About Us

Who Are The Party Singers?

Paul and Sam formed The Party Singers band in 2020. Like most people they found that their hectic "full on life" came to a complete stop with the Covid lock down.
But who are they and what had they been doing?
Paul (Vocals, Guitar and Bass) has worked full time in the entertainment industry since he was twenty. He’s done just about everything from guitar work in bands, fronting bands, sound engineering and even spent five years as a record producer. He has been fortunate to have briefly worked with bands like The Chills, Jordan Luck, Shihad to name a few and also performing in small venues, tours to playing big stadium events. He has worked with TVNZ on What Now as part of the backing band (The What Now Players) for singers featured on the show, also with NZRU for pre-match entertainment for Super Rugby.
Sam (Vocals and Percussion) first linked up with Paul when she was twenty-one. Pauls’ band needed a female singer. Kelly Gorman, her cousin (professional drummer) put her forward and in his words at the time “my cuz can sing a bit”. She blitzed the audition and was in on the spot.
What followed was five years of full-time work in the NZ band scene, playing to packed out bars and venues with some very memorable open-air functions.
“..the one at Fox Glacier, New Years Eve.. that was unexpected. We turned up thinking we would be in the little hotel to find we were in a huge field on a truck stage, with thousands of partygoers.” (Sam)
So as this story started, they formed The Party Singers during lock down. They were lucky that they had a lock up filled with PA’s (from their hire business) and right at the back was most of their old band gear - now updated. So, space was made in their studio/office for a band set up and they began playing again.
Paul said, “I don’t mind admitting that I was a little rusty. We had done limited session work and the occasional guest spot over the last few years, but to play song after song in a row is very different to that... but it does come back very quickly.”
They didn’t really intend to form a band, this was more about filling in time during those three months in lock down, but once people heard that they were playing again ...the offers started coming in.
They didn’t even have a name at their first gig and having recently watched, The Wedding Singer ..they quickly stole and adapted the name. They never really intended to play bars or hotels either, but they found they were having too much fun!
The bars have changed since they were last performing in them. The loss of the big venues (The "original" Carlton, Lochinvars, The Palladium, Xanadu, The Redwood, The Brook and The Yaldy etc) means audiences are smaller "..they are more intimate, by the end of the night you can feel like you know everyone that's there. You get that when you are playing to 50-100 people but when there’s 350+ it’s more impersonal and that's why I'm liking it." (Sam)
 You could say that they have come full circle... they’re seventeen or eighteen again, playing music with their mates and just having fun.
So here are The Party Singers... just having fun with a professional twist.
In the beginning... the 90's, Christchurch
Now... Christchurch, NZ
🤔 Did you know: Sam only has one vocal cord and should not be able to sing. During a Thyroid operation (when she was a child) they accidentally cut one vocal cord. The result should be a raspy, breathless, quiet voice and sometimes problems swallowing. When she had to have another operation for her Thyroid (when she was an adult), she took the risk of the other one being cut and having no voice. The doctors were surprised she could sing at all! Maybe since she kept singing from when she was a teenager (squawking every night in her bedroom) it made it possible by making the one vocal cord very strong to compensate for the one that was not working? The power of passion...