You Say Party! We Say Die!

back and ready to xxxx

By Alex Hudson

Abbotsford natives You Say Party! We Say Die! are certified Canadian legends, a reputation earned after two albums jam-packed with frenetic dance-punk and indelible pop hooks. On September 29, the quintet released its third album, XXXX, and embarked upon a two-month cross-Canada tour, playing in 31 cities from coast to coast. It's a triumphant jaunt for one of BC's most celebrated indie bands, and the success is especially sweet considering that, just two years ago, the outfit experienced a near-total meltdown following a catastrophic gig at the Rock 'n' Roll Herberge in Berlin.

"In the fall of 2007, we embarked upon a 16-week tour," explains bassist Stephen O'Shea, sitting in a Main St. coffee shop with his wife and bandmate, singer Becky Ninkovic. "At about week 14, we had two weeks left in the tour, and there was a show in Berlin. Due to overtiredness and miscommunication, some of us wanted to sleep and some of us wanted to party in the bar underneath where we were sleeping."

During the ensuing argument, a brawl broke out, resulting in Ninkovic being forcibly ejected from the bar by security. "I don't really remember it," she admits. "I actually blacked out. I was dead sober. Something really snapped in me. I felt a pop in my head and then this rush of liquid or something. It felt like this gush, bubbling down."

The following morning, tensions remained high and the band divided into two camps: Ninkovic and O'Shea sat in the hostel bar while the other three members – guitarist Derek Adam, drummer Devon Clifford and keyboardist Krista Loewen – were staked out in the internet cafe across the street. Refusing to speak to one another, the two parties parlayed messages back and forth through their tour manager.

"We were totally unsure if the band could continue or if we were going to even be able to get in the van to get to the next show," says O'Shea. "We thought it was done for sure."

But the band reconciled, finishing the tour and returning home to BC to recuperate. Inspired by the incident in Berlin, Ninkovic reevaluated her priorities and underwent a personal transformation. "From that point on, I went through quite a huge healing process with my health and my mental health," she says. "It all kind of stemmed from realizing that I wasn't who I wanted to be, and the only way I could be who I wanted to be was if I allowed love to completely fill me, and live from that place all the time."

"We just had to hit the reset button, like on a Nintendo. It was like we broke up and started the band within the same second," reflects O’Shea. "We're a new band."

A few months later, in early 2008, You Say Party! We Say Die! set out on an Asian tour, an experience that revitalized the road-weary group. This was largely due to the fact that, in China, dance punk is still a novelty, just beginning to make waves in underground rock clubs. The energy of these shows was such that, during the band's first performance in Beijing, Ninkovic spent the encore break vomiting at the side of the stage – not due to illness, but because of the massive adrenaline rush.

Also inspiring was the opportunity for the band to play its politically charged leftist anthems in a country where social class is such a controversial issue. "It was a totally surreal moment to play ‘The Gap (Between the Rich and the Poor)’ for the first time ever in a communist country, and how much more meaning that song had there," says O'Shea. "For a country that claims to be communist and everyone to be equal, you can still see just as much poverty, with the rich just blocks away, as you do here in Vancouver. It's crazy. It was really special to get to play ‘The Gap’ there, I think more than anywhere else."

Compared to the intensive touring of previous years, the band has been relatively quiet so far in 2009. The members have by no means been idle, however, spending the past six months in the studio with local go-to producer Howard Redekopp (The New Pornographers, Tegan and Sara). This is a new approach for a band that cut its previous two albums in a matter of weeks. The resulting ten songs that make up XXXX reflect the enormous amount of time the band put into the recording.

"Our first two records were really rushed," observes O'Shea. "Everything about You Say Party! has always been working at breakneck speed, always as fast as we can. This record, we took our time."

As well as ensuring that the performances were top-notch, the band took more care in crafting dynamic arrangements for the songs, meaning that XXXX is more varied than previous offerings. There's still plenty of the band's signature dancefloor-ready punk, but the album also features tracks such as the slow-building opener "There Is XXXX (Within My Heart)," which gradually swells from a haunting, sparse synth ballad to a breezy new-wave groove with choppy guitars and an infectious shout-along chorus.

This change in approach was a necessary adjustment to make room for Ninkovic's newly improved vocal style. She has spent the past year taking singing lessons and the results are stunning: rather than the strained yelp of prior efforts, her voice on XXXX is rich and melodic, rising effortlessly above the mix, every word brimming with nuance and emotion. "I’ve discovered a much stronger, deeper place to access my voice," she says. “I feel in control. It’s a really liberating experience singing these songs.”

The singer's lyrical focus is similarly refurbished, eschewing the idealistic political rants of her early work in favour of unabashed romanticism. Nearly every song is about love, a thematic obsession clearly inspired by her post-Berlin transformation. "There was about half an hour where we considered calling our album What's With All These Love Songs?" jokes O'Shea.

They ultimately settled on the enigmatic title XXXX, itself a code for – you guessed it – love.

With recording finished and the master tapes submitted to the label, the members of You Say Party! We Say Die! are currently taking a month off before their Canadian tour, which will likely be followed by a return to Asia next year. Despite previous struggles on the road, however, Ninkovic hopes that this tour will be twice as long as previous outings: "Double the pleasure! Double the happiness!" she chirps. The band is also hoping to tour the USA – an ambition that is hampered by the fact that, in October 2006, O'Shea was banned from the country for five years.

The incident occurred when the band attempted to cross the border, despite failing to secure the necessary work permits and visas. Instead, they used a fake letter, claiming that they were planning on recording a demo but had no shows scheduled. "They didn't really believe our story so they searched our van, and they found this book that shouldn't have been in the van but was, and it basically proved that we were playing shows," explains O'Shea, who took the full brunt of responsibility for the infraction and was charged with fraud.

The group has hired a lawyer and is contesting the ban, and O'Shea hopes he will be readmitted in time to play SXSW in March 2010. If this proves impossible, the band is considering a temporary replacement bassist to fill in for a small handful of showcases.

Whatever the result of O'Shea's legal problems, the members of You Say Party! We Say Die! are sticking together for the long haul, something that’s especially comforting given how close they came to disbanding completely.

"We feel like we're kind of married five ways," says Ninkovic. Looking across at her husband, she laughs. "Stephen and I just get sexy benefits."

You Say Party! We Say Die! will be performing at New City (Edmonton) November 27 and HiFi (Calgary) November 28.