PartyLine: a word by the Pier

Ladyfest Brighton, October 2005. Storm at sea and the last day of the Ladyfest Brighton. And what a day! Dozens of amazing bands in a venue, underground. A free, alternative market under the earth. Music, zine, vegan food, politics and hours of discussion. Of course nothing can ever be perfect and most bouncers were sexist violent patronizing arseholes who did not understand the revolutionary power and joy that was cooking that afternoon, but there was too much enthusiasm, freedom and excitement to be spoiled by angry dick-brains. We stepped outside with Party Line, facing the raging sea, the burnt down pier, throwing laughters and politics in the winds…. And words of wisdom about record labels, the alternative and… vintage glasses

BiB/OA: Can you please introduce yourselves
Allison: I am Alison Wolfe and I sing in Partyline
Angela: I am Angela, long last name and I play guitar in Party line
Crystal : I am Crystal and I play drums in Partyline

BiB/OA: How come you’re not all wearing glasses (their 6 tracks released on retard disco, is called Girls with Glasses)
Alison: Because Angela is a big poseur and she’s gone for contacts cause she’s very vane
Angela: No it’s worse, cause I can’t fall asleep in them, I get infections, so it’s even worse than glasses
Alison : She's risking her life..
Angela: Yes, I am risking my life for vanity

BiB/OA: How did you decide on the name of the record, then is it some kind of private joke?
Alison: Well, usually we are all wearing glasses but I think Angela’s glasses were not tightened or something. Because we all have vintage, there’s always something wrong with them, and hers are just falling down her face whenever we’re playing and every song she has to put them back on, and she didn’t want to wear the support strap
Angela: It was a hazard for me and other people so I decided to forsake the name and to embarrass my band mates and go for contact because I am too lazy to get my glasses fixed
Crystal: They kept falling off when we were writing that one song, so that’s what it was.
Alison: Oh yeah, that’s true, I forgot.



BiB/OA: take it you didn’t write that song

Alison: I guess not. I just joined, you know… (laughs)

BiB/OA: : So how did the whole party line start? Did you just meet?
Alison: It sort of started with me and Angela and this other girl Lisa, who lives in San Francisco now. We were like a band in theory, we just talked about started a girl band. We thought Washington DC needs a new girl band, more girls playing music, maybe we should be in a band. That’s why I say it was in theory for a while, but that was just talking. We only started playing with Crystal, the three of us. We were just practicing and stuff for fun and it sounded good.
Angela: It was very simple, actually. We got together in my apartment, well, bedroom. We all had been in bands before: She was in the Scabian in high school, and I have some experience with bands playing with my brother and stuff like that, so we were already to go out there and play
Alison: And then the name of the band … we thought having the word party in your name makes it fun, but party line sounds politicised to us, to some extend, but it can also mean a lot of different things, party line like the phone system, you know when people were all sharing the same line and anybody could pick up the phone and listen in,.
Crystal : Yeah, and then it’s like “what s your party?”, “it’s party line”
Angela: Basically everything is about politics, partying and gossiping (laughs)

Bib/OA: How come you didn’t sign on LookOut! Rec?
Alison: Oh, they’re a sinking ship...no, just kidding (or are you?) They didn’t ask us… No I don’t know if they know about it, but, we submitted our demo to one of their look out meetings for prospective signing. Every month they have meeting where every person who works there has to present new bands, so Erin, who used to be in Bratmobile, presented the Party Line demo at the meeting but nothing happened.
Alison: I think LookOut! Has been struggling financially for a while, so I don’t think thy could afford to put it out, but we never approached them directly anyways, so basically we just ended up being on the label that first asked us.
Angela: We’re in good company, it’s like Gravy Train, Scream Club, Gene Defcon…. It’s a good label



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