Stop Sleeping - Gil Mantera's Party Dream

When acquaintances ask me "what is a band I should be checking out these days?", I am proud to immediately recommend Gil Mantera's Party Dream for two concrete reasons:

1. They aren't of some obscure metal genre derivative that only nerds who know what a "gravity blast" is would appreciate.
2. Nothing can top a dude singing through a vocoder whilst simultaneously crushing a beer can between his thong-clad ass cheeks.

I first saw Gil Mantera's Party Dream the summer before my first semester of college. My compatriot Rob, who was playing in the Detroit "butt funk" ensemble Downtown Brown (a band worth a column on its own) at the time, made it very clear to me that "there is this fuggin' band" on their bill from Youngstown, Ohio that I need not miss. Thanks to the guidance of my pal's infinite wisdom, Gil Mantera's Party Dream's set indeed ended up changing me forever. Never had I before seen two guys consume so many shots onstage and then proceed to ramble about Santa Claus, women, and squirrels. As if this wasn't enough on its own, they performed about as close to naked as legally possible while chain-smoking, prancing, and pouring cheap swill over themselves (there was music during all of this, too). None of these factors had any detrimental effect on their performance, as the primary vocalist, pseudonymously titled as Ultimate Donny, never seemed to miss a note. If it sounds like any of this is anything near exaggerating, then let me assure you that, if anything, I am most likely UNDER-stating what really goes on at a typical Party Dream event.

The standard Gil Mantera's Party Dream show starts off with three dudes (Gil Mantera on keyboard/bass/vocoder, Ultimate Donny on guitar/vocals, and A.E. Paterra on drums) emerging onto the stage, dressed in some sort of collaborated theme (one year it was Conan the Barbarian, the next year it was form-fitting Spiderman suits). Things then progress with a song or two before some sort of banter or pseudo-standup comedy routine comes about from Ultimate Donny. I've never heard the man repeat himself once and he sure as hell has a lot to say about nothing (imagine a blotto mix of Jerry Seinfeld and Martin Lawrence). As the night goes on, more drinks are consumed by the band and things typically end up with grown men soaked in beer and in their underwear.

Early Gil Mantera's Party Dream albums came off as something along the lines of 2 Live Crew meets New Order, but they have since have matured and refined their act into a sound of its own. It used to be standard protocol for the majority of the song lyrics to be made up on the spot by Ultimate Donny himself (though, given the extraordinarily-cliched lyrical topics found on the earlier studio recordings, this is no great loss and proves to add bonus comedic value). Dreamscape, the band's latest work, added the drummer from Zombi, A.E. Paterra, to the lineup and effectively boosted their live performance even further. Did I also mention they've done a handful of covers during live sets throughout the years, as well? Fleetwood Mac, Kano, and Joy Division songs have all been given frightfully fitting cover renditions by the Party Dream.

The thing with Gil Mantera's Party Dream is that the band's schtick sounds exactly like the dozens (if not hundreds) of contemporary, schlocky synth-pop groups that have been slithering their way into iTunes libraries and bar shows for the past decade. The key difference with this particular band is that their performance is incredibly entertaining for those outside of the teenage female demographic and contains music actually worth listening to. The vintage and outlandish costumes might initially invoke some scoffing from unfamiliar spectators, but after seeing just how much polish goes into their musical performance, it quickly becomes apparent that these guys essentially wrote the book on ironic party music.

If you were born without some stupid fucking disease that prevents you from smiling and/or enjoying good music, then I must recommend you check out what Gil Mantera's Party Dream has to offer. All three of their full-length albums are golden in their own little way and their live 'Live Video Archive Volume 1' DVD is a complete gem, as it contains two full shows during their "golden years" (hint: unicorn jockstrap and a High Life bottle in the butt). It does indeed sadden me to no end when I remind myself that this group's legacy is coming to its close, though. The last Party Dream show booked in my city was close to two years ago, but it does seem just like yesterday when Ultimate Donny gave a passionate diatribe about Whitney Houston and cutting his sister's toes off. Even though I've seen the band perform at least seven times, I just doesn't feel like that was adequate for a band of this magnitude. The reality of the matter is that Gil Mantera's Party Dream has created a severely-overlooked, yet near-religiously followed, legacy that is quite often imitated but never truly challenged.