Sydney duo Party Dozen – comprised of saxophonist Kirsty Tickle and drummer Jonathan Boulet – are currently gearing up to release their third studio album, The Hard Work, in July.
A little while back they released its latest single, a blistering noise-punk cut titled ‘Macca the Mutt’ that features guest vocals from none other than Nick Cave, who recites its final refrain with his distinctive croon. Now, the band have shared an accompanying video directed the team of Tanya Babic and Jason Sukadana, aka VERSUS.
It’s an appropriately chaotic ride that sees Tickle and Boulet performing the song in a junkyard, smashing up vehicles and performing in the back of a truck late at night, capturing all the frenetic energy of the song itself and the duo’s powerful sonic chemistry. That’s interspersed with a series of abstract vignettes – punching in timesheets, drawing circles – emphasising the monotonous drudge of existing under capitalism, altogether creating an unsettling vibe.
In a joint statement, Babic and Sukadana explained that they wanted to channel a “uniquely Australian aesthetic” for the clip with nods to classic Aussie cinema of the 70s, drawing on films like Wake in Fright and Stone as reference points. “Tonally, we wanted the grit and chaos of such films to permeate our vignettes. It’s the kind of vibe that makes you slightly recoil because you can almost taste a face full of dirt and smell diesel in the air,” they added.
“The guys had talked about creatively exploring their instruments as tools and performance as a kind of manual labour. We focused on linking vignettes thematically and tapped into concepts explored on the album, The Real Work. So we structured the film around key performative scenes. In some scenes, we pushed them really hard physically. In others, they were made to feel uncomfortable or challenged in other ways.
“Circle motifs, shot repetition and meaningless exercises like smashing an old wreck of a car, driving nowhere or searching for something that isn’t there also hint towards the cyclic and laborious nature of work. Or life. Whatever you wanna take from it.”
Party Dozen announced The Real Work back in March. Set to arrive on Friday, 8th July via Grupo and Temporary Residence, ‘Macca the Mutt’ is one of three singles the duo have shared so far from it, along with 2021’s ‘The Worker’ and ‘The Iron Boot’ earlier this year.
Watch the video for ‘Macca the Mutt’ below.
