KBPS Interview: This Party

Matt MacNeill, Hal Cleverdon, Marcus Gilham and Tom Hodgson make up Brighton band ‘This Party’ whose new single, ‘Money’, is released on the 14^th November ahead of two gigs. We caught up with Matt about the song and asked him to give us a flavour of the piece.

“I would describe it as an anecdote of a date gone wrong! It was based on quite a lot of people I know who have been on dates with people where the conversation always went one way, and it ended up being the most important thing about that relationship over anything else,” he told us, referring to the topic that makes up the single’s title.

“Often the best songs I write are personal. That one was essentially about talking to someone who’s most interested in how much money you earn or how far you are on a career path rather than anything else. So it was a mixture of personal and accounts from people who’d been on Tinder dates and things like that, and who had just met people who had asked ‘what do you do for a living?’ and ‘how much do you earn?’ which is where I got my inspiration from.”

You can now watch the video online; what was it like filming that?

It was good fun. We got into the room with the director and there was a bit of a discussion about how they were going to make the money thing look real. It was a case of saying we couldn’t do it with fake money so it had to be the real thing. Somebody had the crazy idea of going to the bank and taking out two grand of cash! I sat there and thought about getting out a couple of hundred quid which would be alright but the director thought that wouldn’t look the way you think it’s going to look on camera. We filmed it in a cellar in a pub as we wanted to get it really dark and gloomy, almost sleazy!

Was there someone off camera worrying about losing the money?

There was, but don’t worry! It was all accounted for!

The single has been released on your own record label. Has that helped give you musical freedom?

I’ve been playing music for a few years now and I’ve found that these days so much is disposable that you can make a really good job if you just do it yourself, you don’t need to rely on other people. I think we felt ready to do this record and ready to do it on our own label. It might not suit everyone else but for us it felt like the right thing to do.

What are your next plans musically?

We’d like to get to the point of doing an album but at the moment it’s just doing singles. We want to do it the Tamla Motown way, and just focus on the singles. But we would like to do an album in the next couple of years or so.

You also have live dates coming up. How would you describe your live sound?

I’ve been told it’s a little like Ian Curtis and Jarvis Cocker. It’s a lot of unusual dancing! I’ve been accused of a lot of unusual dancing. Other than that, very energetic and catchy. It’s always a good show.

Do you usually get the crowd joining you in your unusual dancing?

Yeah usually! It depends on where we go.

You are Brighton based. What’s that like to be a musician in?

I think it’s really good creatively. It’s such a musical place, and bands almost flock here to meet other musicians. Though whilst that’s good in meeting people it does mean it’s very competitive here, and very hard to get noticed here alone, so it really makes you up your game!

Do you have any big ambitions for 2017?

I don’t know about 2017, but in 2018 I’d like to work towards a number one album. That will be my target!

With Christmas round the corner, would you ever do a Christmas single, or what is your Christmas song of choice?

I was asked to do one live on a radio show, right there and then, and we did a year ago. If I had to pick a favourite, it has to be Slade, as I grew up a diet of glam rock from my parents! 

Click here to find out more about This Party.