Search Party

No matter what you think of us, you'll always have fun at a Search Party gig. 

 

Up n’ Comin NI is thrilled to introduce this week’s artist, Search Party. The band consists of Sean McDonnell on vocals and guitar, Ryan Pendleton on bass and vocals, David Malone on drums, Gareth Hill on guitar and Chris Anderson on keys and vocals.

“Search Party have been around for far too long, but you can't get rid of us now.” The band was formed in 2013 as a punk band. This then developed into an Indie pop style, replicating artists such as Two Door Cinema Club or The Drums. “Having been together so long, we feel very comfortable with how we play. Our chemistry allows us to deliver a very tight live show. We're always trying to do something new with our gigs, our music and our videos and it pays off.”

 

“In Northern Ireland, I think we have so much talent for such a small area. But with such a small area comes a lot of competition and that fosters a bit of negativity from cliques, bands being unsupportive of each other and lots of envy. I have found that if you ignore that noise, try your hardest and help the other artists around you, things will turn out just great, and you'll have a ball while you're doing it.”

 

Search Party as a band have quite a democratic approach to songwriting. “Ideas are usually presented to the group, and we'll spend a few minutes every week jamming over them, chipping away at crafting a song together, then whittling all the ideas down to have a polished product.” Maintaining a professional level of music without falling out with members of your band can be difficult, but they say, “We try to have everyone's input on lyrics, themes, production ideas and riffs. This doesn't always go smoothly but it works for us.”

 

Search party, who used to describe themselves as a “Misfits Cover Band” as teenagers say, “We never stopped listening to that type of music but we found that the music we most often listen and the music we like to make were two different things. We first tried to write more pop driven music in our first album 'Too Much Red Tape' in 2019.”

Like many artists, Search Party went through a huge change during lockdown in 2020. They would make demos and send each other ideas that would have some keyboard and synths. “We enlisted the help of Chris Anderson last year to come in and makes these ideas a reality and it has completely reshaped the sound of the band. With the addition of Gareth Hill on lead now as well, he provides an effects-heavy psychedelic take on Indie that really fills the mix and creates a great vibe for the live shows.”

 

While Search Party normally produces their music in the studio themselves, on the odd occasion, they like to treat themselves to a session with another producer. “Last year we made some of the tracks off our EP with Ryan McGroarty of Start Together Studios and Beauty Sleep. Ryan really understood the style we were going for and helped us polish up our ideas.”

 

“We don't always make it obvious, but we write about our friendships, band members leaving and our love lives. In equal measure we'll also write weird fictional songs about serial killers and aliens.” The band will quite often use their own life experiences as a catalyst to write the songs that we all know and love.

 

“The big advantage of working together to write is having four collaborators to bounce ideas off. You can come up with something on your own then bring it to one of the guys who will make it even better.”

 

A few years ago, the band made the switch from playing smaller shows every month to touring once a year and playing two medium-sized Belfast gigs every year. “This fits our schedules a bit better because we play in other bands that are also looking to gig quite often and it's a lot more effective to save your crowds for a bigger show and playing new cities.”

Search Party have just finished their UK & Ireland tour, bringing their music to new fans in new cities in England and Scotland. Their latest releases have received great acclaim with their music videos winning awards at continental film festivals too! As well as this, the band described their proudest moment being when they sold out Voodoo for their album launch. 

 

I had asked the band what their favourite gig to date was. They said, “As part of our Liminality tour last year, we played Whelan's in Dublin and brought our friends in Reasy Ajarro down with us. From start to finish, the room was completely full of people bouncing and singing. At times it felt like the floor was going to collapse, it was probably the closest we'll ever feel to being rockstars!”

 

So, what is next for Search Party?

“We have a lot of new singles on the way. This is a new approach we're going for. As opposed to releasing an EP or an Album we want to challenge ourselves to see how many singles we can release in a year. We enjoy where we're at right now, we're having fun. But we would love to be able to sell out slightly bigger venues for our UK and ROI shows.” 

Make sure you follow them and keep up to date with all their songs, events and gigs: 

Spotify: Search Party

Instagram: searchpartybelfast

Facebook: Search Party

Twitter: SearchPartyBF

YouTube: SearchPartyBelfast