Ever hear a band and say, “God damn, I needed that in my life right now.”
Those were my sentiments when I listened to Party Wave’s Citywide Special EP. The fairly new trio out of Asbury Park has crafted the type of punk rock that is both nostalgic and refreshingly relevant — the gang chorus, the driving riffs and bassline, the uplifting vocal harmonies — it evokes audio imagery of refined melodic ’90s skate punk produced through a modern 2019 filter. In short, it’s just really fun, really tight punk rock that has tinges of that inspires the head bob and the toe tap and is just straight up damn good music.
The band is performing at Happy Mondays at Wonder Bar tonight and we spoke with singer/guitarist Tom Dunphy (a veteran of the Asbury scene as both a musician and journalist) about the band’s impetus, it’s current music, and plans for the future.
Party Wave Is (Band Members & Instruments They Play): Bryan Lutz – drums, Kyle Altenau – bass, Tom Dunphy – guitar and vocals.
Year We Formed In: 2018
We’re Based Out Of: The west side! Asbury Park.
The Story Behind Our Name: For those who aren’t up to speed on surf lingo, a “party wave” is when multiple surfers ride the same wave at the same time. I’m a surfer myself and we have a large extended group of friends that includes plenty of other surfers. We thought it would be a funny name and we initially conceived of this band as kind of joke for our friends. It was only when we started playing and writing together that the music took on a slightly more serious tone.
Bands You’ve Seen us Perform In: Bryan and Kyle are relative newcomers, but I’ve been playing in and around Asbury Park for almost 20 years. I fronted a pop punk band called Skyline in the early 2000s. I played solo and acoustic extensively under my own name and released a full length album I recorded with Pete Steinkopf of the Bouncing Souls at Little Eden. I played bass in a sort of heavy classic rock, stonery doom revival band called Gentleman Wolf with Matt and Wills from Toothgrinder. And about seven years ago I fronted a rock and roll band called Imaginary War.
Our Sound Has Been Likened To: I think the most flattering comparisons I’ve gotten are Jawbreaker and the Replacements. We aren’t really shy about wearing our influences on our sleeve either. We’ll throw a “Left of the Dial” cover into our set a lot of times. I’ve also had people tell us we have a 90s alternative vibe, which makes total sense for me since I grew up listening to modern rock on WHTG.
Party Wave is a relatively new band in scene, but you’re comprised of plenty of familiar faces. Can you talk about how you guys came together?
Well if Bryan and Kyle’s faces look familiar to you, it’s probably because between the two of them they’ve Tinder matched with every single woman in Asbury Park. Hahaha. I’ve known Kyle since we were both kids. His older brother is my best friend and we’ve grown to become very close friends in adulthood. Bryan and he were living together for a while in Asbury. We would talk often about getting together to jam and we started messing around booking hourly rehearsal time at The Lakehouse. Mostly it was just an excuse to go out for drinks at Bond Street Bar on a weeknight. As we kind of saw the potential in what we were doing, we got more serious and moved the whole operation into the basement of Kyle’s house in the west side of Asbury Park.
I kinda love you’re catchphrase, ‘You’re Not From Here, You Don’t Know” For those who aren’t from here, and don’t know can you enlighten the people about how came up with this mantra?
“You’re not from here, you don’t know” is the hook to our first single “Imposter Syndrome.” The song was inspired by the reopening of the space that used to house the Asbury Lanes and kind of the changing face of our city. It has a “locals only” vibe to it, but really it’s about a desire to not see this place lose its character as the money continues to pour in.
You dropped an EP dubbed Citywide Special — can you talk about some of the themes you guys sing about on this record?
These are skeptical songs for skeptical times. I think if I had to identify an overarching theme for the songs on this EP, it’s really about the transitional period of your 20’s into your 30’s — crossing over completely into adulthood, dealing with socio-economic realities, and accepting new responsibilities in a world that is falling apart. Kyle and Bryan will joke with me about writing “working man’s songs like I’m trying to be Asbury Park’s punk Pete Seeger. I just think our generation is in a very uniquely screwed up position and I wanted to chronicle that.
Also, any thoughts — down the road — of doing a full length?
I’d love to do it. We go through writing spurts, but if we finished every fragment and idea we have for songs right now we’d have plenty of material for a full-length record. There’s this idea that streaming is killing the album format, but I still think it’s the best way to present a cohesive collection of songs and to tell a story with music.
Tom, I know you’ve played the Asbury scene for a number of years — what are your thoughts on today’s scene compared to years past? And how do you feel Party Wave fits in the scene?
It’s been over seven years since Imaginary War was active and a lot has changed in that time. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t even sure what the point of starting a new band was if Jenn Hampton wasn’t running the Asbury Lanes. Where would we even play?
But I think we’ve seen that torch being carried on by a lot of really dedicated and talented people around this city. Jeff Plate opened the Asbury Park Brewery and it’s become one of my absolute favorite live music venues, especially with Joe Pulito and Aftermath Collective booking it. House of Independents has become one of the premiere venues on the east coast and brings in great touring acts while still supporting the local scene. Iconic venues like The Stone Pony, The Wonder Bar, and The Saint just get better and better and have been really great about giving opportunities to local bands. And Asbury Park has to be the only commercial boardwalk in the state where you can hear live original music at spots like Anchor’s Bend and Yacht Club.
There are more bands than ever and new bands are forming. There’s also more acceptance of a broader variety of genres here than ever before. You can catch an acoustic act like Chris Brown on the same night you see a giant show band like Remember Jones. You can see an old school punk band like Nervous Triggers one night and an indie pop band like Dentist the next. There’s a great metal scene. We have real hip hop acts. There’s even a cool, burgeoning comedy scene happening. While I think there used to be kind of a narrow definition of what a band from Asbury Park sounds like, almost a hipster stereotype, the last five years or so have seen that mold broken.
But I think the most notable difference has been the amount of actual music fans in this scene. People without any prior knowledge of a band will come out just to check out new music. There’s been a really positive change in Asbury Park and I think there’s a greater recognition of the general public’s desire for and appreciation of original music.
As far as how Party Wave fits into all of this, I think we pride ourselves on our mass appeal. We’re a punk band but we think we have a certain approachability and we feel like we can share a bill with just about anyone.
What’s something you love about being in this band?
I think what I love most about this band is how much we’re on the same page. We have the same casual approach and we all view making music together the same way. We aren’t aspiring to become rock stars. We do this because we love it and because we believe in it and because this scene is such an exciting and fulfilling thing to be a part of.
What’s a goal you have for the band by the end of 2019?
We’d like to record and release a new single before the end of the year. The song is called “Modern Day Nightmares.” and we’ll be playing at The Wonder Bar.
