You're NOT Invited! by Billy Allen and the Pollies

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Regular readers of this site are in for an unusual time. There is no mistaking the southern influences in Billy Allen and the Pollies but this is heavier and more electrical than you might be expecting from me. I find their sound so dry it almost crackles with heat. They sound like the desert. It's also nightish. Really strong. The truth is that I listen to all genres from Emma Smith's jazz standards to Kate Miller Heidke's operatic chandelier-smashing screeching and everything in-between.

I love Billy Allen and the Pollies because they remind me of my teenage years: the louder Tom Petty songs, David Bowie, U2, even good ole Joe Cocker, another Brit, you understand. And they love the Spiders from Mars: Mick Ronson is from my home town in England. I knew immediately that I would love these boys and I was not wrong.

They are gearing up to release Black Noise, their album written during the pandemic. Several records that have crossed my desk this year were written during that ill-fated year of viral shenanigans. Not least KMH's new one. But I promised I would not digress. I have the immense privilege of being asked to host this video exclusively as a premiere and I am determined not to mess it up. [You're doing so well on that, mate. Ed.]

If you're not in the Southern USA then you're probably aware of this band via Netflix. They have a brilliant No. 1 hit show called The Madness. The lead actor looks a bit like Luther which is a big pull for a UK audience. Anyway one of the songs on the soundtrack is none other than It's Okay by – yes, you guessed it – Billy Allen and the Pollies.

I can do no better than this summary of the band and Black Noise.

There is a ferocious Southern engine inside of Billy Allen + The Pollies’ debut album Black Noise. It thrums to life atop a classic rock chassis and expertly weaves in and out of gospel, grunge, funk and soul along its eleven-song journey. From the explosive top of the album (a liberating anthem of self-worth called “All of Me”) to the spiritually haunting final track (the wurlitzer fueled “Go on Without Them”) Black Noise is a genre-defiant haymaker that lands.

It really does land. I have the whole album and every single track is an absolute belter. I hope to be allowed to bring you more of this music as we stroll towards June 27 and its release.

From Guitarist Jay Burgess on the writing of Invited

“From what I remember, me, Clint, and Jon were playing around with the guitar riff trying to figure out where to go next. During brief pauses we would talk shit and laugh. During one pause we started talking about how on the road we get invited to all these after parties and bars, and how they’re usually never fun nor a good idea considering the early mornings while on the road. Billy was having a hard time with a subject and I said write a song about not wanting to be invited. We starting spitting out different scenarios and it came together pretty quick.”

Occasionally it is helpful to get an insight into the creation of a song from the artist. The clever twist in this song is that most people write about being excluded, being alone, and wanting to be included or invited to that cool party over there. No matter how often we say we're not bothered either way, we at least want the luxury of declining. Not to be asked is just... rude.

Even this introvert feels aggrieved when he is on the outside looking in, even though he knows that is the place he is best suited for. All writers, whether songwriters or not, exclude themselves. They are life's spectators. They enjoy standing outside the bi-folding glass doors and looking in with a cigarette in one hand, a whisky in the other, and a pencil in the other hand. [That's three hands. You been on ChatGPT again? Ed.]

This is not that song. This is the song written by the popular people, the ones who have been to one (just one? Or 100?) too many parties. They have so much free booze lavished on them that they have lost interest. I had to give up booze recently to let some new meds settle down. That first week was tough but after that? I don't miss it. I take pride in my new status and have no intention of drinking again even when I am given the green light so to do.

Dare we say it? Invited is a song written by the mature man, for the mature man. And I don't mean old man. It is born of wisdom and hindsight and the lived reality of that eternal phrase never again. Yes, this is music for grown-ups. The people who loved Bowie the first time around and can remember when Tom Petty released Learning To Fly. This is music for you!

I was asked if I had any questions for the band. I did. One. What the hell is the name the Pollies all about? I think you would imagine, as I did, that it was connected to the parrot. It is not. Jay comes back to explain that at least it was a better idea than Milk. Billy Allen and his MILK?!

"We started off wanting to name it a southern woman’s name. We threw around a bunch. It came down to Willowdean and Polly. We played paper, rock, scissors to decide which one would become the band name and Polly won. After Polly won, we decided to make it plural and a member at the time wanted to make it “ies” instead of "s". We just went with it. It was better than what I originally wanted to call it, “Milk".

So now you know. Almost but not quite wish I hadn't asked. Perhaps Billy should have the last word on the album?

“Black Noise is the result of two different worlds colliding – our backgrounds, our influences, and our stories coming together over five years, starting back in 2020 when the world went quiet. The title itself is a nod to David Bowie, a reference our guitarist Jay Burgess discovered and brought to the table. That idea of ‘black noise’ the sound that exists just beyond what we can hear. Felt like the perfect metaphor for the music we are making and the times we were living through."

Watch the (NOT) Invited Video – WORLD EXCLUSIVE!

I think I was the first human to watch this who is not connected to the band. It was love at first sight. Billy seems totally detached from the typical-ish house party happening around him. He is there in body but not in soul. The way he is disengaged from everyone around him brought David Lynch to mind. But there is comic genius here too... look out for those psychedelic muppets/fraggles of the band later on. I suspect a reference to Kafka, Kant or Nietzsche that I was not well-read enough to grasp. Watch to the end!