Discovery: Gil Mantera’s Party Dream

PHOTO BY KATIE MENDELSON

On stage, Ultimate Donny and Gil of Gil Mantera’s Party Dream wear spandex and do high kicks and pirouettes. Deep thoughts are shared with the crowd about everything from pancakes to the possibility of being eaten by an alligator. GMPD is a dish best served live, certainly, but it’s their obvious creative talent and catchy electro-synth pop beats that keep their cult fan-base happy, their shows worth attending, and prevent their antics from turning into farce. Interview caught up with frontman Donny on his first day back home after their most recent tour promoting 2009’s self-released Dreamscape.    

WHERE DO YOU LIVE? Youngstown, Ohio. People are extremely real and quirky here and are usually seen in hanging in the same circles, and the cost of living is insanely low. Also, it’s home. DESCRIBE YOUR SOUND: It’s in the pop/rock category at FYE. FAVORITE BANDS: That’d have to be New Order, Kraftwerk, Chubb Rock. PRE-SHOW RITUAL: We do this weird sports huddle where the three of us interlock hands, and I speak a few words of inspiration before it ends with clapping. We do this for every show, and it always hurts. BEST SHOW YOU’VE EVER PLAYED: The first time we sold out the main room at the Knitting Factory [Brooklyn, NY] sometime in 2007 or 2008. It wasn’t too long before that when we had a show there in the smallest room and bumped into some girls milling about the building. They talked to us for just a bit then abruptly stopped after we answered their question: “Are you playing the main room?” WHERE’D YOU PICK UP YOUR MOVES? I’m not the dancer, you can tell. I move to the beat, I kick, karate chop. Gil, I don’t know, he taught himself. He didn’t used to dance like that. I like to keep out of that–that’s his own world. WHAT’S WITH THE SPANDEX? It’s light, comfortable, easy to move. CRAZIEST DISPLAY OF AFFECTION BY A FAN: Somebody brought us two chocolate pies once–now that was crazy. And we ate them–because we are crazy.