Watch: Party Dozen – ‘Full Powers’

Party Dozen edge closer to the release of new album 21 Bum Salute, out Friday 6th November, with the release of final single ‘Full Powers’, a swaggering, swampy rock track about the intoxicating highs and ugly excesses of power. It starts confident and euphoric before slowly tipping into something wilder and heavier. Watch the accompanying clip here.

Kirsty Tickle is given free rein to fully cut loose as ‘Full Powers’ moves from a swirling and melodic verse towards a pounding ending, the squalls and squeals absolutely joyous in their rebellion. As much as any song on 21 Bum Salute, and titled utterly appropriately, the track shows where Party Dozen are at now: unafraid to experiment with traditional pop structures, big production and melody lines that veer perilously close to lyrics, yet not compromising or sacrificing the raw power or wild abandon that has carried them through four increasingly heard albums and around the world.

On the single, Party Dozen shares, “There’s ‘Full Powers’ good and there’s ‘Full Powers’ bad. The good is when you’re personally becoming too powerful, an angel pisses on you, everything is going very well and suddenly you’re gliding down the street like King Swinging Dick.

The bad is when one side has all the power and more is not enough. Powerlust, greedmongering, gluttonous fiends. This track switches between the two. It has a really strong, confident feel that gets a little uneasy as the track progresses.”

“It’s like we just don’t care anymore,” says Jonathan Boulet. “But in the best way.” The work of Kirsty Tickle (saxophone, vocals) and Jonathan Boulet (drums, loops, production), 21 Bum Salute finds the critically-acclaimed, semi-improvised duo feeling liberated – from their peers, their worries, and what the hell they’re supposed to sound like now.

“We’re having more fun than we’ve ever had before,” says Tickle. “This album is kind of putting a middle finger up and waving at someone with a smile at the same time. We’re egging you on to have a good time.”

Emerging in 2017 from the warehouses of the Sydney experimental noise-rock scene, Party Dozen arrive at the release of their fifth album, 21 Bum Salute, in peak form. Over the course of four, increasingly perverse albums of psych-tinged rock peppered with pop noise and bursts of doom in equal measure, they’ve transformed from gleeful noise-makers producing DIY albums from a tiny room in Marrickville, NSW, to globe-hopping, critically-adored favourites – producing DIY albums from a tiny room in Marrickville.

As well as tours with Amyl and the Sniffers, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Tropical F*ckstorm, Algiers and more, Party Dozen had Nick Cave appear on 2022 single ‘Macca The Mutt’, collabed with New York rapper billy woods, performed an incendiary live set on KEXP, signed international deals, firstly with Temporary Residence LTD (Mogwai, Explosions in the Sky, <BEAK) then with City Slang (Caribou, Lambrini Girls, Jessica Pratt) and performed at Pitchfork Fest, All Points East, End Of the Road, Sydney Opera House and been nominated for the Australian Music Prize.

Along the way Party Dozen self-released their first two albums, The Living Man (2017) and Pray For Party Dozen (2020), struck a chord internationally with album The Real Work (2022), which sent them on tours of Europe, North America, Japan, China and New Zealand, while fourth LP, Crime in Australia (2024), an ode to Aussie noir that leaned beyond rock into moodier moments, repeated it. And for 21 Bum Salute?

Party Dozen will be hitting the road in November, taking 21 Bum Salute live across Adelaide, Brisbane, Sydney, Castlemaine, Melbourne and Warrnambool. Tickets are on sale now, details and dates below.

Stream / download ‘Full Powers’ here.
Pre-order / Pre-save 21 Bum Salute here.

21 Bum Salute Tour AU

Thursday 5th November
Ed Castle, Adelaide SA

Friday 6th November
Brightside, Brisbane QLD

Saturday 7th November
Crowbar, Sydney NSW

Wednesday 11th November
The Bridge, Castlemaine VIC

Friday 13th November
Nightcat, Melbourne VIC

Saturday 14th November
Whalers Hotel, Warrnambool VIC

Tickets on sale now via partydozen.com