Party Dozen causes a Ruckus at The Salt Shed

Article by Kayla Matheus / Photo courtesy of Hyun Lee

Party Dozen is an improvisational noise rock pair from Sydney. The band consists of Kirsty Tickled on the saxophone and vocals, and Jonathan Boulet on drums. Their music features driving percussion backed by electronic noise and distorted vocals shouted through the bell of a saxophone. Don’t be fooled by their seemingly simple setup, though. The duo creates catchy, layered sounds using loops that feel like they have a full band backing them.

A few songs worth mentioning are their new single “Special Unit” (perfect for jumping around), their single “Power Tripper” made with Arse (good for screaming and raging), and the song that led them to find an international audience, “Macca the Mutt” (which offers unique saxophone sounds and vocals from Nick Cave).

The Salt Shed was the perfect venue for Party Dozen, offering plenty of space to dance around, head bang, and mosh with a beautiful sunset view of the city skyline in the background.

Kirsty’s high-energy jumping, saxophone in hand, made for a thrilling ride through their improvisational performance. Not only is her breath control out of this world, but her ability to dance with a saxophone and not break a tooth was impressive. Watching her cook up loops before shredding on her alto sax was mesmerizing. She captivated the crowd by making the saxophone sound like an electric guitar in songs like “Money & The Drugs” and brass-like in songs like “Coup de Gronk”. By shouting lyrics into the end of the saxophone, she created distorted, echoey vocals that float over the top of the crunchy loops. This duo had the energy to hype the crowd up for Amyl and the Sniffers, whose performance had crowd surfers for the entirety of their banging set.

Party Dozen will continue their havoc on tour with Amyl and the Sniffers in Nebraska, Colorado, and Minnesota throughout June, as well as a show of their own in Los Angeles.