ENCORE OF THE MONTH
March, 2021
The Birthday Party
The Birthday Party is an Australian band that started out as The Boys Next Door. The band changed their name when they relocated to London. This is a band that has had a big influence on many bands that followed. The band had a brutality and darkness that was in your face. Nick Cave's voice gave each song a heightened level of bleakness. 'Shivers' was written by the band's guitarist Rowland Howard when he was 16 years old. It was intended to be a tongue in cheek jab at youthful romance. With Nick Cave's vocals that was never going to happen. The song is dark and menacing. It is considered to be a classic.
Birthday Party may have led the way in the emergence of Goth Rock but you would be a brave person to put them in that pigeon hole. The band was so much more than that. I would consider the band to be more avant-garde, experimental and always looking at ways to push the limits into new directions. 'Happy Birthday' is a song to love. In this song you can hear so many other bands that were to follow. The Cure is a band that comes to mind.
What is interesting about this band is that three of its members were great songwriters. Junkyard was the band's final album before they broke up. It is considered to be a masterpiece by many.
'Release the Bats' was added as a bonus track on the Junkyard CD reissue. The song was meant to be a comic interlude but it become Goth gold.
The Birthday Party were always pushing the edge and opened the door for many other bands. For that we thank you.
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