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Gil Mantera’s Party Dream is back, and with a beat
A new record is planned for later this year.
YOUNGSTOWN — Gil Mantera’s Party Dream has always marched to the beat of a different drummer.
Except it never had a drummer. Until now, that is.
The trippy Youngstown-based synth-pop duo comes to Cedars Lounge Friday, where it will be backed by a drummer for only the second time in its eight-year history. The first time was Tuesday night at a show in New York City.
“[Adding a drummer is] something we had been talking about for a while,” said Gil Mantera, the Party Dream’s synthmeister. “It will add oomph.”
The drummer is Tony Petarra of the Pittsburgh/Brooklyn-based band Zombi, a long-time friend of the Party Dream. The plan is to use a drummer for all future live shows.
The Party Dream is noted for its crazy stage antics, but will Petarra join in the mayhem? That’s a negative, stressed Mantera.
“He’ll be a straight man. He’ll stay in the back and get the job done,” said Mantera. He and his bandmate, guitarist/singer Ultimate Donny, thought about bringing Petarra in on the fun but decided that creating a third “character” might create an imbalance in the act.
“It just felt wrong,” said Mantera, who spoke to The Vindicator two weeks ago while he and Ultimate drove through Illinois after playing the South By Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas.
It’s been 16 months since Gil Mantera’s Party Dream last played on its home turf .
A lot of things have come and gone since that Nov. 23, 2006, show at Nyabinghi on the West Side — including Nyabinghi itself, which has closed. The Party Dream put 75 more shows under its belt in two national tours, and released a live DVD.
Those who come to the Cedars show should expect to hear a lot of new music, and a few of the old favorites. The Party Dream played mostly new songs at its March 20 show at the Grog Shop in Cleveland.
“We’re playinng more new stuff than old, testing material,” said Mantera.
Musically, the act is “moving into a DJ-centric world,” said Mantera, with music that can be mixed in at edgy dance clubs, here and in Europe.
The new songs will find their way onto a CD which is tentatively slated for a midfall release. Recording has already begun at a New York studio, and the band is looking for a record label to release it.
The act’s first nationally distributed CD, 2006’s “Bloodsongs,” was released on Fat Possum records and distributed by Audio Eagle — an awkward business arrangement that might have stunted its growth.
“We got our feet wet, but we’re moving on [from those companies],” said Mantera. “It was a mutual decision.”
A vinyl single with a “rare” B-side track will also be released in coming months, before the CD.
Mantera said the SXSW festival — the second consecutive year the act played the renowned gathering of up-and-coming bands — went very well.
“It was stressful,” he said. “We did three shows, and there were no duds. A lot of cool people checked us out.”
While the band has been touring like crazy, Mantera acknowledges that there’s only so far that will take you. That’s why the act is hoping to gain wider exposure through videos once the new CD is released.
Until then, the touring will continue.
In fact, the the act has landed a spot on the influential Warped Tour this summer.
“It looks like we’ll be on the bill for the entire tour,” said Mantera.