© Fotos & Words by Steve Drury

a

Single Reviews

LP Reviews

EP & Comp Revs

Artwork - Singles

Live Reviews

They also roar along, driven by a good old-fashioned pumping drum-kit, and every so often one of those elusive moving chord-sequences falls into place, leaving you completely startled. Even in front of a three-thirds empty hall, Party Day are drooling as they perform, playing like their lives depend on it. What can you do but applaud their existence?

Mr Spencer - SOUNDS 19 May 1984

Barnsley Boys Party Day had no trouble bringing the place to a blubbery froth of friendly fisticuffs and exuberant horseplay with a set of sheet metal and hysterical pagan-skins.

Their promising single 'Row the Boat Ashore', and a couple of other high-spots hinted at something altogether more melodic and majestic. They are young and spirited enough to produce something special.

Bart Bartie - NME, 12 Nov 1983

After the first couple of Party Day songs, I thought to myself: "an above average thrash band." But as I heard more, I realised they couldn't be classified so easily; without being plagiaristic, they've experimented with lots of styles and sounds, and their music is far too varied and subtle to be dismissed as Thrash. On the other hand, they have all the energy and vitality associated with the punk bands, and they possess the essentials of powerful music - distinctive vocals and strong drumming.

Lots of bands have talent but are hampered by weak material; not so Party Day. The set, comprised of their own songs, showed that the forthcoming single isn't the only memorable number they've written. They went down well with the crowd, many of whom danced throughout, and then they played a sparkling encore, an exuberant din called ‘The Washing Line’.

Their single is called ‘Row the Boat Ashore c/w Poison’ and is released on their own label. I doubt whether it'll be in the Top 30, but you may hear it somewhere. And in the meantime you could do worse than catch Party Day at their gig. A great deal worse.

SM Feay - LEEDS OTHER PAPER,  14 July 1983

Leeds La Phonographique #2

An audience that shrieks with chic in a concrete tomb beneath the vast "Clockwork Orange" multiplex of the Merrion Centre. And Party Day, a positive-thrash power-trio roaring (geographically) outta Danse Society territory.

I'd heard their tapes, but live there's a sharp attacking edge that C30 chrome-dioxide can't trap. Like a result of twisted eugenics, there's a lot of familiar reference points finger-printing their contagious standouts; ‘Glasshouse’, through ‘Opium Gathering", and into the riffing ‘Tin Sky’ with lead guitarist Martin Steele (in owl-eye granny shades) swapping vocals for alternate numbers with dark pogo-ing bassist Carl Firth.

Conventionally energetic - they grab the dance floor votes.

The house PA rests on crates stenciled "explosive cartridges", which about sums up the band.

It’s astonishing what you can discover by just sticking around and giving the support act a chance, Like, Party Day: what kind of a name is that? You'd certainly never guess it belonged to a group the scale of Barnsley's monster PARTY DAY. That is, so long as you'd not heard their 'The Spider' single first.

Meanwhile, here at the Clarendon, Party Day assume we have heard the single and avoid performing it until the very end. They've clearly got the right idea, and a recent press-release proves it, showing as it does a similar spirit plus lashings of brashly inventive self-confidence. It's nearly as good as the sound itself.

This is an almost perfect band. They have an agreeable habit of making you look-”Wimbledon style” from bassist to guitarist and back again, for utter fear of missing any tricks the pair of them might get up to.

London Hammersmith Clarendon

Leeds Tiffany’s Ballroom (Leeds Fringe Festival)

Leeds La Phonographique #1

Photo by Andrew Middleton

Andy Darlington - OFFENSE No.30 (USA), 12 Aug 1983

Second Tiffany’s Review (Leeds Fringe Festival)

Party Day gave ample evidence that the spirit of '77 lives on. Indeed flourishes, and they carried off their amphetamine thrashes with as much style as they had speed and energy. [Pdf text]

Adam Lebor - LEEDS STUDENT, 12 Nov 1983

"Getting up is just like hell"

And PD Handbill for London gigs, 1984