New Band of the Week: Guilty Party

Welsh newcomers Guilty Party will have you reminiscing about your rebellious days of raiding Bargain Booze, “Ibiza deep cuts” and crashing rich kids’ parties with a catchy, melodic and relatable rock sound they describe as “hooky, fat and honest.”

The Cardiff quartet of Jen (vocals and guitar), Dan (guitar and vocals), Ceris (bass) and Ty (drums) got together after “bouncing around a few bands with a few crap names.” Jen and Dan had written together for a while before they met Ceris at a gig then brought their old pal Ty in, and started writing tunes together after work at the start of this year.

They’ve since honed a sound that they compare to your mate’s old fake ID: “Rough around the edges with good intentions – to get the beers in and make a night of it.”

Expanding further, the band tells us: “It’s a slice of life lyrics with a main stage presentation, a night out in widescreen. It’s an excuse to hang out and have a blast, especially when life gets its foot in the door, but essentially we’re four dicks playing guitars and getting it out there. If you’re an earworm assassin with a taste for riffs and a shameless piss up check us out.”

Our first taste of this is their debut single Lemonade, which was released in March. It opens up with a funky little guitar lick with big supporting instrumentals, which drops into a laid-back verse led by Jen’s engaging vocals “Close enough, You’re taking ages, And I’ve been thinking out of it, Sizing up, Is it too late, And how far do we have to go?”

Heavier guitars and drums kick in as the vocals intensify and the opening lick jumps back in as it dives into a catchy chorus “Hope you’re home with lemonade, All messed up, Never change, We were out taking names, Call me up strange ways.” Another laid-back verse builds up to another catchy chorus, which drops into a light guitar and drums as Dan takes over vocal duties. The verse ends with lone vocals “Everybody’s looking where you left me” that repeat as heavier instrumentals jump in and take us through to a big conclusion to the track.

On the track, they told us: “We’ve all had the mates’ rates reviews (love ya) but having it picked up and shared by a bunch of blogs and streams is a big enough excuse to celebrate (why not). If you’re deliberating, give it ten seconds and it’ll tell you all you need to know. Love it, hate it, jam it when you’re walking the dog, it’s just cool to be a soundtrack to whatever you’re doing.” Check out Lemonade in the video here:

The Guilty Party sound has been honed on a love of melodic, classic rock like Smashing Pumpkins and Pixies. But it’s also influenced by new bands like Softcult and Sobs, who the band are keen to point out have a killer album called Air Guitar, and their mates’ bands, including indie band French Alps Tiger for whom Jen contributed some vocals on their debut album Switch Off All The Time.

And on what influences them to write music, the band tells us: “The thing that ties us all together is songs from forgotten albums that are hidden in secret in everyone’s head. When someone puts on a deep cut and you all share a split-second flashback. If we can be that song while you’re making new friends at a house party, that’s what it’s all about (we’d probably play that gig too).”

Lemonade is the first of three tracks the band has worked on with Gethin Pearson. They plan to release the second track Wanna Change next month (July) with the third Unwound out by the end of the year. They’ll also be busy playing the best shows possible while getting to work on recording the next three tracks in their set.

And the band adds: “We’re open as anything, just drop us a line if you like what you hear or wanna know where Jen got her shoes.”

Lemonade is a great introduction to this exciting new Welsh band and we’re looking forward to hearing more from over the next few months!

You can follow Guilty Party on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok, and check out their music on Spotify, Bandcamp and YouTube.