WEST Belfast-based indie rock band Search Party have announced the release of their latest single 'Paradise' which follows on from their debut album 'Too Much Red Tape'.

Last year the band celebrated their 10th anniversary after their early beginnings when three of the lads attended St Mary's Grammar School and started off playing punk songs.

Speaking about the new single which comes out on March 8, frontman Seán McDonnell said: “We’ve been going for ten years, since 2013. We released our debut album ‘Too Much Red Tape’ in 2019, prior to that it was all singles and EPs. 

“Our new single ‘Paradise’ is out on 8 March and will be our first bit of music coming out this year.”

The band recently became a five piece and during lockdown they began writing more music and added a keyboardist. With three members from West Belfast, one from North Belfast and another from Comber the band now comprises of Seán on vocals and guitar, David Malone on drums, Ryan Pendleton on bass, Chris Anderson on keys and Gareth Hill on guitar.

Seán said: “Three of us are from West Belfast, and the other two are from North Belfast and Comber – I’m from the Glen Road. Us three from the West all met in St Mary’s and we’ve been in the band the whole way through for the last ten years.

“Initially we played a lot of punk, like The Clash, Pennywise and The Dead Kennedys but as we’ve progressed our tastes have changed and the music we’ve found ourselves writing has changed. During lockdown we started writing new music in demos and sending it across to each other and that changed our sound, with cleaner guitars and chorus effects etc."

Seán said the band have a few gigs lined up this year, with a big gig planned in The Empire in November.

Seán added: “Our next big gig is a headline show in The Empire in November, we will do smaller shows throughout the year, play support gigs and also showcases of bands and we also play festivals throughout the year. November will be part of our yearly big show and we also try to tour every year or six months if we can.

“For our last tour we did Belfast, Derry, Cork, Dublin and Limerick and another five in England and Scotland. It was great to travel and play our music and the gigs were really well attended as well which was brilliant.

“I love being part of the scene here because despite how small the city is, there’s so much music here. I was sitting with the band trying to name how many good local bands we know and I think we stopped counting when the number got up to 250. There’s so much talent here in Belfast."

You can check out Search Party's music on Spotify, Apple, Amazon and YouTube.

Search Party Spotify

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