Party Gator Purgatory

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There are unexpectedly moving moments of shared sentiment between different vocalists, particularly around narratives of mental health and vulnerability. Quelle Chris’ claim in ‘At(moves)’, “I just need a safe place to store my mind” chimes with the exhausted, uneasy tone of Yoni Wolf’s feature in ‘Slowreturn’: “I’m just one guy / Each day I try / If sometimes I’m fried / I don’t try.” Consider Brian May and Cox: both began as ambitious physicists who went on to contribute to wildly successful bands (Queen and Dare, respectively). Or actors, for example; Game of Throne’s Iwan Rheon has an impressive musical catalogue – as does Harry Potter’s Tom Felton. However, despite his number of books that illustrate his lifelong love and involvement in music, from childhood bands to penning a novel detailing every good release of that year, I don’t think anyone quite expected renowned comedian James Acaster’s next move to be this. The plan had been for the original Party Gator to feature in the music videos but, shortly after the drum sessions, it was donated to a local school who then unceremoniously dumped it in a skip (Acaster’s still not over this). So a replica mascot outfit was made to James’ proportions and a series of low budget videos were filmed (by the iconic Turtle Canyon), consisting of the character running through theme parks, dancing in row boats and trashing hotel rooms, while Acaster gave himself heatstroke and a brief bout of labyrinthitis. A keen drummer, Acaster grew up playing in various bands, his ear for music carrying through to his Perfect Sounds radio show and Perfect Sound Whatever book. here, stems were sent to various musicians he had interviewed – including Quelle Chris, John Dieterich and Seb Rochford – as this project too kshape.

partygatorresurrection (feat. Open Mike Eagle, me oh myriorama, Montaigne, Low Growl, and bb tombo)Of the new challenges posed by his Temps era, he adds: “I’d never made an album from scratch that didn’t exist yet – recording it and writing it at the same time – and I’d never produced anything before, or mixed something as intensely as this one. There’s a lot of new things – if I had been doing it on my own, I don’t know how long I would have lasted.” Ahead of the release of their debut album ‘PARTY GATOR PURGATOR’ on 19th May via Bella Union, Temps - the 40-strong international music collective devised, curated and produced by James Acaster - are sharing new single ‘partygatorresurrection’. Yeah, we’re talking about it. It would be so hard to organize a live show, but if there was a demand for it, then I would try and figure that out. I think it would have to be a residency somewhere. I have tentatively asked a few people who were on the album if they would be up for it. They have said yes, but they have had to say if their schedule permits, which, you’re looking at a lot of schedules.

A scrapbook of collected styles from spoken word to hip-hop to free jazz, Party Gator Purgatory is the equivalent of a music fan let loose, boundaryless and liberated by creative freedom. Just doing something for the fun of it: all creatives would like to be there just once, I’d imagine. By the end, the main thing it taught me was to approach my live shows — and this’ll sound like a negative, but it’s actually been very positive — as what they are, as my job. I’m going to work, and this is my job, so let’s go out there and work hard and do the job properly. Rather than how I used to be, which is, I would tell myself, This is going to be fun. That meant that I would then get blindsided if it was a bit of a quieter audience, or if it was a rowdy audience, or if it wasn’t exactly how I had in my head of what my idea of fun is. Letting the audience just do whatever they want and focusing on what I can control, which is me, has made it much easier. There’s probably still some more lessons to learn, I imagine. Did you get to see any of their reactions when they realized that these really deep, meaningful songs that they had been making were also unintentionally about the party gator?exploding with experimentalism and uniqueness. no two songs sound alike and it gives party gator purgatory by temps and feel like no other album i've listened to. it's like if four different artists from four different genres played in rehearsal rooms right next to each other and it all blended together nicely. Paste: I’m truly fascinated by this project, because it’s not just “Oh, James Acaster the comedian is making music.” No, you’ve assembled this huge team of incredible musicians. Talk to me about how that came to be. Under the guise of his musical project Temps, UK comedian James Acaster has announced his debut album, PARTY GATOR PURGATORY, out May 19th via Bella Union. In the meanwhile, he’s shared a new look at the record with the fresh single “bleedthemtoxins.” I think it really helped that Seb had put his drums down initially. I was asking people if they wanted to contribute, thinking in my head, Are they going to say no because it’s this stand-up comedian asking them? Forgetting that these amazing musicians were already on it who had done such an incredible job.

I was surprised at how seriously the musicians took it. The last song on the album, “slowreturn,” with Shamir and Yoni Wolf, is pretty emotional. Calling on everyone from NNAMDÏ to Open Mike Eagle to Shamir to Joana Gomilla to Deerhoof’s John Dieterich, Acaster has formed a superteam of inquisitive wordsmiths and cosmic shredders. He’s become the coolest DJ in the world, and no song on the album arrives the same—which elevates the mythology around the project altogether. Many months have passed since Acaster completed PARTY GATOR PURGATORY, and he still doesn’t know how so many musicians he adores, respects and pulls influence from wound up on his own project—one that is set to propel him even further into his return to music, drumming and songwriting. I was doing bands when I was a teenager into my early 20s, and I was like, ‘This is gonna be my entire life, all I’m gonna do is music,’” Acaster remembers. “When the band split up I started doing stand-up as a placeholder, and then I fell in love with stand-up and got really obsessed with that.” Party Gator’s life defines the album in three stages – Party Gator RIP, Purgatory and Resurrection. It all aligns with Acaster’s very first and now present-day ambition for Temps: “It was just the idea that a comedian would take stupid stuff really seriously.” No jokes here: Party Gator is forever.

Track listing

Above all else though, Party Gator Purgatory is a tremendous amount of fun. Acaster’s production and curation contributes to a sprightly, playful character throughout, and it’s full of absurd humour. ‘Partygatorresurrection’ closes with a string of non-sequiturs from rapper and comedian Open Mike Eagle: “I’m rolling up like a Metroid ball! / I like to dance like I’m eight feet tall!… My new OS is installed!”

the history of the party gator, how the album got its name and mascot, is a little confusing, even to me. the only things that are apparent to me are that the party gator is based off of a giant party gator teddy bear that james won at a fair once. and the cover is hand-drawn by him (not surprising). did he commission a giant party gator outfit? was it something he had planned from the start? is he a furry??? so many questions and so few answers. Before I did comedy, all I wanted to do was be in a band and play drums. And that’s all I did do until I was 22, 23. When I started stand-up comedy, I really fell in love with it, to the degree where I couldn’t imagine doing music again. I just assumed I never would do it, even though it had been a dream of mine since I was seven—specifically, to make an album. That had been the thing I was really engaged with with music, more than seeing it live or anything like that. That’s all I wanted to do from the age of seven and then, because I went into comedy, I think it was easier to just put that out of my head and not think of it. Vast in scope and scale, and fizzing with an experimental energy, the trippy PARTY GATOR PURGATORY manages to blend a host of ideas, guests and moods into an album that draws you into its own unique world. Tell me about the party gator that inspired the album, because I know that he is no longer with us. The party gator costume you’ve been sporting is a replica, yes? I discovered James Acaster’s stand-up comedy many moons ago—sometime pre-pandemic—on Netflix, when he released the four-part serial Repertoire on the streaming titan. Two years later, his most-recent special Cold Lasagne Hate Myself 1999 cemented him as a household name. Around that time, he wound up on The Great British Bake Off and became a meme that still echoes across social media in 2023. But the truth is, Acaster is one of the world’s greatest comedians, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the industry’s very best—and often surpassing them. His delivery is gut-busting; his ability to create some of the cleverest punchlines is one-in-a-million.

4 Reviews

I never told anyone, “This isn’t a comedy project.” I never said, “This is really serious.” I probably said, “This is neither of those things, just whatever you want it to be. It’s not a comedy album, it’s not a super-serious album, it’s just a project. This is something we’re making and it’ll be whatever it is.” I probably told some of them, “I will be dressing as an alligator for a lot of the videos, but don’t let that influence how you write or make you think this has got to be a joke.” Goods that are faulty or sent in error must be returned to Crash Records Limited, 35 The Headrow, Leeds, LS1 6PU within 7 working days of the item being received by the customer. Alongside being a co-host for the mega-chart-topping podcast, Off Menu, Acaster, hosts the Perfect Sounds podcast, showcasing music from 2016, and played drums in the bands The Wow! Scenario and the Capri-Sun Quartet before finding fame as a stand-up. I’m personally really in love with the work that Shamir, NNAMDÏ, and Open Mike Eagle do. Especially NNAMDÏ. He’s one of my favorite working musicians. How did you discover these artists? Did you seek them out for the collective, or did you know them from your podcast?