The Skating Party
The Skating Party is the recording project and moniker of Philadelphia multi-instrumentalist, “Gregory James.” What started as a bedroom recording project has eventually led to several releases on vinyl, cassette, CD, lathe cuts, and of course, digital.
The early Skating Party records leaned heavily on Prince-esque synths, LinnDrum programming, and hook-laden guitars in the like of the Cure meets the Cocteau Twins. In more recent years, the songwriting took a more atmospheric turn, with an emphasis on reverb-soaked vocals, repeating guitar lines, and live tribal drumming.
After originally releasing 2 albums and a compilation on Philly imprint label, Hidden Gem Records, “the Skating Party,” was regularly invited to contribute to compilations with “the Blog that Celebrates itself Records,” “Fadeawayradiate Records,” and “Shiny Happy Records.”
In June of 2018, the Skating Party released their 4th record, titled “Been Caught Feeling,” which is a sonic blend of dreampop/shoegaze. Like previously releases, Gregory was at the helm for all instrumentation and production. It is the most consistent Skating Party record to date a was voted #1 of the “1st Semester of Shoegaze/Dreampop releases of 2019″ by the
“Shoegaze Alive 9 blog.”
In 2019, Hidden Gem Records & the Skating Party curated a 2nd compilation with the usual suspects, “the Death of Pop,” and “the Arctic Flow,” as well as Philly locals, “Telyscopes,” and “Panophonic.” Each artist contributed an original song to the 10 track cassette, titled, “Colorwheel Volume 2.”
2020 marked more releases with Hidden Gem Recs, Fadeaway Radiate Recs (UK), and Shiny Happy Recs (Indonesia). The Skating Party was invited to perform on Shiny Happy Rec’s “My Secret World – Quarantine Sessions,” live stream. Throughout the year, a total of 78 artists from around the world would contribute to the broadcast, and digital compilation was released to summarize the performances by Shiny Happy Records.
In 2021, the Skating Party released the critically claimed EP “Night Ruins,” on Spirit Goth/birthdiy records digitally, and on tape in the states, with Melotron Recordings releasing the CD version in Greece. A new full-length vinyl LP titled, “Age of Cruel” is set for release on January 15th 2024.
http://theskatingparty.bandcamp.com/
Sonny Knockout (on hiatus)
Sonny Knockout is an indie rock 4 piece out of Philadelphia, PA. The band formed with the concept of incorporating songs based on layered melodies with the absence of chords, unless absolutely necessary. Their mantra was to create upbeat rock songs, as daneceable as possible, without playing “dance/rock music.”
Their live show consists of a variety of interchanging instruments, from an electric ukulele, synths, and saxophone, to multiple percussive instruments, and sometimes an accordian. Sonny Knockout’s sound has been compared to “the Talking Heads,” meets “Black Flag, meets LCD Soundsystem.”
The band is slowly working on releasing singles to follow up their early EP “14 Months,” from 2016. If you are in Philadelphia and have not seen their “live” show, you are missing out.
http://sonnyknockout.bandcamp.com/
https://twitter.com/sonnyknockout
Ohm Brellas (no longer active)
Our story begins on a snowy December night in New York City, two thousand and nine. Two kids from Philadelphia known as Gregory and Dana Ohm met each other at FAO Schwartz while they were both trying to perfect “the Final Countdown” on the famous Floor Piano. Little did they expect that performance would end in applause by hundreds of holiday shoppers standing in awe. Afterw…ard, an argument would ensue over which was the better record, Prince’s “Purple Rain” or the Time’s “Ice Cream Castle?” The two would agree to disagree and never touch that subject again. The new found friendship decided that they both had a love of “80’s culture” and should put that to use for all to enjoy. With that said they would reconvene in their hometown and make a record giving birth to the “Ohm Brellas.”
Both Gregory and Dana both fronted bands in the past and were regulars on the Philadelphia music scene. They admit to playing a show together at one point but either of the two remember exactly when or which venue. Dana fronted the pop punk band “80 Proof Soul,” and Gregory spent the better part of his 20’s fronting “Blue Sinatra,” and touring relentlessly through the greater United States. Having released 3 albums with “Blue Sinatra” and sharing the stage (and occasional after party) with “Gym Class Heroes,” “My Morning Jacket,” & “the Pink Spiders,” to name a few, it was time for a change.
Together, the“Ohm Brellas,” are a combined, synth-pop driven voyage of happy/sad songs, soft vocals, and layered guitar sounds working together to create something they hope would one day grace the iPod of “Robert Smith.” Their first release, 2010’s “I don’t want your friendship, I want your guitar,” won much acclaim in the blog-o-sphere as well as licensing deals with “Hit Song Central,” “Reality Films,” and television’s “Roadtrip Nation.”
The duo completed a much more hi-fi sounding follow up EP in the Fall of 2011 titled “Lessons in yearbook signing.” The duo have currently taken some time of to pursue other musical projects but plan on reconnecting for another album in the near future.