DiversionsWEEKEND PICK:
So maybe you like men who wear glitteryeyeshadow, fishnet shirts and tight leather jeans— don’t judge. If so, check out Blaqk Audio, theelectro-heavy side project of AFI’s Davey Havokand Jade Pugent, at the 9:30 Club on Saturday.Tickets are $22, doors open at 7 p.m. and black
nail polish is optional. Own it.
ARTS MUSIC LIVING MOVIES WEEKEND
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2007 | THE DIAMONDBACK 7
BY COURTNEY POMEROYStaff writer
Mick Coogan, Kevin Bayly,Danny Hoag and Jeff David arejust a group of long-time friendsfrom Prince George’s County.They all went to this universityand spent time partaking instandard College Park activi-ties: playing flag-football,watching Terps games and, ofcourse, partying.
“We grew up party animals,”said Coogan, who graduated in2000. “We formed a band so wecould keep on partying.”
Coogan and his friends areso adamant about their fun-friendly lifestyle that theyeven put “party” in their bandname. The four formed TheDance Party three years ago,and now, their “upbeat, catchyand lighthearted” sound, asCoogan puts it, can be found onthe band’s first album, Fric-tion! Friction! Friction!.
To promote the album, whichwill be available online for wide
release next week, The DanceParty will perform at the 9:30Club in Washington tomorrow.
Although the band membersappreciate their growing pop-ularity, they don’t lead thelives of typical rock stars.Lead singer Coogan teachesEnglish at Northwestern HighSchool in Hyattsville, whileguitarist Bayly, who graduatedin 2004 with a history degree,is a graduate student atCatholic University.
The Dance Party got theirstart a few years ago whilesome of the band’s memberswere still enrolled at the univer-sity. Often, the band performedat local venues — both to pro-mote their music and their ownsocial lives.
“We even played frat partiesand stuff,” Coogan said. “Thisone that we played, I’m prettysure no one knew who we wereor cared why we were there, butwe were set up by the line for theladies room, so it was all good.”
“We were checking out the
ladies all night,” he added witha laugh.
Since then, The Dance Partyhas seen success as a local band— the band has toured Washing-ton and other cities and was alsochosen as one of XM Radio’sRadar Report bands of the weekthis past summer.
But for Bayly and Coogan, thehighlight of the band’s career todate was this summer when theywere invited to be a part of theDC Voting Rights Tour. The tour,a collection of local indie rockbands traveling across the coun-try to raise awareness of Wash-ington’s lack of voting rights,was a great opportunity for theband, they said.
“It’s great when all you haveto worry about is waking up andplaying for 40 minutes of theday,” Coogan said.
Although the tour was a suc-cess, neither Coogan nor Baylyhave any plans to make TheDance Party a full-time lifechoice, they said. But playing inthe Washington area is always
up in the air, both Dance Partymembers said.
“[Washington] is a real mel-low, indie scene,” Coogan said.“And we are indie in a lot ofways, but when it comes toshows, we’re as over the top aspossible. And some bands inD.C. just look at us like, ‘Whatare you doing?’”
But according to Bayly, DanceParty fans really “get into theshow” — and for good reason,Coogan said.
“We spend practices beforethe show getting the songs downso they’re second nature andputting together a really good setso we can just tear it up,” he said.
At the end of the day — as faras The Dance Party is concerned— Coogan and Bayly are contentjust to have music as a part oftheir lives.
“We just love to play,” the two
said in unison. “Well, we would also like
someone to pay for a record be-cause it’s a very expensiveprocess,” Bayly said. “But most-ly, we just want to wake up everyday and play music.”
But where is the College Park-based band going from here?
“Well, I plan on riding thisrock-and-roll train as far as itgoes,” Bayly said.
And now that the band hasgraduated from its college days,The Dance Party’s membershave some advice for other as-piring bands or musicians stillon the campus.
“There are places to play likeall over the city, and they wantbands,” Bayly said. “Go to localshows and meet people, or justgo to WMUC and meet people.”
INTERVIEW | THE DANCE PARTY
Party like an alumnus
Former university students gain popularityin indie-pop, up-and-coming local band
ADAM FRIED–THE DIAMONDBACKThe four members of The Dance Party — drummer Jeff David, guitarist Kevin Bayly, bassist Danny Hoag and lead singerMick Coogan — all attended the university. Friend Taylor Thompson, on keyboards, will play with the band this weekend.
PHOTOS BY ADAM FRIED–THE DIAMONDBACKAbove, lead singer Mick Coogan of The Dance Party. Coogan teachesEnglish at Northwestern High School. Below, guitarist Kevin Bayly, who is agraduate student at the Catholic University of America.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOWABOUT THE DANCE PARTY:
WEBSITE:- www.thedanceparty.net
ALBUM- Friction! Friction! Friction!available on www.cdbaby.com
SONGS TO DOWNLOAD:- “Ultra Radical” - “Lipstick”
SHOW:- 9:30 Club, Saturday, Sept. 8- Tickets cost $10- Doors open at 11 p.m.
