Party Dozen

{{Short description|Australian noise rock duo}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2025}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Party Dozen | image = Party Dozen op het Valkhof Festival 2025.jpg | caption = Party Dozen in 2025 | origin = Sydney, New South Wales, Australia | genre = {{flatlist| * Noise rock * Experimental rock }} | years_active = 2015–present | label = {{flatlist| * Grupo * Temporary Residence Limited }} | current_members = * Kirsty Tickle * Jonathan Boulet }} thumb|Mutations Festival, Brighton 2025

'''Party Dozen''' are an Australian noise rock duo from Sydney, formed in the mid-2010s by saxophonist Kirsty Tickle and drummer Jonathan Boulet. The band have released four studio albums, ''The Living Man'' (2017), ''Pray for Party Dozen'' (2020), ''The Real Work'' (2022) and ''Crime in Australia'' (2024).<ref name="NME2022">{{cite web |last=Cahill |first=Mikey |title=Party Dozen: "There's no way we were going to give Nick Cave notes"|url=https://www.nme.com/features/music-features/party-dozen-the-real-work-album-interview-nick-cave-3262068 |work=NME |date=8 July 2022 |access-date=7 December 2025}}</ref><ref name="PostTrash2024">{{cite web |last=Heywood |first=Benji |title=The Crimes of Party Dozen |url=https://post-trash.com/news/2024/9/30/the-crimes-of-party-dozen-feature-interview |work=Post-Trash |date=30 September 2024 |access-date=7 December 2025}}</ref> The track "Macca the Mutt" on ''The Real Work'' features a guest vocal by Nick Cave.<ref name="NME2022" />

==History==

===Formation and ''The Living Man'' (2015–2018)=== Tickle and Boulet first met in 2009 when Boulet stopped in Brisbane while on tour with his band Parades and stayed with Tickle and her sister, who were then playing in indie pop group Little Scout.<ref name="NME2022" /> The two kept in touch and later spent time in London, where they began jamming and experimenting with ideas.<ref name="AU2024">{{cite web |last=Young |first=David James |title="I was on my own, envisioning lots of people": The lost solo years of Party Dozen’s Jonathan Boulet |url=https://www.theaureview.com/music/i-was-on-my-own-envisioning-lots-of-people-the-lost-solo-years-of-party-dozens-jonathan-boulet/ |work=The AU Review |date=3 September 2024 |access-date=7 December 2025}}</ref><ref name="Gimmie2020">{{cite web |title=Pray For Party Dozen is on the way: "Party Dozen is a band that no one asked for, so I think it’s funny, the idea of praying for us" |url=https://gimmiezine.com/2020/04/10/pray-for-party-dozen-is-on-the-way-party-dozen-is-a-band-that-no-one-asked-for-so-i-think-its-funny-the-idea-of-praying-for-us/ |work=Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie Zine |date=10 April 2020 |access-date=7 December 2025}}</ref>

After working on individual projects, Boulet relocated to Berlin around 2013 in search of a heavier, more aggressive musical direction, while Tickle was also moving away from indie pop toward more experimental work. During a period when both were living in Berlin, the pair began developing a two-piece project built around saxophone, drums and electronics, working under the name Top People on "sludgy, doomy" material that would eventually evolve into Party Dozen.<ref name="AU2024" /><ref name="Reverb2018">{{cite web |last=Smethurst |first=Nick |title=Interview: The Sydney Duo Behind Exhibitionist's Immaculate Pop and Party Dozen's Noisy Jams |url=https://reverb.com/news/interview-the-sydney-duo-behind-exhibitionists-immaculate-pop-and-party-dozens-noisy-jams |website=Reverb |date=12 January 2018 |access-date=7 December 2025 }}</ref>

By 2015–2016 the pair were back in Australia and began performing together in Sydney. The duo recorded their debut album, ''The Living Man'', in a small Marrickville studio. It was released through their own label Grupo in 2017.<ref name="Reverb2018" />

===''Pray for Party Dozen'' (2019–2021)=== Party Dozen's second album, ''Pray for Party Dozen'', was released on Grupo on 22 May 2020.<ref name="Gimmie2020" /> Written and recorded in a small rehearsal room in Marrickville, the record further explored the duo's improvisational approach, building songs from loops and live takes with minimal overdubs.<ref name="Gimmie2020" /> Tickle expanded her pedalboard and effects palette, while Boulet handled recording, mixing and mastering.<ref name="Reverb2018" />

The album helped the band move beyond Sydney's DIY circuit and led to festival appearances in Australia.<ref name="Gimmie2020" />

===''The Real Work'' and Nick Cave collaboration (2022–2023)=== The band's third album, ''The Real Work'', was released in July 2022 through Grupo and the US label Temporary Residence Limited.<ref name="NME2022" /> The record broadened their sound with more varied loops, organ and piano samples and moments of relative restraint alongside their usual noise-rock intensity.<ref name="NewNoise2022">{{cite web |last=Newton |first=Caleb R. |title=Interview: Party Dozen’s Jonathan Boulet, Kirsty Tickle Talk Entrancing New LP, ''The Real Work'' |url=https://newnoisemagazine.com/interviews/interview-party-dozens-kirsty-tickle-talks-entracing-new-lp-the-real-work/ |work=New Noise Magazine |date=13 July 2022 |access-date=7 December 2025}}</ref>

''The Real Work'' attracted wider international attention in part due to the track "Macca the Mutt", which features a guest vocal from Nick Cave. According to the band, they sent Cave the nearly finished song via management, and he contributed an improvised coda vocal that they incorporated unchanged.<ref name="NME2022" /> Cave later described Party Dozen as "a force of nature".<ref name="NME2022" /> The album received positive reviews and appeared on year-end lists, including NME's list of the best Australian albums of 2022.<ref>{{cite web |title=The 25 best Australian albums of 2022 |url=https://www.nme.com/features/nme-best-australia-albums-of-the-year-2022-3366550 |website=NME |date=16 December 2022 |access-date=7 December 2025}}</ref>

===''Crime in Australia'' (2024–present)=== In 2024, Party Dozen released their fourth album, ''Crime in Australia'', again recorded in their Marrickville studio and released via Grupo and Temporary Residence on 6 September 2024.<ref name="Happy2024">{{cite web |last=Moir |first=Tammy |title=Party Dozen talk new music: A dose of punky shoegaze & plenty of sax! |url=https://happymag.tv/interview-party-dozen-the-big-man-upstairs/ |work=Happy Mag |date=3 July 2024 |access-date=7 December 2025}}</ref> The record was conceived as a kind of soundtrack to a fictional Australian crime film, drawing on the visual and thematic atmosphere of local crime movies and television such as ''Two Hands'', ''Chopper'', ''Wake in Fright'', ''Mr Inbetween'' and other Australian noir works.<ref name="Happy2024" />

Around the album's release the band toured the UK and Europe and continued to appear at Australian festivals.<ref name="PostTrash2024" />

==Band members== * '''Kirsty Tickle''' – saxophone, effects, vocals (2015–present) * '''Jonathan Boulet''' – drums, samples, production (2015–present)

==Discography==

===Studio albums=== * ''The Living Man'' (2017, Grupo) * ''Pray for Party Dozen'' (2020, Grupo) * ''The Real Work'' (2022, Grupo / Temporary Residence) * ''Crime in Australia'' (2024, Grupo / Temporary Residence)

==References== {{Reflist}}

Category:Australian noise rock groups Category:Australian musical duos Category:Musical groups established in 2015 Category:Musical groups from Sydney Category:2015 establishments in Australia