Start the Party (album)

Start the Party is the fourth and final studio album by Welsh post-hardcore band the Blackout. Following the touring cycle for Hope (2011), the band began writing material for the next album. The band recorded Start the Party with A frontman Jason Perry acting as producer. Classed as a post-hardcore album, it revolves about the topic of partying, with overall comparison to the Beastie Boys and guitar comparisons to the Foo Fighters and Papa Roach. Preceded by a brief UK tour and the music videos for the title-track and "Running Scared", Start the Party was released on 21 January 2013 through independent label Cooking Vinyl. The artwork stars Dirty Sanchez stunt performer Matthew Pritchard crowd-surfing. Initial promotion consisted of a headlining UK tour, a European support slot for Yellowcard and appearances at the Soundwave festival in Australia. Music videos were later released for "Radio" and "Take Away the Misery", leading up to a UK tour at the end of the year.

Start the Party
Studio album by
The Blackout
Released21 January 2013 (2013-01-21)
GenrePost-hardcore
Length37:22
LabelCooking Vinyl
ProducerJason Perry
The Blackout chronology
Hope
(2011)		 Start the Party
(2013)

Background and production

The Blackout released their third album Hope in April 2011, which was crowd-funded through PledgeMusic, and released through independent label Cooking Vinyl.[1][2] During the writing process for it, they had no funds, management or label to support them.[3] The group opted to continue working with Cooking Vinyl for their next album, which allowed them to focus on writing and none of the business aspects.[2] It was promoted with two UK tours and appearances at the Reading & Leeds and Merthyr Rock festivals into late 2011.[4] Shortly after the touring concluded, the band immediately started writing new material.[5]

Spurred on by the positive reception from their previous tours, the group decided to incorporate this sensation into the new music. They aimed to have another album out by September/October 2012.[5] They recorded with A frontman Jason Perry and engineer Michael Morgan. The recordings were mixed by John Mitchell, before they were mastered by Tom Baker at Precision.[6] The group initially planned to have two features on the album: Andrew W.K. and Wes Borland of Limp Bizkit. Vocalist Sean Smith said W.K. "doesn’t party hard enough for The Blackout", while Borland's guitar solo wasn't required when they group realised they could utilize vocals instead.[2]

Composition

Musically, Start the Party has been described as post-hardcore; lyrically it tackles the theme of partying.[7] Smith explained the topic choice: "We just went 'What do we need right now, what does the world need?' and it’s just a party album because everyone is so fucking miserable at the moment".[2] It was overall compared to a hip-hop-less version of the Beastie Boys,[8] while the guitar work drew comparison to Lostprophets, early Foo Fighters, Papa Roach and A.[9] The record had less of an emphasis on screaming than their previous releases.[10] The title-track, which serves as the album's opening, is about enjoying life and having fun.[11] Partway through it, the band yell out each letter of the word party.[12] "Radio" is about people stealing other artists' songs and passing them off as their own.[13] "We Live On" talks about continuing through difficult times in one's life and never giving up.[14] Butler and Smith said "Let Me Go" was about women being angry.[15]

"Take Away the Misery" leans on the group's hardcore punk roots with its guitar riffs and screaming vocals.[12] "Keep Singing" is about fighting through life and enjoying what you like;[16] the melody and lyrics of it recalled the likes of Jimmy Eat World.[17] The pop punk track "Running Scared"[12] showcases Smith's vocal abilities, acting as one of the record's more upbeat tracks.[18] It is followed by the ballad "You", which is reminiscent of Brand New.[12] "Free Yourself" returns to the Lostprophets-indebted guitar riffs that are heard through out the album;[17] it talks about people living their own lives and not worrying about anyone else's.[19] It is followed by "Sleep When You're Dead", which had an intro in the vein of AC/DC.[17] Butler said the song was in homage to Dirty Sanchez stunt performer Matthew Pritchard, and named after a party boat that he owned.[5] The closing track "Throw It All Away" is about keeping one's head up and having a positive outlook on life.[20]

Release
The Blackout performing live in 2013.

In August, the group performed at the Reading and Leeds Festivals,[21] before headlining the Merthyr Rock festival.[22] On 17 September, Start the Party was announced for release in January. As part of the announcement, the track listing and artwork were revealed, and a music video was released for "Start the Party".[23] The clip was shot in Ibiza;[24] Pritchard organized party boats to the island and invited the group to film there.[5] The following day, the track was made available for free download through the group's website.[25] The group played a few shows in the UK in October.[26] A music video was released for "Running Scared" on 22 November,[27] directed by Sitcom Soldiers.[28] It was also filmed Ibiza and stars Smith traveling around trying to find his bandmates.[29]

Start the Party was released on 21 January 2013 through Cooking Vinyl;[30] its artwork features Pritchard crowd surfing. Vocalist Gavin Butler said he was looking through his Instagram feed and came across a photo of Pritchard "in a thong drinking champagne out of a bottle on a snowmobile in the middle of Norway", and felt he embodied the spirit of partying.[5] The physical deluxe edition included a DVD on the making of the album and live performances from their Reading & Leeds and Merthyr Rock appearances. The iTunes deluxe edition featured covers of "Boom! Shake the Room", "Super Freak" and "Sorry for Party Rocking" as bonus tracks.[31]

In January, the group went on a headlining UK tour, with support from Sonic Boom Six[32] and Proxies.[33] Alongside this, the band planned a series of HMV in-store acoustic performances,[34] however, due to the company going to administration, the performances were later moved to the respective venues on the same day.[35] They had a supporting slot for Yellowcard on their European tour in January and February,[36] before touring Australia in February and March as part of the Soundwave festival.[37] Following this, the group headlined the Radstock[38] and Takedown festivals.[39] A music video was released for "Radio" on 2 April.[40]

In August, the band performed at the Reading and Leeds Festivals.[41] Footage from these appearances was used for the music video for "Take Away the Misery", released on 20 September.[42] In October, the group went on the Final Party tour in the UK with support from Framing Hanley.[43] Blitz Kids was due to support,[44] but were replaced by Rat Attack.[42] The tour was due to last into November, however, vocalist Gavin Butler had a recurrence of a hemiplegic migraine, which resulted in the cancelled of several dates.[45] The dates were rescheduled for January and February 2014 and featured LostAlone and Rat Attack as the supports.[46]

Reception
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic77/100[47]
Review scores
SourceRating
CherwellUnfavourable[7]
The CrackMixed[8]
Dead Press![18]
DIY[12]
Islington Gazette3/5[9]
The Music5/10[10]
musicOMH[48]
Rock Hard7.5/10[49]
Thrash HitsUnfavourable[50]
South Wales ArgusFavourable[51]

Start the Party received generally positive reviews from music critics, according to review aggregator Metacritic.[47] Rock Hard editor Jens Peters noted the two vocalists "cover[ed] the entire range from nasty hardcore shouting to melodic rock" with "a knack for catchy melodies and singable hooks."[49] Islington Gazette writer Stephen Moore found it "a surprisingly sustained set" with its "well-used combo of pop structures, catchy melodies, [and] heart-on-sleeve lyrics".[9] Butler's "accessible mid-Atlantic vocals and this clutch of fist-pumping tunes could turn The Blackout into stars."[9] South Wales Argus Andy Howells music reviewer said the band "get 2013 off to a cracking start with a throat blistering, mosh moving collection".[51] Renee Jones of The Music said the group "shift away from their previous work to create a combination of catchy choruses and cheesy, fairly generic ... sounds" with every song "aiming for the obvious – a party-rock vibe."[10] Dead Press! writer Laurence Kellett noted the "refined change", resulting in a "fine-tuned, polished album".[18] Though it could "greatly benefit from the party rock ... attitude" of their prior material.[18]

The Crack's RM said the group come across as "the Scrappy Doo of rock: relentless and yappy with it."[8] He added the album "sounds like The Beastie Boys ... with the hip-hop and bratty humour surgically removed".[8] DIY contributor Greg Inglis said if the group removed all of the expletives "then there would be more potential singles here than a David Guetta and Calvin Harris combined Greatest Hits LP".[12] The record's "crux" lied in the "many individually solid tracks that are hummable in isolation but blend into uniformity over the course of an album".[12] Cherwell's Isabel Stoppani De Berrie criticised the album as being for teenagers that would "probably best enjoy this live and drunken, before they’re old enough to realise how very insincere it all sounds."[7] Andy Baber of musicOMH found it difficult to figure out what the members were "doing most of the time. The album just sounds like the same guitar riffs recycled, with the distortion merging them all into one."[48] Thrash Hits writer Tom Doyle wrote it "feels like an album made by a band rehashing ideas from their youth to appeal to their indefatigable but relentlessly young fanbase."[50]

Track listing

Track listing per booklet.[6]

No.TitleLength
1."Start the Party"3:44
2."Radio"2:58
3."We Live On"3:24
4."Let Me Go"3:26
5."Take Away the Misery"3:09
6."Keep Singing"3:24
7."Running Scared"3:17
8."You"3:28
9."Free Yourself"3:13
10."Sleep When You're Dead"3:54
11."Throw It All Away"3:25
iTunes bonus tracks[31]
No.TitleLength
12."Boom Shake the Room" (DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince cover)3:30
13."Super Freak" (Rick James cover)3:33
14."Sorry For Party Rocking" (LMFAO cover)3:24

Personnel

Personnel per booklet.[6]

References

Citations

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  2. "The Interview: The Blackout". SCAN. 6 March 2013. Archived from the original on 11 July 2020. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  3. Gillingwater, Michelle. "The Blackout". Beat. Archived from the original on 10 July 2020. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  5. "The Blackout release their party album". Wales Online. 17 January 2013. Archived from the original on 10 July 2020. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  6. Start the Party (booklet). The Blackout. Cooking Vinyl. 2013. COOKCD574X.CS1 maint: others (link)
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  9. Moore, Stephen (7 February 2013). "Album review: The Blackout - Start The Party". Islington Gazette. Archived from the original on 9 July 2020. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  10. Jones, Renee (7 February 2013). "The Blackout / Start The Party". The Music. Archived from the original on 11 July 2020. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
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  13. The Blackout 2013b, event occurs at 0:17–23.
  14. The Blackout 2013c, event occurs at 0:23–8.
  15. The Blackout 2013d, event occurs at 0:14–9.
  16. The Blackout 2013e, event occurs at 0:09–15.
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  19. The Blackout 2013g, event occurs at 0:19–22.
  20. The Blackout 2013h, event occurs at 0:21–8.
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  29. The Blackout 2013f, event occurs at 0:15–7.
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Sources

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