The Key Party is a 7 piece subversive lounge act from New York City. The band was started by Darren Gaines in 2006 http://www.myspace.com/thekeypartynyc.

The self-released debut Hit or Miss came out in the fall of 2006. It was named Album of the Day by CMJ, Download of the Week in the San Francisco Chronicle and dubbed “15 songs of rock and roll poetry celebrating the debauched, the broken, the drunken and the misfitting…” by PopMatters. They have been compared to Nick Cave

Nick Cave

Nicholas Edward "Nick" Cave is an Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, and occasional film actor.He is best known for his work as a frontman of the critically acclaimed rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, established in 1984, a group known for its eclectic influences and...

, Tom Waits

Tom Waits

Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...

 and Lou Reed

Lou Reed

Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...

.

In an interview on Polskie Radio

Polskie Radio

Polskie Radio Spółka Akcyjna is Poland's national publicly funded radio broadcasting organization.- History :Polskie Radio was founded on 18 August 1925 and began making regular broadcasts from Warsaw on 18 April 1926....

 910AM New York (July 11, 2007), Gaines said The Key Party name came from the scene in The Ice Storm where Sigorney Weaver reaches her hand into the fish bowl and pulls out the young man's keys. The scene inspired Gaines to “use a similar lottery-like system… He invited a bunch of musician friends into the studio and had them select from a variety of instruments -- everything from traditional music-making devices, such as guitars and drums, to kitchen spoons and children's toys -- by randomly pulling a piece of paper with the instrument's name on it from a bowl.”

In 2008 Darren Gaines & The Key Party recorded their follow-up CD My Blacks Don't Match produced by Ken Rich

Ken Rich

Ken Rich is an American producer/engineer/ composer and musician. He began playing violin at age 5, tuba at age 9 and moved on to the electric bass at age 15. After majoring in philosophy at Oberlin College while pursuing intensive jazz studies with Wendell Logan and Donald Byrd, he moved to New...

 (Joseph Arthur

Joseph Arthur

Joseph Arthur is an American singer-songwriter and artist from Akron, Ohio. Combining poetic lyrics with a layered sonic palette, Arthur has built his reputation over the years through critically acclaimed releases and constant touring; his unique solo live performances incorporate the use of a...

, Our Shadows Will Remain). "My Blacks Don't Match" will be released in spring 2009.