What other tours/events are on the horizon?
We’re playing Someday Soon in Sydney on the 21st of October and then in Melbourne at Northcote Theatre on December 1st with Dune Rats, for a Movember Charity event. After that we’re taking a little break over the summer to write music and spend time with family before a big 2024.

If you could perform with any music artist, Alive or Dead, who would you choose? And why?
We’ve all big  fans of LCD Soundsystem, it would be a dream to go on tour with them.

What are your long-term aspirations as a music artist and how are you progressing towards them?
We already consider ourselves really lucky to be living off music. It’s all you can really ask for. After that it’s just about trying to write the best music you can and play great live shows to give fans the best experience you can. It’s really all about the music, you can’t really make many plans beyond writing the next album and playing the next show, because you never know what’s around the corner. Just work hard, day by day. Get better at your craft. There’s no shortcuts. Just long nights in the studio and long days of hating everything you write, with sporadic moments of joy when you finally write something worth pursuing.

With that in mind, what piece of advice would you give to an artist starting out?
One piece of advice is to make sure you’re fully finishing your songs. A lot of artists get into a pattern where they start lots of ideas but never finish any. That’s because starting new ideas is easy and fun, and finishing ideas is hard and fucking painstaking. The more practised you get at finishing songs though, the easier it will get. The other advice I’d give is to never stop practising your instrument. No matter how good you get. As I said, there’s no shortcut to writing a good song, and no amount of production or mixing that can save a bad song. However, if you get really good at your instrument, and are always improving, the time between writing one decent song to the next will begin to get shorter and shorter.

What is the best thing about performing to a live audience? What’s been the career highlight so far?
I can never quite believe it when you have thousands of people all jumping up and down, singing your songs. I feel like they’ve all been brainwashed to like our music and that it has nothing to do with us at all, but of course that’s not true. My career highlights so far have been our sold out shows at the Forum in Melbourne. It’s such a special venue and a real pinch-yourself moment.

Finally, a few questions for some quick answers –
FAVOURITE:
Album – Antidote – Foals
Artist – Donato Dozzy
Movie – The Matrix
Place to visit – Athens
Venue to play – The Forum (Melbourne)
Food – Ramen
Drink – Coca Cola
Person in History – David Attenborough
Tattoo – (If you don’t have one, what would you get?) I’m clean baby, and it’s staying that way!

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BACARDÍ Australia Facebook and BACARDÍ Australia Instagram 

@BacardiAU #BacardiDanceFloor #DoWhatMovesYou

To book tickets $30 + booking fee click here. 

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BACARDÍ Dance Floor 

Date: Friday 27th October, 2023

Doors open: 7pm 

Location: Cell Block Theatre, National Art School, Forbes St. Sydney New South Wales 2010

Tickets: Tickets on sale from Tuesday 3rd October. $30 + booking fee includes entry, two signature BACARDÍ cocktails and food. To book, click here. 

All profits from the gig will be donated to Support Act, a charity which delivers crisis relief services across the music industry. Over 18s only. 

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Follow NORTHEAST PARTY HOUSE
WEBSITE – FACEBOOK – INSTAGRAM
YOUTUBE – TWITTER

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Press Release 6th October 2023 (below) HERE

BACARDÍ
Dance Floor
heats up Sydney with
Australia’s favourite party-starters
NORTHEAST PARTY HOUSE

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AMNPLIFY – DB