The Party on High Street

The Party on High Street – Organized (April 2012)

Some records are made to be listened to with the utmost care, alone with a good set of headphones; other records come into this world with the sole purpose of making you get up and shake that ass. The latest disc from Victoria’s harbingers of funk, The Party on High Street, falls firmly into the latter category. This is music for shimmying, for funking your way through a Friday night.

The Party on High Street delivers high-energy funk music, rarely slowing down to give the dancing masses a breath. From the opening moments of the gloriously silly “Palette for the Party,” it’s evident that these cats have some serious musical chops and a wonderful sense of the absurd — a quality lacking in a lot of music these days.

Bouncy, silky guitar riffs drive the music along at a furious pace. The Party on High Street rarely gives the listener a break from rump-wigglin’. Even when they let the music slow down, the underlying groove is still strong. Check out the slinking, mischievous “Formaldehyde” for proof. The harmonica work on the bluesy, languorous “Weighs Me Down” is confident and precise, hearkening back to some of the better players in the game, like Jimmy Reed and Garrett Dutton (aka G. Love).

Though Organized is rooted firmly in the funk-rock of Red Hot Chili Peppers and Primus, there is a breezy, fun Island vibe running through the whole album that those bands and others like them lack. Whether your party needs a shot of hard rock from “The Rules,” some sunny smiles from a track like “Skunk Funk” or just booty-movin’ music like “The Chain,” Organized has what you need to get the party high and jumping. - The Martlet

The Party on High Street – Organized (April 2012)

Some records are made to be listened to with the utmost care, alone with a good set of headphones; other records come into this world with the sole purpose of making you get up and shake that ass. The latest disc from Victoria’s harbingers of funk, The Party on High Street, falls firmly into the latter category. This is music for shimmying, for funking your way through a Friday night.

The Party on High Street delivers high-energy funk music, rarely slowing down to give the dancing masses a breath. From the opening moments of the gloriously silly “Palette for the Party,” it’s evident that these cats have some serious musical chops and a wonderful sense of the absurd — a quality lacking in a lot of music these days.

Bouncy, silky guitar riffs drive the music along at a furious pace. The Party on High Street rarely gives the listener a break from rump-wigglin’. Even when they let the music slow down, the underlying groove is still strong. Check out the slinking, mischievous “Formaldehyde” for proof. The harmonica work on the bluesy, languorous “Weighs Me Down” is confident and precise, hearkening back to some of the better players in the game, like Jimmy Reed and Garrett Dutton (aka G. Love).

Though Organized is rooted firmly in the funk-rock of Red Hot Chili Peppers and Primus, there is a breezy, fun Island vibe running through the whole album that those bands and others like them lack. Whether your party needs a shot of hard rock from “The Rules,” some sunny smiles from a track like “Skunk Funk” or just booty-movin’ music like “The Chain,” Organized has what you need to get the party high and jumping. - The Martlet

By Natalie North - Victoria News
Published: August 16, 2011 1:00 PM
Updated: August 16, 2011 1:14 PM

So long as guys in The Party on High Street are dancing along with the audience, they’re doing what they set out to do: start the party.

And with a rock musical, a B.C. tour, and a new weekly spot at the University of Victoria’s campus pub in the works, they’re starting a lot of parties.

“It’s a goal -- regardless if it’s one person or several at a time -- to get them dancing and having a good time,” said Nick Houghton, drummer for the chameleonic band. “It’s not, ‘Hey, look at us.’ It’s ‘Hey, we’re starting a party and we want you to join us.’”

Houghton – along with long-time friend and fellow St. Michaels University School grad Brin Porter on bass and Travis Charuk on guitar – blends elements of rock, funk, soul and hip-hop, for an overall difficult-to-categorize, upbeat, funky sound.

“Most of the people I ask don’t really know how to genre-ize us,” Houghton said. “We kind of pride ourselves on being hard to describe.”

Theatre Inconnu’s Clayton Jevne touches on a common theme labelling their shows.

“They’re certainly a lot of fun, for one thing,” said Jevne, who directed a local production of the rock opera Love Kills, featuring live music from the guys.

Theatre Inconnu first presented the so-called “hipster musical” based on the true story behind the film Natural Born Killers? last fall. The work will be remounted with the original cast, and The Party on High Street, during the 2011-12 season at UVic’s Phoenix Theatre.

“A lot of people wanted to know who this band was,” Jevne said. “They were really excited about them. They really loved their energy.”

Jevne attributes their ability to take direction quickly and adjust their sound to The Party’s tight technical skills.

“It’s much more palatable than a lot of musicals are,” he added. “The music that they play does challenge the audience.”

Guitarist Charuk is excited about revisiting the band’s original interpretations on Love Kills and pushing it further for a bigger and better show this year, he said.

When it comes to another gig on campus – jamerokee at Felicitas, the UVic campus pub – Charuk is only slightly less open-minded.

“We’ve got a no Nickelback policy,” Charuk said with a laugh.

The guys will deliver live band karaoke every Monday night at the pub, starting Sept.12. Wannabe rock stars can sign up for any song (aside from the aforementioned Canadian power rockers), and the Party on High Street will play the music – from James Brown to James Blunt.

This summer they’ve loaded up their Astro van, a.k.a. their “bad-Ass-tro,” to tour the province. They started in Vancouver on Aug. 13. The party returns to Victoria Aug. 20 at the Fort Café before they take over Lucky Bar for a back-to-school party Sept. 9.

“I’ve had people tell me on three separate occasions that they almost cried because our music is so good,” Houghton said. “I don’t like saying that because it sounds like I’m making it up, but it’s the God’s honest truth. They enjoyed it so much, it brought them to tears.”

“Whether there’s two people or 200 (in the audience), we feel pretty blessed,” Charuk added.

nnorth@saanichnews.com - Victoria News

Victoria’s newest ambassadors of funk, The Party On High Street (TPOHS), kicked out the jams on Jan. 7 at Logan’s Pub in support of their new album, Everyday.

TPOHS, originally formed in Nelson, B.C. by guitarist/vocalist T-rav Charuk and bass player/vocalist Brin Porter, has recently landed in Victoria and is working hard to infuse the local music scene with its own brand of psychedelic funk rock.

The band began jamming around 10 p.m.

What at first sounded like the beginning of a promising song, turned out to be a catchy and hilarious sound-check number that featured lyrics like “it’s all right, you’re not missing shit, it’s just the sound check.”

Soon after, the real show began. TPOHS quickly established their musical abilities.

Mashing together blues melodies and heavy, grooving bass lines topped with guitar and trumpet, the band got the show going with the original single “Weighs Me Down.”

As TPOHS went through the set list, jamming out in songs with extended solos, it seemed like every song was an experiment in genre levels, trying out different mixtures of funk, ska, rock, psychedelic and blues. Even elements of hip hop were featured in the songs of TPOHS, like the a cappella rap intro to “I Jam.”

Not only did all the songs draw from multiple musical styles, but the group also played around with changes in tempo, jumping to double time and then just as abruptly falling to half time.

At times TPOHS would have slow, lifting trumpet wonderfully contrasted with the rest of the band playing fast and driving jams.

The best example of this was probably the performance of “Going to the Top,” a song about heading up Mount Tolmie after a hard day of work. In another song, described by the band as “freaky-deaky,” the music began sounding like it would be suitable for a tropical island scene. It built up momentum, only to fall back to a slow and quiet a cappella portion. Then, just as the audience expected the song to die, it jumped up and punched them in the face with a fist full of funk.

The band sounded tight and together, and the music was a good blend of groove and party. What I was most impressed with, however, was the showmanship of TPOHS.

It was a weeknight and the bar was definitely less than full, but that didn’t matter to the band. They played full out as if they were in front of thousands, and they did so late into the evening, finishing up their set around 2 a.m.

For those who love dancing and don’t like going to clubs, keep your eyes peeled for the next TPOHS concert.

They will keep you moving all night long. - The Martlet Newspaper Victoria