San Francisco's The Parties Party for the Right to Party

Abby Camaya

​Dulcet-toned/floppy-haired locals The Parties released their second full-length album, Coast Garde, yesterday on Rainbow Quartz records, and they'll be celebrating the occasion this Friday at the Hemlock Tavern, along with The Love Dimension and Trevor Childs & The Beholders.

The album is a consistently agreeable mix of post-garage jangle and spacey phantasmagoria, channeling the mods and the troubadours in equal measure -- plus there's an honest-to-goodness song suite in "Feet Back on the Ground/I'm Sorry/Going Away Girl." But we wanted to know what makes The Parties tick, so we subjected them to a little bit of introspective word-association work. Gaze upon their collective psyche after the jump.

Block parties: Loads of fun until you have to pull your drunk neighbor from the bouncy house and get out the hose.

Dance parties: Best when not planned. If your party reaches critical mass, roll up that carpet and crank the tunes!

Birthday parties: In order of most fun to least fun:
1. Friend's birthday party
2. Your birthday party
3. Grandma's 80th birthday party
4. Friend's girlfriend's 27th birthday party

The Birthday Party: Nick Cave was way better when he wasn't trying to be a gothy Tom Waits.

The Communist party: They had one of the best ever logos. (Almost got beat up trying to explain this to a drunk Republican.)

"Fight for Your Right to Party": Why doesn't anyone write about your mom throwing away your porno mags anymore?

Party favors: The kid kind or the adult kind?

Party fouls: Though they may temporarily derail the fun, they make your party instantly memorable.

Bachelor parties: Venues, from worst to best:
4. Northhampton, MA
3. Foxwoods Casino, Ledyard, CT
2. Las Vegas, NV
1. Ciudad Juarez, Mexico

Tea parties: I prefer the kind with cucumber sandwiches and scones.

The Green Party: I voted Green in 2000. Ahh, it's comforting to remember life before the dark times.

Frat parties: If Paul Revere & the Raiders are playing, I'll be there.

Party lines: Best when blurred or broken.

Third-party reproduction: Free consultation at thepartiesrock@gmail.com.

Get festive to The Parties' headily anachronistic pop stylings this Friday at the Hemlock Tavern. In the meantime, download the first single from Coast Garde, "Let's Call It Love."