Slashed Tires

Have you ever gone out and asked yourself, “What am I doing here?”

What about “Am I dancing because it’s what someone wants me to do, or because I want to dance?” or “Am I trapped in a trying, crappy limbo in which I fail to connect with other people? Is this where I truly want to be?”

Don’t Party, the debut album from Slashed Tires, is the sound of these questions being asked and dissected in real-time. It is a collection of twelve songs exploring one’s inner monologue, the ups and downs of friendships, and the unfulfilled promise of a night out.

Using deconstructed funk, pounding drum machines, and New Wave and No Wave horns alike, Kenneth M. Piekarski dives deep into the unease and anxiety of social interactions, community drama, and paranoia. Inspired by iconoclasts like Arthur Russell, Sade, and Prince, Kenneth has turned the party soundtrack inside-out to capture the moods and feelings bubbling underneath any given party – anticipation, elation, and the inevitable, bleary-eyed cleanup, whether it’s you or the sun that’s just coming up.

It wasn’t easy to get here. As Kenneth discovered the American underground, made friends in touring bands, and became part of music communities across Washington state, they created Slashed Tires as an outlet for these songs, both solo and with a number of ensembles and backing bands. Built on guitar, trombone, and programmed percussion, their sets had the power to quickly convey their singular voice, and took shape over several years in show spaces all over the United States.

With a new layer of fidelity, harder-hitting instrumentation, and other voices to pull Kenneth out of their figurative and into their literal funk, they’re ready to share the definitive version of their musical world.