Shaking It Up: Dance Party

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IF YOU'VE NEVER heard the Prince George's County power pop quintet the Dance Party, you should know they didn't pick their name to be ironic. They really do want people to dance and party, as evidenced by their wild shows and goofy song titles like "Sex Disco" and "New Wave Drugz." In other cities, such a hedonistic musical approach might seem passé, but in the earnest D.C. scene, their rowdiness has made them stand out.

"I think around here there's been a kind of idea that music is very serious," says lead singer Mick Coogan. "There's lots of post-punk going on and political-minded bands. We found that there are a lot of people that just want to come to a show, let their hair down, get loose and party backstage — and just go crazy."

After several years of gigs, an EP and an indie album, the Dance Party now finds itself in the position of trying to appeal to the rest of the world. To that end, they recorded a cache of songs with engineer-to-the-stars Andros Rodriguez, who took to the band after hearing them play in Brooklyn.

"We spent about eight months on this record and came out with ten songs," Coogan explains. "We rerecorded some songs from our last record ('Friction! Friction! Friction!') but with higher production values and more attention to detail."

Coogan says the Cars-influenced group will spend time around the holidays jetting off to New York and Los Angeles to showcase the new material in front of industry suits: "We've done the DIY thing. It worked really well in D.C., but we're gonna try to take our music to more people. That's our goal."

» 9:30 Club, 815 V St. NW; with New Rock Church of Fire, Crash Boom Bang, Sat. Dec. 27, 8 p.m., $15; 800-955-5566.
(U St.-Cardozo)

Written by Express contributor Tony Sclafani
Photo by Joel Didriksen for Express