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"Dressed in blue and playing high-energy folk rock that's perfect for a house party, The Blue Party is possibly the 'funnest' band on Earth." - Arts Council of New Orleans

"The Blue Party blends sounds as if they were making a jambalaya out of good times. With equal parts rock, folk and dance, they stir up a musical dish that really suits their home of New Orleans." - wellthatscool.com (Tuscaloosa, AL)

"Underneath the hyperactive, road tested party antics of this six-piece lies a level of sheer musical virtuosity not found in many groups stomping around town" - Barryfest.com (New Orleans, LA)

"The Blue Party ushered in the evening with a set of springy, sunny early 20s anthems. Uniting soul- searching travelogues (“Honduras”) and hip party chorales (“Homeless”), they showed why they are quickly becoming favorites with the campus crowd – plus, it’s kind of hard not to get behind a band with a bouzouki." - Groovescapes.com (New Orleans, LA)

"The Blue Party got the crowd in such a happy, dancing mood that a visit from Starkville Police with an order to turn the volume down did not even phase the energy level in the backyard...this party was one for Starkville's history books" - The Mississippi State Reflector (Starkville, MS)

"They effortlessly mix musical styles to create a sound that is all their own." - The Vignette (Kansas City, MO)

"The Blue Party first played in Hays in September 2010. When The Blue Party returned to Hays in April, the band drew on Wednesday night and had the crowd singing their lyrics." - The Hays Daily News (Hays, KS)

"As soon as the first chord was struck, a dance party broke out. With the members dancing with audience members and everyone having an awesome time to their up-tempo tunes, you couldn’t help but watch this band play and crack a smile." - Music Makers (Starkville, MS)

"With their fun, yet heartfelt lyrics and sound, the Blue Party will make sure everyone who listens to them will have a great time." - Scout66

Partisans,

Writing to you live from 2012 after our last blast from the past came over 2 months ago, we would like to tell you that this is due to a hella bad New Year’s hangover (which we had), but in reality, we have been working our tails off in 2012 like it’s our last year here.

Here’s an update on what we have in store for everyone this year:

We kicked off 2012 in Starkvegas, MS at Dave’s Darkhorse Tavern with 300 of our closest friends. This was our first show with new friends Star and Micey (@StarandMicey) from Memphis whom you will be sure to see more of soon.

This weekend we’ll be playing in Lake Charles with our good friends Mississippi Rail Company (@missrailco) for a good old fashioned Saturday night throwdown.

This past week the band has been holed up in The Music Shed (@MusicShed) recording the new EP which we can not wait to finish and hand over to you.

And finally, how could we forget, the gran-daddy of them all, Mardi Gras. The Blue Party will be kicking off Carnival season Feb 4th on Frenchmen Street to celebrate Krewe du Vieux with Big History (@BigHistoryMusic) at The Maison. This show is FREE purely because we know you will be saving up for Mardi Gras libations.

Then, to cap off the wonderful phenomenon that is Mardi Gras, we will be playing Cafe Prytania (@CafePrytania) Feb 19th with old pals The Revivalists (@therevivalists) and folk super-stars Star and Micey.

From there, recovery will commence, and we will be back on the road shortly after. We hope to see all your beautiful faces somewhere down the line, but until then, fuck yeah.

@theblueparty
#FuckYeah #MardiGras what we have in store for everyone this year:

We kicked off 2012 in Starkvegas, MS at Dave’s Darkhorse Tavern with 300 of our closest friends. This was our first show with new friends Star and Micey (@StarandMicey) from Memphis whom you will be sure to see more of soon.

This weekend we’ll be playing in Lake Charles with our good friends Mississippi Rail Company (@missrailco) for a good old fashioned Saturday night throwdown.

This past week the band has been holed up in The Music Shed (@MusicShed) recording a new crop of tunes which we can not wait to finish and hand over to you.

And finally, how could we forget, the gran-daddy of them all, Mardi Gras. The Blue Party will be kicking off Carnival season Feb 4th on Frenchmen Street to celebrate Krewe du Vieux with Big History (@BigHistoryMusic) at The Maison. This show is FREE purely because we know you will be saving up for Mardi Gras libations.

Then, to cap off the wonderful phenomenon that is Mardi Gras, we will be playing Cafe Prytania (@CafePrytania) Feb 19th with old pals The Revivalists (@therevivalists) and folk super-stars, Star and Micey.

From there, recovery will commence, and we will be back on the road to the Midwest shortly after. We hope to see all your beautiful faces somewhere down the line, but until then, fuck yeah.

@theblueparty
#FuckYeah #MardiGras

Music Makers – the people that put on the musical events for Mississippi State University – had some kind words to say about us on our recent show in Starkville.  Check it out. Loyola music biz extraordinaire, Cooper Garff, made the trip with us and took some great photos.

We had the privilege of playing at Hollerfest two days in a row this year.  Below is a video from our Saturday night performance on the mainstage.

Hollerfest is a 3-day folk festival that takes place on an organic farm in Brooklyn, Michigan. It is a truly wonderful festival.

Natalie just looks too happy to not include this pic:

We had the honor of sharing a bill with The National Rifle in Macomb, IL on this last tour.  Like us, they frequent the small, but music-loving town of Macomb quite often.  With our powers combined, it made for a magical night of music and energy.  Check them out at thenationalrifle.com.  If you ever find yourself with the opportunity to see them live, I promise that you’ll dance so much that you’ll get all the exercise your need for a week.

We’re going to be running around the Midwest for next five weeks: staying up past our collective bedtime, crashing on floors, sleeping in our van, making new friends, seeing old friends, and playing a whole lot of Rock and Roll.  Check our “Blue Parties” page above for tour dates.  I’m sure we’ll also eat a lot of pizza right before we start our sets too….

Our video-making bass player, Al T. Small, whipped up a little video of our exploits over the last few weeks.  Check it out below:

Blue Party in America

No, that^ is not a band name.  Barryfest is the hippest blog in New Orleans and The Saint is the hippest dive bar.   On a recent Monday night, we joined forces with the two aforementioned parties for a raucous and well-documented show.  Despite being 99% worn out, we summoned the energy we had left after 3 sleepless weeks on the road.  The good people at Barryfest took some great pictures and wrote a nice little review of the show.  Our favorite quote?.. “if there’s one thing undeniable about the Blue Party, it’s that they aren’t half-assing it.”

There are a lot of perks and pitfalls when it comes to playing in a band.  One of the best perks is getting to see a lot of other kick-ass bands for free. We opened for Howlies in Chapel Hill, and holy shnikees, these guys are amazing live.  They straddle the line between punk and straight-up rock and roll in a very refreshing way.  We’ve been jamming out to their album, Trippin’ with Howlies, in our Trailblazer ever since the show. It’s always refreshing to see a band give you 110% for an entire set, and these guys certainly did.

This past Southeastern tour was a tour of many firsts. We played our first show in Knoxville, and as far as I’m aware, it was the first time that members of an 80′s post-punk band were in the audience.  The band was the Psychedelic Furs, and unless they’re really good liars, we converted them into fans.  It was very reassuring to hear a band that’s been around since the 70′s tell you that you’re doing it right.  It was also fun drinking with them.

Before I get started, best beer koozie ever?

America, I write to you this afternoon from chilly Lincoln, NE where we will be playing Zoo Bar this evening. We haven’t spent more than 5 minutes here so far but the bar boasts a 25-year career in the blues business, the drafts and stage are pretty sweet, Guitar Shorty (who married Hendrix’s sister in ’61) is playing right now, and it smells wonderfully of BBQ. I have time for a quick blog post, so I’ll shortly brief you on the tour as it stands:

Little Rock, AR:  Great show and we stayed out til’ sunrise, but not before stumbling out of a strip club. The person whose house I stayed at ran out of gas in the middle of the road and A-Bach and his boy had to come get a canister from us, fill it up, and then bring it back. Alex’s parents (pictured below) are the coolest people ever and his mom cooks like the dickens. While broken, distraught, and adorned with my throwback John Starks jersey, his dad told me that he knew the Knicks were gunna lose Game 1 immediately after they lost. He came from another room to smile and point at me while he told me, my face expressionless. We wrote two new songs, The Rush and Dirty Rabbit, which will be played over and over this tour and will debut in New Orleans at Tipitina’s on May 19th. Oh and shout out to Royal Teeth who will be sharing the bill with us.

Hays, KS: Chuck’s. What can I say besides Jager Bombs? We love you, Chuck.

Manhattan, KS: The word had gotten out that we were treated with respect at the last bar we played, so Campus Tavern in Aggieville did their best to match. We raged with some of the Fiji’s that threw the Tiki/Lake party for us last spring, and Chris and I were invited back to a house to participate in an ancient ritual.

Kansas City, MO: Not to be confused with Kansas City, KS, which is entirely different. We had a strong Blue Party coalition represent for us on Friday night and after two encores we could have led the crowd into war. We stayed at Reid’s dad’s (Alson) house in Lenexa and enjoyed he and his wife’s (Yona) food, drink, laundry machine, showers with actual hot water, pool table, big screen TV, children’s drawing books, backyard/golf course, and downstairs bar to our full advantage. We wrote some more music and George and I did an interview with McClain Johnson. McClain’s interviewed legends (New Orleans’ and otherwise), he has his own podcast, he’s employed by gonola.com, and he’s one handsome SOB. Easter was fun. Chris sat at the grown-ups table the whole time.

Lincoln, NE: No idea yet, but the bartender’s cute.

From the road,

-T.